Time Flies By-A Peek-A-Boo Project

It may have seemed this past year that we have been stuck in slow motion and that circumstances will never change. The new year has not brought the turnaround we’re hoping for and we once again may be feeling we will never see the light at the end of the tunnel or find our way to a new normal but I am going to try my hardest to hold on to hope and try to lift my spirits. These are the inspirations for today's artwork. 

  1. Use a paintbrush to quickly add Metallic Copper Lumiere Acrylic Paint to the GSLC Little Niche Pocket Watch.

2   2. Once it dry add texture and patina with dry brush technique using Golden Acrylic Paint. I used Titan Green Pale, Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold, and Green Gold.

  3. Assemble GSLC Little Niche Pocket Watch and glue together with Weldbond.

     4. Add included hanging portion so your creation can be displayed on a wall

  5. Choose decorative papers to add wallpaper and borders to the back portion of GSLC Pocket Watch Niche.

 6. Use Gold Leaf Rub'nBuff to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts 2" Bird Cage.

    7. Choose an image to glue to back of GSLC Cage-I chose a decorative hot air balloon.

8  8. Add a bit of cardboard to keep birdcage from directly glued to background.

9  9. Paint Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Rose Border with  Metallic Russet and Metallic Rust Lumiere Acrylic Paint.

   10.  Add detailing and patina with Neon Pink and Green Acrylic Paint.

    11.Cut and glue GSLC Rose Border to front of GSLC Pocket Watch Niche.

Some Final Thoughts.

I have a collection of "show hats" each season we design a new top hat for me to wear at our art shows. They often gave a steampunk appeal. I  have always loved Miley Cyrus, I think she is a very talented singer. I like how she can see any genre of music. I think her song "The Climb" is a wonderful anthem for us as we press on in hope.

 I can almost see it

That dream I'm dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head sayin'
"You'll never reach it"
Every step I'm takin'
Every move I make feels lost with no direction
My faith is shakin'

But I, I gotta keep tryin'
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments
That I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep goin'

And I, I gotta be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

Yeah

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Keep on movin'
Keep climbin'
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about — it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa, whoa, oh

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Little Niche Pocket Watch, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-2 Inch Cage with Solid Back, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Rose Border, Decorative Paper, Golden Acrylic Paint-Titan Green Pale, Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold, Green Gold, Metallic Copper Lumiere Acrylic Paint, Paintbrush, Weldbond, Gold Leaf Rub'nBuff, Cardboard Scrap, Metallic Russet and Metallic Rust Lumiere Acrylic Paint, Neon Pink and Green Acrylic Paint.

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!

Trifold photo frame

Hi everyone!

Myry again and today I'm gonna show you how to make a trifold photo frame using these superb Art Nouveau frames!

You'll see how easy it is!

Join the 3 cardstock pieces with the small lace pieces, one above and one below about 2cm from the edge. If your embellishments have volume, leave a good margin between cardstocks.

Choose carefully which will be the front and back covers, as well as the order when folding the trifold. Glue the ribbons behind the paper for the cover, one of them should be much longer than the other, so that it goes around the entire trifold to close.

As you can see one of the frames is in the back, my mistake! 

Now choose the order of the frames...

...and paint them, use texture paste... Try different things!

When the frames are completely dry, glue them on top of a piece of acetate of the same size. 

Now, you can leave a little more to the margins and make tabs or you can glue them as is but then you'll have to adapt your photo to fit it. Think wisely!

Once you have it clear, glue them in place and decorate!

And that's the end! Easy peasy!

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts items used:

Art Nouveau Frames 1-4

Other items used:

3 cardstock pieces (300gr): 14'7x15'5cm 

6 scrapbooking papers (6"x6"): 14,5x15'3cm

2 ribbons 

4 small lace pieces

Embellishments like flowers, die-cuts, sequins...

Scissors, glue and tape

Pink acrylic paint

Gesso, texture paste...

Garden Arbor Nook

Happy Saturday, everyone! Connie here with a pretty little scene I created inside a GSL Book Nook Box Small. This nook stands just 7 inches tall and is the perfect size to slip between paperback books. The hardest decision for this project was deciding what little scene to put inside.

I stared with a GSL Arbor 1 to 24 Scale. It comes with front and back arches, trellis sides, bench seats and slats which get inserted into the arches. I assembled it with tacky glue.

Once the glue dried, I painted the arbor with white acrylic paint. I used the GSL Cobblestone Path Stencil available over at Alpha Stamps. Since it's made from mylar, it's super durable. Once I figured out the positioning I liked, it was secured with painter's tape.

I used a spatula to spread texture paste through the stencil openings.

After carefully lifting the stencil, the cobblestones are beautifully set.

The background was painted gray while the stones themselves were painted white. I used tweezers to set mossy colored Flower Soft in glue between the stones.

The paper I used for the back wall is from an Alice in Wonderland themed collage sheet, with diamond grid scrapbook paper for the side walls and a sky paper for the ceiling of the nook.

The arbor was glued in place along with a little tea setting, some paper flowers and cheerful mushrooms cut from a floral pick.

Thanks for stopping by!

GSL Products Used

Book Nook Box Small

Arbor 1 to 24 Scale

Cobblestone Path Stencil 

Other Supplies Used

Tacky glue

Acrylic paint

Painter's tape

Texture paste

Flower Soft

Paper flowers

Miniature porcelain tea set

Mushroom floral pick

 

 

ATC Shrine For My Art Cards

Hi everyone, hope you are having a good week so far.  Today I am sharing this cute little ATC shrine that I made to display my favourite cards.

I will be using this ATC Shrine with Feet chipboard set which is BD12F in the shop.

I decided on my colours for the inside and outside of the shrine and started off by painting one side of the chipboards with white acrylic.  You can also use white gesso but I had some acrylic leftover and wanted to use it up.

Once that was dry, I gave the pieces a coat of this gorgeous turquoise iridescent paint, just one coat was enough.

For further decoration I added some shiny gold paint splatters and left it to dry.

Once it was dry on the turquoise side, I flipped them over and painted them black using black acrylic, two coats this time.

If you don't like watching paint dry :p you can use a hairdryer or a heat gun to speed up the process. Then it was time to do some stencilling!  I love the art nouveau feel of this stencil and thought it would look great in gold against the black.

I used a type of texture paste called icing paste but if you don't have any you could use any type of texture paste if you want a raised, textured effect, or gold paint if you don't want a raised effect.

Leave it to dry or again you can speed up the process with a hairdryer or heat gun.

I used some PVA glue to assemble all the pieces.  It's best to start at the bottom and work your way to the top as the side pieces have little slots that connect them to the bottom piece. If you do that first you won't have any problems, if you do it last then it will be difficult to get them in place!

Here's a closer look at the stencilled icing paste.

Once your Shrine is assembled, paint the front edges with black paint and touch up any areas that might need touch up.

The only thing left to do is add your favourite ATC or art card and decide where to display your shrine!

You can also see how to make these ATCs on my blog.

I hope you like this idea.  If so, you can find the ATC Shrine with Feet in the shop.

Till next time, 

Elle
Empire of the Cat

Ingredients:

ATC Shrine with Feet BD12F
acrylic paint
stencil and icing paste/texture paste
PVA glue