Lady Divina's Cupboard and a little bit extra

Lady Divina, (also known as Jane Chester) after years of palm reading and crystal ball gazing, has packed up her side show tent and retired to the countryside.
She found a lovely cottage with a view and spends lots of happy hours puttering away in the pretty little garden she's planted there.
If you are lucky enough to be asked to tea, Jane may take you on a little tour of her past.
Against a long wall in her parlor is a large old cupboard where Jane keeps the memorabilia of her past life, including her crystal ball collection and the many bits and pieces that tell the story of a rich, full life.

Most of the supplies for this piece came from Alpha Stamps including the cupboard. (though the black table was something MacGyver built for me using dowels and a piece of scrap wood)

After I assembled it, I gave it a rough coat of gesso. I left all the doors off so I could paint backs and fronts easily.

 I didn't have a good shade of red acrylic paint on hand, so I mixed some Primary Magenta and Mars Black and got a nice, rich color that I was a lot happier with.
I painted the areas that were not going to be papered and let it dry completely.
I decided where I wanted to put papers, measured and cut them out and attached them using Golden's Matte Medium. Just FYI, I'm not advertising for them, I just like the product!
I got so into what I was doing, I forgot to take pictures of this stage of the process so please forgive the lack of visual.
After all was dry, I attached the doors, glued on the brass embellishment and the clock face at the top and began painting the decorative gold detail.
I didn't have a plan, I just painted swirls, making sure that they were as close to mirror image as I could get each side.
Here's a tip though;
If you're right-handed, start on the left side and vise-versa. It's easier to imitate what you've done if you can see it without moving your hand and saves you from accidentally messing up what you've already done.
Also, I start at the top and after each left side stroke of the brush (I'm right-handed) I copy it as best I can on the right side.
So, in other words, I work from the top of the piece, from left to right, one stroke at a time.

For the lettering, I wrote it out on a piece of graph paper and placing the slip of paper above where I wanted the letters to go, I used it as a guide for spacing and placement.

I glued the knobs on and started adding little treasures. By the way, I did eventually find that missing hinge!

Inside the cupboard are all manner of tools for divining the future and reading the past, including a skull for phrenology reference, palm reading guides, astrology charts, Jane's crystal ball collection, a wheel of fortune, a 'third eye' energy booster, a Ouija board and Tarot cards. Plus a few little knick-knacks and interesting bits that Jane picked up in her travels.

And if you are very fortunate (ahem) and a little brave Jane.....er Lady Divina, that is,  may invite you to sit a spell and unfold a bit of your future.

For links to supplies, click HERE

Supplies list:
Gypsy Fortune Teller #1 Collage Sheet
Gypsy Fortune Teller #2 Collage Sheet
Tiny Divination Cards Collage Sheet
10mm Crystal Ball
16mm Crystal Ball
15mm Round Glass Globe Dome
Large White Turquoise Skull Bead
Miniature Hurricane Lamp
Little Library Collage Sheet
Tiny Little Books Collage Sheet
Miniature Working Hour Glass
Small Square Brass Hinges
19mm Fancy Metal Drawer Pull
Antique 3D Gold Crown
Eyeball Cabs in Settings
Clock Face Buttons
Art Nouveau Curved Filigree - Antique Gold
Small Wooden Finial
Tiny Wooden Flower Pots
Vintage Gears set of 4
Brass Dragonfly Charms
Miniature Red Lantern (substitute suggestion for the brass one I used and can't
remember where it came from)


Additional:
Red Acrylic Paint
Gold Acrylic Paint
Black Acrylic Paint
Helmet Charm
Faux Ivory Cat Charm
Dresden Doll  Head
Various Bead Caps
G45 Communique Scrapbook Paper (reverse side)
Black Table (made by my husband)
Tiny House Sculpture (made by me)
Polymer Clay Pumpkins (made by me)

BEFORE YOU GO......
 Take a look at these cute pins and tiny little houses!

They are all one inch wide and the tallest (the house with the tree and love birds) is two and a half inches.
Because jewelry gets a lot of hard wear, I stuck to papers only for the pins and sealed them with an acrylic finish. These are a lot of fun and fairly quick to make. Since they are small, it's a great way to use scraps and bits of paper and inchie collage sheets.
Imagine some cute Christmas pins to give as gifts. They would also make adorable ornaments!
The little house with the clock is also shown on the top of Lady Divina's cupboard.
You can get the perfect little wooden pin to make your own jewelry or ornament Here.

A little branch from the Gnarly Tree and Crows  makes a great tree for the Love Birds House. I also used Black Eyeglass Frame Brads  and little bits from collage sheets including the Tiny Divinations Collage Sheet.
Bits of Dresden trim like Black Zig Zag Border used above and tiny dots of black and white paint make up the finished details.
Thanks for stopping by!