Square Ink Pad Stand

Hi everyone!  Leigh Ann here today for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  I just received this square ink pad stand in the mail and was so excited I had to make it right away.

I decided I wanted to make it a horizontal stand rather than vertical so it could have an embellished side showing on my desk.  I started by cutting the paper that I wanted on the inside and adhered it to the side and bottom pieces first.  Then I did the same thing for all of the dividers.  I used 3 pieces of 12x12 paper for the inside.  It could also be painted, and probably would take less time.  When using paper, the slots for the dividers have to be cut out with a craft knife.

I sanded all of my paper edges and then inked the exposed edges.  Then I assembled the ink stand.  I used Beacon 3 in 1 glue for this.  You will want to use a strong glue for the assembly.  Once it was assembled I cut paper for the outside.  The ink stand is longer than 12 inches, so I made my seam towards the left edge where I knew it would be covered by embellishments and then continued to wrap the paper around the outside.  I sanded the edges and inked again after this step. 

Next I prepared my chipboard embellishments that I wanted to use.  I covered two butterflies from the Butterflies and Dragonflies set and a bee from the Medium Honeycomb and Bee set with white gesso and let them dry.  I embossed the butterflies with the new WOW! Sea Mist Colour Blend Powder.  I embossed the center of the bee with black powder, and used gold powder to cover the two flourish pieces.

Next I worked on the bee some more.  I embossed its wings with a glitter powder, then painted yellow stripes using the gold color from the Prima Rust Effect Pastes. I also used gold powder on a small crown for the bee.

I roughed up some cheesecloth and made a background for my embellishments.  I first added some leaves from my flower stash, then inked the gold flourishes and glued them on using some scrap chipboard to pop them up a little.

Example of how I used scraps to give some pieces dimension:

I inked a piece of paper rope to use as a body for the larger butterfly.  I also very slightly inked the centers of the butterflies. 

I used the same scrap method to pop up both butterflies and the bee.  I arranged them and some flowers to complete the front.  I also glued Prima knobs to the bottom to act as feet for the stand.

Thank you for visiting the blog!  I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. I used the following Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Products on this project:

Square Ink Pad Stand

Medium Honeycomb and Bees

Butterflies and Dragonflies

Feathery Flourishes

Little Crowns- Coming Soon

Let Your Imagination Take Flight and Build Your Dreams

Walt Disney once said, "if you can dream it, you can do it." For me, that is what this year has been all about. I have been reaching outside of my comfort zone to build the foundation for achieving my dreams. 

Actually, I have been going beyond more than just one comfort zone. I have been trying a lot of new things--from starting art product lines, to growing friendships and alliances in the art industry, to expanding the kinds of art I make to opening up about last year's health scare.

In essence, I am on a journey to build a new and improved Betsy. This journey is proving to be both exciting and a wee bit terrifying. This shrine represents what I hope my journey will become. Inside is a rough, lumpy, imperfect and sometimes dark place where ideas percolate and hard work to build a solid a foundation is underway. My hope is that by taking what I imagine and building my dreams, beauty, color and inspiration will spring forth. 

I am already seeing some exciting results. I am working with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and Emerald Creek to bring new products to the craft world. I can't wait for you to see them!

I attended Creativation this year and solidified what previously were virtual friendships and made many new friends as well. 

I agreed to join Eileen Hull's new Education Team, which has a roster of truly impressive artists. And to ensure fun and learning, I am meeting up with friends to take art classes. 

Another way I am reaching outside my comfort zone is daring to share a little of last year's health journey in an extended version of this post on my blog. 

So many wonderful things have happened this year--and to think it is only March. I wonder what the rest of the year has in store for me?

Tutorial How to Make the Build Your Dreams Shrine

Begin by using a strong adhesive to assemble the ATC Shrine with Feet. 

Cover the shrine and Vintage Bulb with texture paste. Let dry. 

While the shrine is drying, cut out the Hardware Silhouettes and paint with metallic gold paint. 

Dry with heat gun and add black distress ink.

Spray Tea Dye Distress Ink over the surface of the shrine.

Add layers of quinacridone nickel azo gold and burnt umber to the shrine, putting more of the burnt umber on the edges of the shrine.

Set aside one of the large screws to use on the top of the shrine. Adhere some of the other hardware pieces to the back of the shrine. 

Print two sets of butterflies, with one set being a mirror image of the other. Next you get to do lots of fussy cutting. For each butterfly, cut one original image and one mirror image.

I got a little immersed in the next parts and forgot to take pictures, but I think everything is self explanatory. 

Adhere white wire between two mirror images of a butterfly so that the butterfly has a front and back. Repeat this for eight butterflies. Gather four of the butterfly wires and twist them together at the base. 

Adhere the two groups of wire to the Hardware Silhouette screw that you set aside. I recommend using both a glue and a strong duct tape to keep the wire in place. 

Line up where you will place the screw on top of the shrine and mark where the two wire group bases will sit. Use a utility knife to gouge out two holes in the top of the shrine where you will embed the two wire group bases.

Use a strong adhesive to then adhere the screw and wires to the top of the shrine.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend! -Betsy

Great Stuff

ATC Shrine with Feet

Vintage Bulbs--

Hardware Silhouettes

Beacon Fabri-Tac

Texture Paste

Tea Dye Spray Distress Ink

Soot Black Distress Ink

Acrylic paint: quinacridone nickel azo gold, burnt umber and metallic gold

Duct tape

White wire

Butterfly prints

nesting place

Hi everyone, it's Ann here today, sharing "nesting place" a project inspired by the start of spring. We have had glimpses of what is to come with some very warm days, which have  helped the daffodil bulbs begin to peek out of the ground. Spring is my absolute favorite season of the year and today marks its official start.

My "nesting place" is created using the Gypsy Soul Laser Cut mini shadowbox 3. This piece is fairly small, which was just the right size to house my nest and eggs. The mini house shadowbox 3 arrives in 6 pieces and requires simple assembly. For this project, I have also used tiny shingles standard on the sloped roof to give it an authentic house feel.

Once I have all the pieces laid out, I find the papers that I want to use to cover the sides and back of the house. I trace the outline of the (interior) surfaces to be covered and cut the paper to fit within the tabbed areas. This allows the pieces to fit securely together when assembling the house. When tracing the pieces to fit on the exterior surfaces, I keep to the outside edges. These pieces are adhered once the house sides and base are glued together. They will cover all of the joints to create a finished appearance at the edges.

While the box portion of the house is set aside to allow the glue time to cure, I begin work on the roof pieces. Both sloped chipboard pieces are painted brown, and while drying, I begin inking the shingle pieces. the tiny shingles standard are the perfect scale for this house. Each row is cut to the proper length and inked with brushed corduroy distress ink. This gives the look of real wood shingles. When the pieces are ready, they are layered onto the base. I begin at the eaves and layer each row on top of the next until I reach the peak of the slope. 

Note: one of the slope rectangular pieces is slightly longer than the other. When assembling, this piece extends above the second sloped piece at the peak. I attach the shingles to the second side and the last layer of shingles meets right at the roof ridge. 

A piece of thin dresden is adhered along the front edge of the slopes. This entire assembly is set aside to dry completely before being attached to the house.

I rub a small amount of gel stain into an old thread spool. When the stain has dried, I secure a piece of crocheted lace around the spool with distress collage medium. The spool is then attached to the center of the base of the house to raise it up. 

I twist some raffia and twig roping into a circle to create a small nest. I add a lot of glue to the base to keep the shape and set aside to dry. Three mini decorative eggs are coated with glue then covered with gilding flakes. These eggs rest at the center of the nest. 

A clipping sticker is cut to fit and attached to the rear of the house reading, "the pretty little birds chirped" and at the center of the bottommost house edge, a chit chat sticker reading, "home."

I hope you have enjoyed learning how I created "nesting place."

Maybe you are inspired to create your own spring project? If you do, the GSLC team and I would love seeing what you create! Please share it with us on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group on Facebook. You can find it here.Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today, 

I really appreciate it!

~Ann 

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts used:

tiny shingles standard

mini house shadowbox 3

Mice Like Candy, too.

Greetings! Lora here for the terrific Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and Part Two of Mice Like Candy Too. Today I am going to do the do the four remaining tags.
In the picture below, you can see the top row is what I did a couple of weeks ago and the bottom row are the four I am going to chat about today.

Most of the elements are the same - the background color, candy jars, dots and flowers all help with cohesiveness and tie all the tags together, making them a set.

I began with cutting out all the bits and pieces I may (or may not) use. I wanted some different mice and these cute little fellows fit in with the look I was going for. (I darkened up their color so they would pop a bit more) I cut out a bunch of circles and various sweets and jars and played with the mix until I got layouts I liked....

I started gluing my layers on starting with what will be in the background-the circles.

With a little daub of glue at the bottom of the mouse, I attached him to where I wanted him on the jar and then glued the whole piece down and attached the number, adding dots after everything dried.

 Next, the ribbon was added and glitter was used for a sparkly bit of detail. The flower was glued on as the last thing.

Not a difficult project, but I think they are so cute. I decided that I did not want to make a banner of them as a friend of mine is having a little baby shower for her grand daughter and we are going to use them for place cards for the table. Now I have to make a 'few' more!

SUPPLIES:
Small Tag Set
Faux Metal Number Plates

Bo Bunny Double Dots Vintage Pink Punch and Cotton Candy
Bo Bunny Sweet Moments
Mouse Collage images came from Digital Antiques (Etsy)
Acrylic paint
Silk Flowers
Green silky ribbon

For the supplies I used on the Mice Like Candy set #1, click HERE
Thank you for stopping in!

Spring toadstool fairy exploding canvas

Hi Everyone,
Jess here today.  The weather has been so nice here.  Flowers are blooming and pretty soon we will start seeing the baby ducks in our little neighborhood lake.  It's also the time of year when I start to make fairies.  Ah, who am I kidding I love to make fairies all year round!

A couple years back I made an exploding canvas and I totally loved the process.  I decided it was time to make a new one and this time I gave it a little twist.  I knew I wanted a tiny fairy so my canvas had to be small  too.
I started by covering a 5x5 canvas with Tim Holtz Collage paper.  I used collage medium to adhere it to the canvas and coated the top too.  I dried it with a heat gun.  Once the collage paper was dry I used texture paste and a flower stencil to add detail to the top and bottom corners.

I sprayed the canvas using Distress Oxide Spray in Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, and Iced Spruce.

 I added paint splatter in black(Distress Black Soot) and gold(Dina Wakley Ancient).   I used Distress Crayon in Lucky Clover to enhance the texture paste flowers. At the end I decided to add a bit of Worn lipstick and Picked Raspberry Crayon to the flowers too. 

Once the paint was dry I flipped the canvas over and used a different collage paper to line the inside of the canvas.  I blasted it with the heat gun and then cut the canvas up.  You can see the cut lines.  This is the scariest part of the whole process, but the outcome is fabulous.  

Before I started prepping my canvas I took the Mini Shadowbox set and put together a couple of the boxes I thought might fit into the frame.  Once I had one that fit right I started working on the canvas.  I didn't want to get this far into the thing just to discover that what I thought it would look like in my head would not work out at all. 

After the canvas was cut I glued the pieces to the front of the canvas creating an opening.  

For the hollow, I wound up using the smallest of the shadowboxes.  The fun thing about the box this size is that it doesn't take much paper to cover it.  I spritzed a manila tag with Worn Lipstick Oxide Spray and let it air dry.  The air drying seems to make it oxidize a bit better(it also could be my imagination).I gave it a quick mist of water on either side and ran it through my 3d Kaleidoscope  embossing folder.  This one tag covered the entire outside of my box with some to spare! I sanded the tag a bit and added some Distress Crayon in Gathered Twigs to highlight the raised areas.  

For an added detail I ran metal plumbing tape through my impresslit folder.I colored it using gold, latte, and caramel alcohol inks.   

I cut the manila tag to cover the outside of the shadowbox I used the faux dresden to cover the edges.  The edge of the dresden is the perfect size to cover the edge of the chipboard. 

The inside of the box was lined with paper and washi tape.  I really just wanted the little flowers to peep through in the back there.  I added some spun cotton toadstools, moss, and a teeny paperdoll.  The new Tim Holtz  wings work perfectly on this guy.  

To finish the canvas I colored seam binding using the Worn Lipstick Oxide spray and a bit of Tea Dye Distress Spray.  I made a fluffy bow and added a word band. In the top corner, opposite from the bow, I added a flower cluster with some additional moss.    

Happy Spring! 

Jess