Gardening at Night by Betsy Skagen

 Spring has arrived and gardens are blooming. But beware those cute little garden gnomes...for at night they turn the garden into a place where evil resides.

Under the cloak of night  these gnomes cast wicked magic upon your garden. Innocuous plants turn into man-eating beasts while the gnomes themselves cart body parts from nearby cemeteries into their gardens. What they do with them, one can only imagine...and shudder.

I had such fun making the "Gardening at Night" scene (which by the way gives a subtle nod to R.E.M., my all-time favorite band). It all began when I assembled the 7 x 7 Corner Room Box and painted it with gesso. I gave it a base coat of green paint and then began adding different layers.

Slowly I added layers of several greens, as well as yellow, brown and black acrylic paint-- to create a lush plant background. I used a heat gun to dry between each layer so as not to muddy the colors.

Next, I assembled the Planter Box with Trellis and Little Birdhouse. I painted the trellis with a mixture of yellow and white acrylic paints and painted the birdhouse sky blue. 

I then inked the edges of the trellis and birdhouse with brown ink and a blending tool to give them an aged appearance.  

After placing florist's foam inside the planter, I inserted the carnivorous plants that I made from clay.  I also added black paint to plastic greenery, dried moss and miniature flowers and added those to the trellis.

Finally, I painted  a miniature bird with black paint and added it and the birdhouse to the trellis.

To make the wheelbarrow, I first assembled it all but the axle and wheels and painted it green. I then painted the axle green, the wheels brown and completed the assembly. 

Next, I cut apart a small plastic skeleton  and shortened the rib cage and limbs to create a more gnome-like shape. I then reassembled the skeleton using a strong adhesive.

Scraps of blue striped fabric made the perfect pants and I quickly turned a red circle of felt into a hat.

I painted doll limbs with brown paint make them appear dirty and cut a rusty miniature snow shovel into the shape of a spade. After piling the wheelbarrow dried greens, I added the limbs, spade and mushrooms. 

It is the little details that really make the scene.

I aged miniature pots by smudging white paint with my fingers and painting moss with white paint before gluing it to the pots. 

On the base of the Room Box I created a curved pathway with black stones and surrounded it with green moss. I also added plants to the walls of the Room Box. 

Next, I created an entrance to the garden from tree branches from our yard. Sometimes I soak the branches to make them more pliable, but these were bendy enough that I was able to just use wire and hot glue to create the archway. 

I secured the archway in place by punching holes in the Room Box and securing the branches with wire on the back side.

To finish "Gardeing at Night" I glued everything in place and added additional details such as a gnome holding a skull, rope ladder, mushrooms and creepy trees.  

Thank you for stopping by the Gypsy Soul blog. I hope this tutorial inspires you to make your own Night Garden. Remember to keep an eye out for those wicked gnomes! -Betsy

Great Stuff

7 x 7 Corner Room Box

Wheelbarrow 1:12
Planter Box with Trellis
Little Birdhouse
Skeletons
Garden gnome
Rope ladder
Rusty shovel
Mushrooms
Moss
Stones
Plastic greenery
Artificial flowers
Miniature trees
Florist's foam
Doll parts
Miniature bird
Polymer clay
Wooden dowel
White cardstock
Gesso
Acrylic paint
Red felt
Fabric
Cotton ball
Tree branches and twigs
Wire
Brown ink
Beacon Fabri-Tac
Beacon 3-in-1
Hot glue gun

Come to Easter Tea by Betsy Skagen

Easter may be right around the corner, but even Peter Cottontail takes time now and then to enjoy the spring air in his outdoor kitchen and serve his friends tea, carrots and jellybeans.

Those not indulging in treats relax outside listening to the babble of the water fountain and smelling the blossoming flowers.

How to make the Miniature Easter Tea Outdoor Kitchen and Garden

Begin by covering all the pieces of the Cottage with Open Front  with a light coat of gesso.

Choose the springtime papers you want to use and cut to size. I chose to first give further dimension to the papers by dry brushing them with white acrylic paint.

Assemble the Cottage and adhere the decorative papers to the exterior and interior, cutting out the spaces for the windows.

Next, begin making your shelving unit. I used the extra archway leftover from my North Pole Altered Album.

Cut thin strips of chipboard and glue them to the sides of the arch. Use masking tape to hold the sides in place until the glue dries. Do the same to make shelving.

When finished, paint the entire shelf unit with white acrylic paint.

If you like, you can add tiny apothecary bottles to the shelves.

To make the photograph shown on the back wall, cut an image from the Easter Bunnies Collage Sheet and adhere it to a resin frame with glossy accents. When it is dry, fill the frame with more glossy accents to give the appearance of a glass plate.

To make the window frames, I cut and painted strips of balsa wood. However, Gypsy Soul Lasercuts offers much cuter chipboard window frames that I would have used if I had them on hand.

Next, make curtains by first painting two wooden dowels white. Then cut eight strips of fabric and glue them back to back to make four curtains. Gather the curtains and glue to the white rod, holding the gathers in place until the glue dries. Glue the window rods and curtains above the interior windows.

Glue the house to your foamcore base. Now you can add details such as table, chairs, fuzzy chicks, garland, bottles, vegetables and dishes. Did you notice the plate of jellybeans? How about the teas in the cups? I made both with Glossy Accents and Alcohol Ink.

Add cute bunny figures by cutting them from cardstock and use clear plastic packaging to create a stand for them.

Add white Dresden to the exterior base of the roof and tape miniature lights inside the roof. Don't forget a little birdie for the top!

For the exterior of the house, assemble, paint and attach a Little Bird House. Upcycle a dollhouse chair by painting it in pretty spring colors.  Next, sketch a pathway onto the foam core, fill with Beacon 3-in-1 glue and pour tiny pebbles over it. I first tried using Mod Podge, but it was not strong enough. After the glue dries, brush off any loose pebbles and fill in any holes.

Apply more glue to the remainder of the foam core and cover it with grass flocking. I added tiny flowers--some in the bud stage and some fully bloomed--around the rock circle.

How to make the water fountain. 

I originally got this idea from the amazing Laura Carson's ice fountain. Since my fountain needed running water, I ended up making many modifications.

My fountain began with a dollar store trophy, a plastic chess piece and some old packaging.

In this picture, I had already cut the handles of the trophy off. Next, I glued the two base pieces together with Beacon Fabri-Tac and sanded everything to make it less slick.

I first applied a coat of gesso then painted the fountain with tan acrylic paint. While it dried, I cut an office transparency sheet into little strips.

 I then used ink to color the strips blue.I then glued the strips to the top of the chess piece. When the fountain base was dry, I used green ink to add texture and to give a mossy appearance.

Next, I set the chess piece atop a higher surface and then added glossy accents to each of the strips. After coating the first strip with Glossy Accents, go to the strip opposite it to add Glossy Accents. Keep alternating sides of the chess piece where you add the accents so that one side does not get too heavy and topple over. 

After it is dry, temporarily set the piece inside the fountain to trim the strips to the needed length. Remove the chess piece and fill the bottom of the fountain with a layer of glossy accents and replace the chess piece. Let dry and continue adding layers of Glossy Accents until it reaches a water level that you like.

Great Stuff

Cottage with Open Front
Little Bird House
Arch piece from Fairytale Castle Mini Album
Apothecary bottles
Chipboard strips
Foam core base
Assorted springtime scrapbook papers
Faux wood panel scrapbook paper
Assorted Easter collage figures
Easter Bunnies Collage Sheet
Easter Greetings Collage Sheet
Eggs and Easter Collage Sheet
Two White Dresden Border Sampler Sets
Pink Paper Roses
Mini Rose Buds
Pink Rose Garland
Tiny glass bottles
Fuzzy chicks
Miniature garland
Miniature table and chairs
Miniature lawn chair
Miniature bird
Miniature flowers
Tiny pebbles
Grass/flower flocking
Miniature dishes
Miniature vegetables
Miniature frame
Transparency sheet
Toy trophy
Chess piece
Balsa wood
Old packaging
Fabric
Alcohol ink in assorted colors
Glossy Accents
Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive
Beacon Fabri-tac
Green ink
Blue ink
Gesso
Acrylic paint
Sand paper

Creating my own Winter Wonderland by Betsy

                                  Altered Art Winter Wonderland

I live in Minnesota. Cold and snow are a way of life. In fact, Minnesotans don't even think the weather is cold unless our nostrils freeze together when we inhale. (That's our own nostrils freezing together--our noses don't freeze to other random people's noses. Even though the extra body heat might be tempting, Minnesotans are too aloof to willy-nilly start cozying up to people walking down the street. Plus, just imagine people walking around with their noses frozen together. That's just weird.) Even though Minnesota winters often involve double-digit below zero temperatures and heart-attack inducing snowfalls, we currently are enjoying the warmest November on record. It is in the mid 70s here people.

The good news is that my solitary nose and the balmy weather has not stopped me from dreaming up some winter-themed craftiness, such as this Winter Wonderland Altered Art scene.

Tutorial to make Winter Wonderland

Since this will make a great holiday craft, I wanted to share with you how to make the Winter Wonderland Altered Art Scene.

Begin by assembling and gluing the joints of a 9" x 9" x 1" Cottage Base. Cover with white acrylic paint and let dry.

Before removing the excess chipboard, cover the bare branch trees with brown ink, the pine tree with green ink and the fence with black ink. Cut away the excess chipboard and assemble the deciduous trees.

Using the deciduous trees as a model cut a slit in one of the 6" pine trees from the top that extend about two-thirds of the way down the tree. Repeat on the second tree, except this time, beginning at the bottom. Slide the two trees together at the slot to create one three-dimensional tree.

Determine the placement of the trees, mark with a pencil and drill small holes through the Cottage Base.This is where you will run the lights for the trees. As you can see from the pictures below, originally I was going to wire the pine tree, but I later determined that the pine tree looked better without wires crisscrossing it, so I only wired the two deciduous trees.

Attach the trees and the fence using a strong glue. Then add the lights.

Next, assemble and paint the itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny bird house. Just look at how cute this thing is!

The next step is to add the snow to your base, fence and trees. Before the snow dries, add your deer.

Then, once everything is dry, add the birdhouse and cardinal.

You can house the battery packs for the lights beneath the cottage base. I pulled them out here so you can see them.

Great Stuff

Three 3D Chipboard Trees

Pine Tree Shape Set

Three Mini Wrought Iron Decorative Fences

Cottage Base

Little Bird House

Plastic Deer

Deco Art Snow Tex

Miniature Christmas Lights

Miniature Cardinal

White Acrylic Paint

Red Acrylic Paint

Beacon Fabri-tac

Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Black Soot Distress Ink

Forest Moss Distress Ink