Hand painted Little Bird Box

When I painted this wee Little Bird Box I imagined it hanging on a gypsy caravan. Thanks to Gina, the Big Boss of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts for letting me play with your really cool stuff!

 Started with this.....

I glued the sides and bottom on the back and painted the inside white. You don't really have to paint the inside, but making it white reflects a little light and makes the inside a little bit brighter.

I glued on the front and top and painted the whole thing with a coat of gesso.

I made a hanger for gluing on the back out of some 20 gauge black wire I got from the hobby store  (the big loop is for hanging and the small loop is there to give the glue more wire to stick to, making the piece more sturdy) and glued it on the back of the bird box, making sure it was centered.

After the glue dried, I painted the whole box black. I used Liquitex Mars Black.
And painted the edges an emerald green.

I began painting the center flower by painting petals at north, south, east and west and then filling in the other petals. This makes the spacing even and pleasing to the eye.

Once this parameter is established as a guideline, I just kept painting with the green, then added touches of yellow and lastly, little dots of white.
After all the paint dried, I began to glue the craft leaves on the back of the bird box.

I glued the leaves on making sure they were centered, then put something with a little weight to it on top of the bird box to press the leaves down, making them dry flat.

Voila! Ready for hanging!

Thank you for dropping by!

SUPPLIES:
Little Bird Box
20 gauge wire (or any wire you have handy)
Acrylic paint
Leaves for the back......I used clothe ones, but paper would work great.

Make a little birdhouse in your soul

Hi Everyone, 

Today's post comes to you from a mistake.  Yep, I know it's hard to believe! I thought I might try doing something cute.  I painted my bitty birdhouse with little bitty flowers and then it sat on my desk.  It sat on my desk for almost two months.  I finally decided that if it had sat there for that long I needed to change it to make it more my style. 

Can we just talk about how stinkin' cute these birdhouses are?!  They are so tiny.  I covered mine with Charred Gold Embossing Powder.  Before it made it's way to the final project I did paint the front edge of the roof black.  

Once I had the house covered I was inspired by the They Might Be Giants song "Birdhouse in your Soul."  

My little dude has his birdhouse and the little soul sticker.

The Bird (my blue canary) got a very light layer of paint that I just rubbed on with my finger.  

He was then coated with Embossing Powder. 

He got some brown ink smooshed on him before he was placed on the music flashcard.  

The corner needed something to balance the piece and this Art Deco Corner was perfect.  I covered it with Embossing Powder and while it was still hot I pushed my art rag on it.  When I pulled it off it lifted some of the powder right off some areas and smushed it in other areas. It looks awesome and gives a great aged look to your pieces.  A bit of ink finished the corner. 

I hope this makes you as happy as it makes me.  Remember don't ever toss something you think you might have messed up.  You can always repaint, emboss, stamp, or use more paper to fix your experiments.

Jess.

GSLCuts items used:

Bird 

Birdhouse

Art Deco Corner

Spring chics

 Hi Everyone,
I have some sassy birds for you today.

I started by coating my tag with a layer of collage medium and add bits of ripped tissue wrap.  Next I scribbled a light layer of  Distress Crayon in several colors.

In the one you see here I used colors that reminded me of a sunset.  I placed a stencil over the tag and rubbed away some of the crayon using an almost dry baby wipe.

I buy the cheapest baby wipes I can find.  They tend to be rough and pretty dry(not exactly what you'd want to use on a baby's bottom, but awesome for crafting). For the final step on the tag I added speckles of black and gold paint.  I also used some gold paint and just smeared it with my fingers.

Obviously, this is a close up of one of the other tags, but you can see the speckles. 

I took one of the bird nests from the For the Birds set. I inked the top part using brown Distress inks. The bottom piece is embossing using a sand color.

I cut out a vintage lady and plopped her in the nest.  I decided the tag needed a bit more interest so I used a stencil and distress crayon to make the tracks down the side. Once the sentiment was added I randomly scribbled around on the tag.

I decided she needed some friends so I made a couple more tags using the same technique and different bits of the For the Birds set.

I hope you like the girls and try to make some of your own!

Jess

Indoor Fairy Garden Tutorial by Nichola

It's the first Friday of the month and I have a brand new project and tutorial just for you! This month I'll be sharing how to create your own little indoor fairy garden.

This sweet little cobble stoned garden uses Gypsy Soul's Cottage Base and measures just 9" square. It's a nice size to work on because you can put a lot of detail in that little space, but it's not an overwhelming size to fill or display.

One of the very nice things about this project is that you can absolutely personalize it to make it your own. I've chosen Gypsy Soul's 1:24 scale arbor and Tiny Birdhouse as accessories, but don't let that limit your choices! There are loads of possibilities and you should absolutely make your wee garden to suit your own tastes.

In my example I've used the Cobblestone texture sheet to create the garden path. Again, don't feel limited by my choice. There are loads of interesting texture sheets to choose from, as well as a brick wall sheet that would be ideal.

So, start collecting little garden bits and bobs, teeny flowers and twigs, and let's make an indoor fairy garden!

Cottage Base1:24 scale arbor
Tiny Birdhouse
Cobblestone
Acrylic gel medium
Acrylic paint
Tea and coffee grinds
Sheet moss
Twigs and sticks
Little faux flowers, leaves
Misc. accessories

The Crows Clock by Nichola

Clocks have always fascinated me. Mantle clocks, wall clocks, clock towers, grandfather clocks. They give measure to the passing of time, keep us in order, but there's something quite mystical about them too.  

I thought of making a cuckoo clock for a while. Shortly after making the 'Goblin Throne' last month, a crow perched outside my window and nudged me to make a 'Crow's Clock' instead of a clock of the cuckoo variety. Who am I to argue with a crow?

The base of the clock is one of my favourite products from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, the 3 Story House. It's a great size to work with and I think it's practically perfect as a clock body. I carved out an arch on the front and framed it with an Reliquary - Tower Top.

Lace and Shell Border Sticks are used as edge embellishments and shingles for the roof.  For the
Little Bird House at the top, I used Dresden borders to repeat the patterned edge. At the tippy top you can see a wooden round thing... that's a vintage French lottery number, but don't worry if you don't have one of those in your stash, you could easily trade it out for one of the pieces from the Faux Typewriter Keys Symbol Set. Those cute leafy frame and filigree bits are these Fanciful Elements.

The clock does work and I've used the mechanism from the Desk Clock Standard. I did replace the hand with this Clock Hands Shape Set and swapped out the numbers with a frame from this Hanging Clock Set. Totally not necessary to replace all those parts, but I like the way all these pieces fit together.

Cuckoo clocks have weights in the shape of pine cones that drive the clock. Although my clock isn't weight driven, I wanted to include this traditional element by adding some real pine cones on a length of chain, along with some oak leaf charms.

 

This is a such a great project if you like adding embellishments and borders and you could go totally over the top if you wanted. If you'd like to make your own, check out my video that tells "The Tale of the Crow's Clock" and how it came together. 

Here are the supplies I used in my Crow's Clock

3 Story House

Reliquary - Tower Top.

Desk Clock Standard

Clock Hands Shape Set

Hanging Clock Set

Border Sticks 

Little Bird House

Faux Typewriter Keys Symbol Set *alternative suggestion*

Fanciful Elements

Black Dresden Trims

Old music papers

Brass chain and charms
Masking Tape
Paint
Glue