Tribal Tidal Pools-A Peek-a-Boo Project

As stated in previous blog posts I have traveled to both Chemanius, British Columbia and Dublin, Ireland. En Route to Dublin we stopped by Giant's Causeway, known to the Irish as the 8th Wonder of the World.  It is a promontory of hexagonal, basalt columns along 4 miles of the northern coast of Northern Ireland, the results of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. While in British Columbia I was intrigued by the Totem Poles located there. These are the inspiration for this artwork.

1.  Gather Supplies.

2.  Randomly Paint the Planet Earth Mixed Media Chips-Coral Wreath with  Golden Acrylic Paints in  Shades of Red and Orange. I used Cadmium Red Medium Hue, Pyrrole Red, and Vat Orange.

3.  While Paint is Still Wet Sprinkle with Chili Powder, Ice Enamels-Garnet, and Mixed Media Embossing Power-Scarlet.

4.  Cure With a Heat Tool

5.   Cut Three Bookboard Panels Measuring Six by Five and Half Inches.

6.   Cut Three Pieces of Embossed Wallpapers in Shades of Blue and Green Measuring Six by Five and Half Inches.

7.   Use Weldbond to Glue Wallpaper to Bookboard Panels-Roll Down Flat Using a Brayer. 

8.  While Panels Dry Use Wooden Grain Embossing Folder, Water Bottle Sprayer,  and Sizzix Big Shot Embossing Machine To give a Textured Look to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Tribal Dolphin, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Tribal Jellyfish,  and Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Tribal Turtle.

9.   Paint GSLC Tribal Critters with Golden Raw Sienna, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Sap Green, and Van Dyke Brown Hue. Making Them Look Like Charred Wood.

10.                Use Sanding Blocks to Distress Edges of Prepared panels.

11.                Distress Further Using TH Distress Stains-Rusty Hinge, Bundled Sage, and Iced Spruce.

12.                Add More Patina by Using Viva Decor Ferro Metallic Paste Celtic, Steelblue, Red Oxide Paste,  and Thick Mud Acrylic-Russian.

13.                Use Weldbond to Attach Coral Wreaths and Tribal Critters to Panels.

14.                Dry Flatten and Weighted Down.

Some Final Thoughts.

This is closer look at these animal totems from the website Spirit Animal.

The turtle totem wisdom teaches us about walking our path in peace and sticking to it with determination and serenity. Slow moving on earth, yet also incredibly fast and agile in water, those who have the turtle as totem or spirit animal may be encouraged to take a break in their busy lives and look around or within themselves for more grounded, long-lasting solutions. Traditionally, the turtle is symbolic of the way of peace, whether it’s inviting us to cultivate peace of mind or a peaceful relationship with our environment.

Turtle Symbolism

The turtle symbolism is characterized by the association with the Earth and earth symbols of groundedness and patience:

• Symbol of the world, of the Earth
• Ability to stay grounded, even in moments of disturbances and chaos
• Slowing down, pacing yourself
• Determination, persistence
• Emotional strength and understanding
• Ancient wisdom
  
  

The dolphin spirit animal represents harmony and balance. Dolphins are both highly intelligent and closely in tune with their instincts, striking a balance between the two states. Dolphins are also a symbol of protection and of resurrection. Their playful nature is a reminder that everyone needs to approach life with humor and joy. People who identify with the dolphin totem are usually peaceful and gentle, but with a deep inner strength.

Dolphin Symbolism

The dolphin is a complex animal and has had many different meanings attached to it throughout history, including:

• Peace and harmony
• Protection
• Playfulness and joy
• Resurrection
• Inner Strength
• Cooperation
  
  
  
  

Jellyfish might symbolize various things. They are a symbol of protection, but also of caution. They can symbolize emotions, sensitivity, flow, faith and trust.

They are also a symbol of inner strength, power, organization, challenges and delegating duties. Jellyfish also signifies acceptance, softness, transparency, drifting and simplicity.

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Tribal Dolphin, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Tribal Jellyfish, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Tribal Turtle, Planet eARTh Mixed Media Chips-Coral Wreath, Golden Acrylic Paints , Shades of Red and Orange-Cadmium Red Medium Hue, Pyrrole Red, Vat Orange, Chili Powder, Ice Enamels-Garnet, Mixed Media Embossing Power-Scarlet, Bookboard Cut to 6 by 5.5 Inches, Prepared Embossed Wallpaper in Shades of Blue and Green, Brayer, Wooden Grain Embossing Folder, Water Bottle Sprayer, Sizzix Big Shot Embossing Machine, Golden Acrylic Paints-Raw Sienna, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Sap Green, and Van Dyke Brown Hue, Sanding Blocks, Distress Stains-Rusty Hinge, Bundled Sage, and Iced Spruce, Weldbond, Viva Decor Ferro Metallic Paste Celtic, Steelblue,  Red Oxide Paste, Thick Mud Acrylic-Russian

 

 

 

 

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!

Beside The Seaside ATC Coins

Hello everyone!  Today I have a quick and easy summertime project to share with you, and it is this little set of seaside ATC Coins.

 Getting Started

First of all prep your ATC coins by giving them a coat or two of white gesso on both sides and also around the edge of each coin.  I only need four coins but I prepped an extra one just in case.

I am also using these coin covers that have a seaside/nautical theme and they need to be prepped in the same way.

Once they were dry, I got started on the next step.

Ocean Backgrounds

To make the backgrounds, simply drip some alcohol inks onto the gessoed ATC coins.  I used a few different ocean/sea colours of blues and turquoises.



To get the alcohol ink to move around and mix, use a cotton bud to drip some surgical spirit (aka rubbing alcohol) on to the inks and let them do their thing.  You can also add more ink on top until you are happy with the result.  Leave them to dry which takes no time at all.

Heat Embossing

Now it was time to work on the covers.  I used an embossing ink pad and white embossing powder to cover the ATC coin covers, and then melt the embossing powder with a heat gun.

Assembly

Once everything is dry, use some PVA glue to adhere the covers to each ATC coin. Use something heavy to hold them in place while the glue dries.

Finishing Touches

Once your covers and coins are complete, you might want to paint around the outside edge to hide any unpainted chipboard or do any touch ups.  Or you can also heat emboss the edge using the same white embossing powder.

And that's the finished coins ready for use!   Let me know what you think in the comments!

Till next time,

Elle
Empire of the Cat

Project Recipe:

ATC Coins D81M
ATC covers Beach C10S
white gesso, white embossing powder, embossing ink, alcohol inks, surgical spirit, PVA glue, cotton buds, heatgun

Fairy Tale Courtyard Bedroom

Happy Saturday, everyone! I have something rather charming to share with you today. I took a brand new piece from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts - the Porch and Courtyard Box and turned it into a fairy tale setting. This structure screams to be turned into a garden setting of some sort with lush plants and flowers, a bench, maybe a fountain but I went another direction. When I figured out that a GSL Bed Standard 1 to 12 fit on that upper level it was only going to be a fairy tale setting for me.

This project started with the bed, which came out oh so adorable.

I gave the headboard, footboard and side slats a coating of gesso as primer.

Once it was assembled using tacky glue it got a few coats of white acrylic paint.

The bedposts were made from lengths of ¼ inch dowel topped by ¾ inch wood ball finials and painted white to match the bedframe.

These posts were attached to the frame with E6000 glue for extra hold. I decorated the headboard with flatback resin flowers, leaves & rhinestones.

Two kinds of mattresses were made for the bed - thin and thick. The thin ones were simply a layer of quilt batting sewn between two layers of fabric. The thick ones involved no sewing at all. I had some squishy packaging material in my stash that I cut into rectangles. I wrapped some fabric around those and glued it in place. A clothespin held the fabric in place while the glue dried.

 Dowels and E6000 were used to make a ladder for the bed.

 Pretty dang cute!

I used papers from DCWV Dark Fairytale for the upper bedroom level. The wooden floor paper is from Bo Bunny's Garden Party.

The structure has two slatted porch sections. Those were painted in a medium gray and glued in place.

Here is the upper level assembled. I painted the left wall in a soft gray. That massive stained glass detail is also from Dark Fairytale. 

The stone floor paper that I used is from the Reminisce - Wizard 102 Collection. You'll notice the stairs are tabbed directly into the left side wall.

To facilitate that, slots were cut through the stained glass paper after it was glued into place.

The Porch and Courtyard Box also comes with a lattice piece that covers the entire upper section (shown below). I left it off so that the bed could be accessed as this is going to a little girl who will need to tuck a princess doll into bed at night. Had I gone in a different direction for this piece, I was considering hanging a chandelier from the lattice, and maybe also some ivy. So many options!

A bedroom window was fashioned from a GSL Reliquary – Arch Top. I only used the frame layer, which got painted black. The starry night paper is from Graphic 45's Happy Haunting collection.

Some artwork was added to the wall using one of the new GSL Miniature Picture Frames.

A tiny flower arrangement was made in pretty much the same way full sized ones are. I cut a tiny piece of floral foam and inserted tiny paper flowers. It reminded me of the flower arranging classes my mom took when I was a kid. 

The floral arrangement went onto a vintage rattan dollhouse table. I added a friendly frog underneath.

Downstairs there was just enough room to feature a table set for a feast. I used a GSL Gothic Trestle Table 1:12 Scale.

Once painted and assembled, I topped it with a gray woodgrain paper surface.

The fun part... I got out my polymer clay and paper clay and put the TV on. It was fun researching medieval banquet spreads to see what all to make. Any questions just ask in the comments!

Since the bed has a whole princess and the pea vibe going on, I made sure to include a pea pod with a single pea missing from it.

Such a fun project, thanks for stopping by!

 

GSL Products Used

Porch and Courtyard Box (coming soon)

GSL Miniature Picture Frames (coming soon)

Bed Standard 1 to 12

Reliquary – Arch Top

Gothic Trestle Table 1:12 Scale

Other Supplies Used

Tacky glue

E6000 glue

Acrylic paint

Wooden dowels

Wood ball finials

Flatback resin flowers and rhinestones

DCWV Dark Fairytale

Bo Bunny Garden Party

Reminisce - Wizard 102 Collection

Graphic 45 Happy Haunting

Paper flowers

Vintage miniature rattan table

Toy frog

Polymer clay

Paper clay