Victorian Superstitions Shadowbox

Happy Saturday, everyone! The GSL Deco Front Shadowbox was just calling out to me to be lined in red and turned into something mysterious. After doing a little bit of research on Victorian era superstitions, I knew what I was going to do with it...

The shadowbox come in 6 pieces and is easy to assemble. After painting the ornate frame and exterior surfaces with black acrylic paint, I cut some Paper Studio red vellum paper to fit the box's interior surfaces. After outlining the joints in red sharpie (just to make sure the seams wouldn't show), I glued the paper in place. 

The box was assembled using tacky glue. I held everything together with rubber bands while the glue dried. 

The labels were printed onto a parchment colored sheet of Tim Holtz Idea-ology paper, then cut to size and distressed with a Ranger Ink pad in Vintage Photo. 

The mourning pendant was made from a snippet of doll's hair held in place with a ribbon, a small metal tin with a clear lid and a scrap of pretty scrapbook paper.

The bat is one of GSL's Creepy Critters that I painted with black acrylic paint. The eyes are bits from the inside of a glow in the dark garden stake that I took apart. These little things glow super bright! You could also use a dot of glow in the dark paint instead.

Here is a close up of the interior. The vapours are just a tiny bit of wool roving inside a glass bottle. The 'corpse eye coins' are video arcade tokens. The frog is a toy plastic one and the iron nails came from my husband's toolbox. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Gypsy Soul Items Used

Deco Front Shadowbox

Creepy Critters

Other Items Used

Tacky glue

Acrylic paint

Red Sharpie marker

Paper Studio red vellum paper

Tim Holtz Idea-ology paper

Glow in the dark bits

Metal tin

Ribbon

Doll hair

Miniature glass bottle

Roving

Arcade coins

Toy frog

Iron nails

Deco Front Shadow Box

Hi everyone!  Today I want to share a peculiar shadow box with you using Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts
Deco Front Shadow Box and Graphic 45's Olde Curiosity Shoppe Collection.  Of course, this is just my jumping off point.  Who knows where this will lead me.

Back of Box

Here is a diagram of the parts of a dovetail joint.  It's really easy, just pins and tails.

Cut paper to 6-3/4" square for the back of the shadow box, and four strips 1-1/4" by 6-3/4" for the inside of each side piece.  Glue each piece to the respective chipboard, leaving the dovetail pins and tails uncovered so they can be inserted into their respective openings, as shown.

Glue chipboard pieces together to form the box.

Ink up front of shadow box with Patina ink and heat emboss with Patina Oxide embossing powder.  Work in sections so you always have a part to hold onto.  

Repeat process for back side of frame.

Put glue on inside and outside of box pins and inside each of the tail openings.

Lay frame over them and push down on the pins to adhere frame to box.

When the glue dries, ink up the box pins showing through on the front and emboss with the Patina Oxide embossing powder.  I happened to have a reinker for my ink pad, and it made it easier to just ink and emboss the pins, but is totally optional.

You will still see the pins, but you could always continue adding embossing powder until it levels out.  However, I chose to leave it because most of it will be covered up by embellishments, and I kind of liked the texture and design it gave to the front.

Cut two  pieces print paper to 1-¾"x 7-¾" and cover two sides opposite each other, mitering corners, as shown.

 Cut two more pieces 1-3/4" x 7", glue to remaining sides of box, turning edges only, as shown.

Cut a piece of print paper to 7" square and adhere to back, as shown.  Edge box with Black Mixed Media ink pad.  Use heat tool to dry ink.

Use Glossy Accents on the bottles and clock bezels in and on the cabinet to bring them to life and add a bit of dimension.

Cut out the words "the Olde Curiosity Shoppe of Unusual Oddities" and layer it onto a slightly larger piece of black cardstock.  Adhere to inside along top edge with pop dots, as shown.

Fussy cut some images from the Graphic 45 paper.  I used Ultra Matte Varnish on the pieces because it adds strength to the paper and dries completely invisible.  I also added a layer of glossy accents to the legs in the jar at upper right in the photo.

Fussy cut a second shoe skate, curve it outward with your fingers and pop it up on top of the printed one using black foam squares or pop dots.  It's hard to tell in the photo, but I think you can see a shadow on the right side because I was shining a light inside the box from the left.  There is also a cut line showing on the right side of the skate because the paper is elevated by the foam dots.

To disguise the join between the two skate images, I fussy cut some additional leafy flourishes from the paper and edged each one with a Sepia Big Brush pen.

Then I carefully placed them over the edge of the skate to cover that cut line and add some cool dimension at the same time.

Cut apart the wrought iron border piece, as shown.  I used only two portions of what was left of my border piece.  Click on this link to see the entire Wrought Iron Set.

 Ink pieces with Black Mixed Media ink and heat emboss with Oil Rubbed Bronze embossing powder.  Repeat this process for the two corner pieces in the  set.

 

Put dots of glue onto the right side of the border piece, as shown below.

Place border piece under lip of box frame and sides.

Repeat embossing process for the two corner pieces in the Wrought Iron Set and adhere them to the inside edge of the frame, as shown.

Use a distressor tool to rough up the edges of the Olde Curiosity Shoppe sign.  Add Walnut Stain DS to the edges, then "water down" the color using the Antique Linen DS.

Use your fingers to shape the sign and glue it to the top of the frame, centering it over the opening.  I used clamps to hold the paper in place while it dried.

 Color some small ivory feathers with Peeled Paint and Antique Linen DS.  Use water to actually lighten the color.  The feathers will look like a hot mess, but they will dry back to their normal "fluffy" state.

See, I told you so!  LOL

Insert the feathers inside the shoe skate, as shown below.

I layered all the bottles and clock bezels in and on the cabin with Glossy Accents.  I recommend you do this just before bedtime or when you are taking a break to let the Glossy Accents dry.  I tend to forget it's there and inevitably stick my finger or arm or something into it.

I started adhering my remaining fussy cut pieces, as well as that last piece from the Wrought Iron Set which I placed just behind the lady.  I used a tiny wooden spool to elevate the larger flying pig, and a piece of a paper straw to elevate the smaller pig.  I also adhered the legs in glass piece to the right side of the frame (lower corner).

 To make the lamp that I placed above the jar with legs, I cut apart the sconce piece from the Fancy Lamp Post & Sconce Set Small.  The bottom of that is still useable as a corner piece.

I also chose four propeller pieces (one is hidden beneath the pile of embossing powder).  I inked all pieces, both sides, with Adobe Mixed Media ink and heat embossed them with the Chunky Rust embossing powder.  

To finish the lamp, I traced the lamp area onto a small piece of mica with a black sharpie marker.

I cut the mica out and glued it to the back of the lamp with Glossy Accents.  Then I glued it just above the jar with legs, as mentioned before,

The propellers were layered with small metal beads glued between them.  I found it was easier to glue a bead to the back of  each propeller and let it dry.  Then I would stack them on top of each other.  This photo also shows how I glued the tiny wooden spool to the back of the larger pig.

Here is what I mean.  I used a rusty screw piece from Prima on the very top propeller.

As you can see, the propellers were glued on either side of the Olde Curiosity Shoppe sign.

I fussy cut some butterflies from the paper and placed them randomly over the shadow box.  

Supplies Used:

GSL Deco Front Shadow Box
GSL ATC Stand
GSL Fancy Lamp Post & Sconce Set Small
GSL Wrought Iron Set
Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe paper collection
DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish
ColorBox Mixed Media Ink Pad (Patina) (Black) (Adobe)
Patina Oxide Baked Texture embossing powder (Seth Apter)
Chunky Rust Baked Texture embossing powder (Seth Apter)
Oil Rubbed Bronze embossing powder (Allure)
Tim Holtz Distress Stains (Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain)
Mini Mica Tiles (USArtQuest)
DIY Shop Paper Straws (American Crafts)
Mini wooden spool
Glossy Accents (Ranger)
3D Foam Squares (black optional)
Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue
Distressed Tool

Well, I hope you enjoyed all the photos and step-outs today.  Be sure to check out the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts shop to see what fun things you will be inspired to make.  And don't forget to share your projects with us on our Facebook Group Page.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!

Barbara

Snowflake Shawdow box

Hi and welcome to the blog today. It's Teresa here and I am sharing a gorgeous wintery shadowbox frame that I did for my daughter and her new husband.  He actually proposed to her high up on a snowy mountain last year so I thought this would be a nice gift to give them for their anniversary this year and to remind them of that very special day that started it all for them.

1. So to make this project you will start with the Deco Front Shadowbox.  I took apart all the pieces and wiped around the edges to clean them up and then started to glue it together.

2. Glue the sides to the base first and then let it dry.

3. Then glue on the top frame and let it dry too.

4. Then I painted the box inside with silver paint inside and on the back.  For the top of the frame I used a blue ink that matched my papers and let it dry. ( Using inks to stain the pieces keeps the edges cleaner and then you don't have any drips.)  Then I used a little chalk ink and just barely touched around the edges to first darken it and then add white to make it look like snow. ( See below)

5.  Then I added papers from the Kaisercraft Frosted collection to create a base for my picture inside the shawdowbox.  The 6x6 paper pad comes with borders and stickers so it was easy to create a simple design for the inside bottom of the frame.

6.  The snowflakes are from the Snowflake Shape Set and these I kept in the brown color to make it a little more rugged looking and not so girly.  The snowflakes in the set are beautiful and you can add little rhinestones like I did to make them pop more.

7.  And to finish it I added some adhesive letters from Ruby Rock-it and a few little word tags to add a little more wow to it.  Oh and the arrow is also from GSLC and there is a whole bunch of them in that set too so it's perfect to add to all of your other projects.

This was such a fun and easy project to make and these are great boxes to make up for gifts for the holidays too.  Imagine how fun for a wedding, a new baby or even for those special christmas memories you want to save.

Here is a supply list for you just in case ....

GSLC- Snowflake Shape Set

GSLC Arrows shape set

GSLC Deco Front Shawdow box

Kaisercraft Frosted Collection 6x6 paper pad

Ruby Rock-it adhesive alphabet letters

Gloss enamels shimmering silver

Folk art white chalk paint

Versamagic Aegean Blue and Ocean Depth

Prima chalk in white

scissors, paper trimmer and rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

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