Spool Bird Houses

Hi there!  Cherry here at the Gypsy Soul Laser blog.  Every time I work with these amazing pieces I truly fall in love.  These little Tiny bird houses are just so sweet.  I assembled three of them and paired them with vintage wooden spools.  

 Each one was painted with red chalk paint and distressed and inked.  I then added some pattern papers to the roofs.  Great way to use up those little paper scraps we just can't part with. 

 I wound each spool with twine and added Flower Stackers  to the base of each one.  Little banners were cut and hand-stamped with sweet sentiments and added to the spools with stick pins. 

 I also stacked them and added them to the roof of each bird house.  They were painted with white chalk paint. 

 I also added plates from the  Keys and Plates set.

A few red buttons were added and I was done.  I hope you enjoy!  Hugs, Cherry

:Gypsy Soul Laser Cut Supplies Used:

Tiny Bird Houses

Keys and Plates Set 

Flower Stackers 

Bronzino Beauties

I love the portraits of Bronzino. He lived his whole life in Florence (1503-1572) and was mainly the court painter for the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who happened to be a very powerful Medici, so there are many Bronzino portraits of the Medici family scattered throughout museums around the world. I particularly like his portraits of women. They are so finely done, rich and detailed and studying the faces of these ladies, I can really see their personalities come through the paint. And the jewelry.....holy 24 karats, Batgirl!
Let's just say Bronzino had embellishing down to, well , a fine art. (see what I did there?)

Here's how I started out....
I began with my usual routine of giving everything a good coat of gesso. Sigh....I do love gesso.
I wanted the Triptych-Tower Top to stand out in contrast with the color I was planning on using, so I painted everything that was going to show, black.

I began playing with the layouts of the ladies, moving things around to the spaces I felt they looked best, keeping in mind that there were going to be a bunch of contrasting watercolor flowers behind them.

I also connected the back pieces together using my favorite linen hinging tape and painted it black.

I painted the back completely black after the front dried.

After fussing around with composition some more, I decided that the black background was a bit too heavy and needed some relief, so I painted the top part of the black background gold where the pierced top of the towers show through.

After gluing down my cut-out images of the ladies and flowers to the back side of the front frame, I then glued the whole shebang on to the corresponding backs. I piled some weight on the piece to make sure they dried flat.

 I 'beefed up' the jewelry the ladies are wearing by using Liquid pearls and adding flat back crystals. Then I painted some gold detailing around each frame, added some metal embellishments and gave it a good few hours to dry well before I touched up any gold paint. I also made sure that there were no bits of white peeking out of the side of the piece and touched up the black where I need to.

SUPPLIES:
Triptych-Tower Top


Additional supplies:
Acrylic paint
Gesso
Liquid Pearls
Bronzini Portraits
Floral collage sheets
Metals embellishments
Linen Hinging tape
Crystals

Thank you for stopping by!

Salvaged Heart Reliquary

Hi Everyone,
Jess here with a little shrine for you.  I have to tell you that I am REALLY bad at taking photos when I am creating.  I sit down with good intentions every time and then about 3/4 of the way through I say many swear words for forgetting to take photos, yet again.  

Here are a couple shots of the completed project.  I just love how the chipboard can take layers and layers of paints and inks.  

I painted the back panel using Ten Second Studios Patina Paints.  I stippled some Dina Wakley Umber around the area where the heart sits.  The top of the piece is painted with cheap craft store paint in a pale turquoise.  I added Perfect Pearls to make it darker in areas.  I topped the whole thing with Stained Glass paint in Aqua from Tattered Angels.  The back piece is very flat.  It looks like aged metal.  The top has a very fine gloss to it.    

The heart and flame are from Relics and Artifacts.  I covered the heart with tissue wrap and used a gel medium to adhere it to the heart.  I painted the flames with various metallic colors and used the Umber paint to dull it a bit.  The heart has various distress colors on the side and then a coat of the Stained Glass Paint.  The front of the heart has gold Perfect Pearls on it.  

I promise to take more pictures for my next project!

Jess

Reliquary- Arch top

Steampunk Expedition Greeting Card by Ginny

Hey there Paper Peeps!  I've got a little steampunk inspiration coming your way inspired by some gorgeous masculine papers with hot air balloons. I pulled out some of my favorite steampunk chippies from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and loads of mixed media supplies and beautiful flowers.

Here's a look at how I altered the chippies....

The most important thing is to select chipboard that will enhance your project.

Even if I'm going to finish the chippies with dark colors I base coat them in flat white paint.

I used a very thick coat of Iron Paste from Pentart and allowed to dry. Next I globbed on 3D Matte Gel from art basics to add a lumpy bumpy texture, then heat set to encourage the bubbling.

Using a cosmetic sponge I dabbed and smooshed on loads of alcohol inks.

I finished up the card with flowers, micro beads and twine.

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts~ Hot Air Balloons Net Style, Hanging Clock Set, Steampunk Shape Set.
Okay that's all for me. Wishing all of you a happy and productive day : ) G

"Ooh La La" Candy Treasure Chest by Pam Bray

Good morning my chipboard loving friends! I am so glad that you stopped by today to see my "Ooh La La" Candy Treasure Chest that I created using Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Treasure Chest. It is extremely easy to recreate since I kept all the chipboard that I used to embellish in their nature state.

But, first.... start by adding card stock to the base of the Treasure Chest.

Attach sides to base using adhesive; hold together with small pieces of washi tape. Adhere pattern paper to inside of Treasure Chest.

Add pattern paper to outside of prepared Treasure Chest. Adhere small chipboard pieces to sides of Treasure Chest; adhere pattern paper strips to the chipboard strips.

Add beads to the bottom of Treasure Chest to form height and interest to the candy dish.

Adhere pattern paper to Treasure Chest lid.

Adhere Victorian Corners and Stackable Labels Shape Set to top of prepared Treasure Chest,

Add clear bead and bow to top of Treasure Chest.

Fill "Ooh La La" Treasure Chest with candy. Glue flowers and lock to top and sides of Treasure Chest.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope I have inspired you to re-create your own "Ooh La La" Candy Treasure Box or even make a gift box out of it. Hugs Pam

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Supplies:

Treasure Chest

Victorian Corners

Stackable Labels Shape Set

Other Supplies:

BoBunny Ooh La La Paper Collection

Green and Clear Beads

Paper Studio Metal Arrow and Lock

Paper Studio Flowers

MayArts Green Crinkle Ribbon

Xyron Adhesive

Scotch Quick Dry

Green Card Stock

Washi Tape

St. David's Day

St. David is the Patron Saint of Wales  in the UK and it is on March 1st.

The Welsh flag is a red dragon on a green and white background, and also in the UK we have a different flower that represents each  country  that make up the United Kingdom, the flower for Wales is a Daffodil.

This is the finished product which has quite a few embellishments from Gypsy soul laser cuts.

I began by deciding what to put on the card and selected various embellishments:

These were the lovely ornate frame, which I have already gessoed, a dragon, various flowers

 from the flower stackers and I also decided half way through that I would add a label from the stackable label set.

I gessoed all the embellishments and left them to dry, so whilst they were drying I made the daffodils with the use of my Silhouette cutting machine which my daughter (Angela Drummond)had very kindly given to me.

Once the embellishments were dry I decorated the flowers with paper from my stash, the dragon I painted red and the frame I painted yellow (just because I wanted too), then the label I painted red and added letters cut with the Silhouette to read St. Davids Day. Any paint or ink can be used for this, it is really up to you as to which one you prefer.
                                                         

 I embossed some green and white Creative Expressions foundation card with one of my folders (I'm sorry but I don't know whose make it is, but any one that you have got will do)and stuck this to a piece of card again from my stash as it is only to hold the two pieces of card together.

All that was left to do was put the rest of the card together with the addition of some flat back pearls, a dark one for the dragons eye and lighter ones for the middle of the flowers and some red foundation card for a border.

Thank you for taking a look at my card and I hope that you will take a look at the web site www.gslcuts.com for a huge variety of "Goodies" to give you inspiration.

                                               
                                                                            gslcuts.com embellishments

                                                                             Elaborate frame

Dragons from the dragons shape set

Flowers from the flower stackers set

Labels from the stackable labels shape set. 

           

      

Romantic Card by Sandy Trefger

Hi everyone! Sandy here with my second project this month for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  I know that Valentine's Day is over for this year but I was still in the mood for one more romantic card.  This one could be easily used for any occasion as I left it blank with no sentiment.  This is a much larger (6"x6") and thicker card than I normally create but I do love some pretty flowers and elements now and then.  Of course, it makes it near impossible to mail a card like this but then there are times when one does hand deliver for a special occasion.

Despite all of it's details, this card is really quick and easy to create.  I've written up a Snapguide Tutorial with photos for you.

Check out How to Create a Romantic Card by Sandy Trefger on Snapguide.

Here are the supplies that I used to create my card:

• Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Deco Frame 6" D84C
• Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Buttlerflies & Dragonflies D69A
• Nuvo Embellishment Mousse Platinum Silver & Pink
• Wow! Embossing Powder, Pink
• Embossing Ink Dabber
• Pink Prima or Petaloo Flowers
• Piece of Vintage Lace
• Button Twine
• Pink Flat Back Pearls
• Leaf or Decorative Stick Pin
• Beacon 3-in-1 Glue
• White Cardstock

I hope I've inspired you to create a romantic card using any of the wonderful Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts frames available in the store.  I will be back with another project on March 1st, until then...

Happy Crafting!

~Sandy

Please feel free to visit my blog website at www.sandytrefger.blogspot.com for more of my crafty ideas.