Oh so simple Christmas card

Hello, Heather here today to bring you a Christmas card that is just so easy to make. I only do "easy"  so even a real beginner can do this card. Here it is finished then I will tell you how to make it.

First I decided what I was going  to use from my Gslcuts items of which there are hundreds, if not thousands.

 

 The picture of the frame and candles are already covered  in Gesso, but they arrive looking  the same as the corner picture, and although the candles come as candlesticks, I only wanted the candles for my card so cut them down. The corner  I left without Gesso because I wanted the end product to look darker.

The paper I used for the background is from an 8" x 8" paper pad of vintage backgrounds by Craftwork cards cut down to 7" x 5".

I began by  covering the frame with Gold treasure Gilding Polish by Creative Expressions.

then I covered the candles with  white distress ink and to make them look as though there was melting wax on them I used platinum pearl Liquid pearls then left those overnight to make sure they were dry.

I then stuck the candles to the bottom of the frame so that one was taller than the others, and cut off the excess bit of candle that showed below the frame. I used a holly and Christmas rose leaf die to cut out the leaves from dark green card and arranged these at the top and bottom of the frame. I added some red flat back pearls to look like berries on the leaves, then cut out one of the circles from the waste background paper, stamped the greeting on it and stuck it onto the middle of the bottom of the frame.

Next I stuck the whole middle section to the  background paper and then onto a card but I decided that it needed something in the corners so instead of just putting a few pearls there I thought that some Gslcuts corners would look good.

I covered these in gathered twigs distress ink , then I covered them with the gold treasure Gilding Polish. By putting the brown distress ink on first it made the Gilding Polish slightly darker than the colour on the frame, which I thought would look better in the corners, but it is your choice really, they can be any colour. Obviously I stuck these to each corner of the card.

And here is the finished product once again. It looks far more complicated than it really is so I hope someone will have a go at making one for, maybe, a special someone.

Gslcuts items used:

Flourished frame Marie

Candles

Victorian corners 1

Magic House Box Shrine

Small things are often jam packed with magic. Take buttons for example. I am 100% certain that buttons contain infinite amounts of magic. How many of us have memories of grandma's button tin? There simply MUST be magic in those little wonders.

This month I've used Gypsy Soul's Mini House Room Box to create a space to celebrate these small bits of magic. A place to tuck away thimbles and stones and buttons, all those precious tiny things that hold big memories.

There's LOADS of room for personalisation with this project. 

My Faux Typewriter Keys spell out MAGIC but you could order keys to spell out a name create a personalized memory shrine or choose to spell out a word that is particularly sentimental to you and really make this project your own.

I've put some tiny feet on my shrine but you could easily add hanging hardware to the back, or a length of ribbon or twine for hanging.

And check out the roof detail! If you make mini houses the Chipboard Shingles are a lot of fun to play with.

The assembly for this piece is super simple, but just in case you'd like to see how I put it together, HERE is a video walk through to guide you.

Products used in this piece:
Chipboard Shingles - Half Scale Sampler
Mini House Room Box 4 Cubbies
Faux Typewriter Keys Gold
Victorian Corners 1

Winged Heart**

The Bookstore Set

Goodmorrow, all! Jess here today with another miniature project. This month I'm working on something a little different, and my idea for it might change as I work on it (as ideas for crafts often do). 

What I wanted to do was create a sort of "set" for taking pictures of smaller miniatures like books and papers. So I knew I had to build the set into the roombox itself instead of gluing in a bookcase.

I began with the deep open front box (coming soon)

I used tongue depressors as the floorboards for this box. Usually I go smaller, but these are nice and flat, easy to cut. I purchased mine from the dollar store instead of yoinking them from my doctors office.

A process which takes me a whole evening, and sometimes more - is shaving down the door. I'm all about texture, so I take nail files (also in a pack from the dollar store) and go through several before the door is finished. I sand around all inner sides, and then sand around the small pieces that fit inside those inner sides. The point of the sanding is to give it a more beveled look.

Then I take my awl, which by the way is named Mr. Pointy (A Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference) and press into the chip board and drag it in long strokes to give it a wood grain texture.

I'm trying out something new this time - dimension inside my dimensional project. I cut some foam core (Hey - also from the dollar store!) to add another level to the shop. I measured my door to make sure it would still fit inside with another level added, to make sure everything was on the up and up and everything was good to go.

This was the perfect opportunity to use GSLC's 2 Step stairs,(coming soon) which fit in perfectly with this new level I've added here. See how perfect?

You'll notice most of my crafting is done with inexpensive (read: cheap) materials like foam core instead of basswood. I try and fill in foam for wood when I can to save money and use cheaper woods to cover up the foam for texture, which you'll see here. I've used foam core to build up the base of the built-in bookcase. 

The whole of the bookcase base is built out of foam core and glued right into the room box.

The thickness of the foam core is about the same thickness of wooden coffee stir sticks, so I use them to outline the smaller bits. 

I use more of the tongue depressors to texture the bottom and backing of the bookcase.

More coffee stir sticks!

The bookcase needed some more decoration, so I cut up some of the Victorian Corners and glued them to the base of the bookcase.

This is the base paint of the shop, which at this point I've changed my mind on at least 5 times.

I think I've got a thing for turquoise doors. It is one of my favourite colours, after all. A couple base coats of this and then...

Some green for accent.

More pictures for finishing later this month, so check back with me later!

Materials

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Deep Open Front Box (coming soon!)

2 Step Stairs (coming soon!)

4 Panel Door

Victorian Corners

First Edition Books by Jessica

There's a bookstore in the game Oblivion called First Edition, but that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my obsession with miniature books and bookstores (let alone full sized ones). Last month I showed you Nevermore Books and this month I give you First Edition - no word yet if next month will also be book related, but you can bet your bottom I will at least try and sneak some tiny books into the mix.

Earlier in the month, I showed you what went into building this tiny thing. It's built in 1:24 scale and nearly anything that isn't GSLC chipboard (you'll notice in gold) is foam. There's no wood here, it's all foam, which is what I was trying out. I wanted to see if I could create a historical storefront, with the decorative bits without spending the money on all the fancy pieces of turned wood. 

So without further ado, I give you the finished pictures of First Edition Books:

The full view of the front.

GSLC Products Used

Victorian Corners 1

Victorian Corners 2

Windows 6 Panel

The Making of "First Edition Books"

Hey guys, Jess here. This month I'm bringing you the biggest project I've ever made. While it's closest to 1:24 scale, so relatively small in scale, it's a whole shopfront and will be rather tall when finished. I'm using GSLC products to accent this historical shopfront as well as for the shop windows and the apartment windows above the shop itself.

I've built the shop entirely from foam, just playing with layering and sanding with my nail file. It's all pink insulation foam and foam core from the dollar store. Right now it's incredibly light, but as I add mortar, paint, and other fun items, it will get heavier.

I don't plan things. I'm a fly by the seat of my pants crafter. I tend to write things down as I'm in the process of doing them so I'll remember for next time or take pictures as I do them to remind myself - so nothing is measured. This is all just "Hey let's add another layer here" sort of crafting.

If I can pass anything on to you as a crafter in working with foam - it's to always work with a sharp blade. If you don't, the foam will "pill" and it will annoy the flying crappola out of you and might wreck your project. Luckily foam is cheap and you can try again. It's so much cheaper and easier to work with than even the balsa wood you can get from the hobby store.

I cut the base out of pink insulation foam and then sliced out strips of white foam to build up on top of the pink. It took me a lot of research into historical shopfronts. I actually got my husband to drive around the local small towns and we took pictures of the decorative shopfronts and I did some architectural research. And then I added foam as I felt necessary.

I found these letters at the dollar store - I really kind of hate the R, but there's nothing to be done for it. If I ask GSLC nicely enough and often enough, maybe they'll make me some lovely letters for my next shop (hint hint!)

Then I built up the foam some more into a sort of crown molding shape. I'm really quite pleased with myself on this one. Hurray for winging it!

I drew out a brick design on both sides behind the storefront and carved them out using my craft knife.

I painted the six panel windows a base of black, both sides and in between all the panels.

I found and used a clear product packaging leftover for the panels of the windows and cut it to shape and then glued it in place.

I liked the old apothecary set and used them as decorative elements on the bottom of the storefront and above the door as the number plate.

I added some Polly Filla to the top of the foam to connect all the bits and pieces together because I so did not measure anything correctly in any sense of the word.

Then I base painted the whole of the storefront black.

It kept toppling over on me, and in my infinite crafty wisdom, I added a sidewalk base.

I thought the Victorian elements looked a little Celtic, so I went with a green and gold Celtic feel to the storefront. Green base and gold elements. 

I used liquid gold-leaf on all of the chipboard elements. It's fantastic stuff, but it's stinky - like nail polish.

Then I textured and painted the sidewalk.

Check back with me on the 28th of October for pictures of the finished project!

Materials Used

Victorian Corners 1

Victorian Corners 2

Windows 4 Panel

Windows 6 Panel