A Stroll Down Sweet Street

Yep, the holidays are over, winter has us all in her cold clutches. What better way to warm up than make some snuggly cute houses for Valentine's Day? Lora here playing with the House Oddities Box and having a grand time! I love this kit! I love anything house shaped and the possibilities with this awesome kit are pretty much endless.
I decided to take a stroll down Sweet Street,  a charming little block of confectionery delights.

It was lots of fun using pink papers and lots of glitter! And, of course, chocolate was eaten throughout the project. For inspiration. Just sayin'.

 

The papers kind of remind me of the Licorice Allsorts I got when I was in college in the UK.
I wasn't over fond of licorice, but the sweets were so colorful and pretty, they always looked like they should taste like something else.

A couple of detail shots.....

I started this project by gluing the box together and giving it a coat of gesso. I usually like to do this for two reasons. The main one is that matte medium loves to stick to gesso, so it's very easy to glue papers down. The second is that there is sometimes what I call 'burn residue' on die-cuts and this keeps your hands from getting ashy and transferring it to your papers when you're gluing them down.

I pre-cut all the papers I wanted to use for each house, back and front. Next I used linen hinging tape to connect all my little houses together.

I made sure to leave plenty of space between the houses to account for the bulk of papers and ephemera I wanted to add. If you tape the pieces too close together, the houses won't fold up properly.
Keep the bottoms of your houses straight and even so nothing is lopsided.

I glued all the papers on the houses and trimmed them where needed. I then inked the edges and the linen tape so it would blend in a bit with the whole ensemble.

I collected a bunch of fun little doodads and bits and composed little house layouts. I usually don't plan this part, as it's more fun to just be spontaneous and I'm not locked into  a fixed idea, so fun things start happening and my project starts to get a personality.
I made a little flap with a message underneath by cutting out a pretty shape from scrapbook paper and once again, using lined hinging tape.....

I laid the tape over the house and measured out (roughly...it's not brain surgery) the width and length I needed and stuck it down.

Now it's ready for embellishing and a cute little message.

Supplies List:
House Oddities Box
Window 6 Panel
Steampunk Shape Set (wings)
Stackable Labels Shape Set

Additional Supplies
Bo Bunny Sweet Moments 6x6 and 12x12 Scrapbook Papers
Stickles-Diamond
Linen Hinging Tape
Paper Roses
Collage images from Sandy Gordon (Art, Tea, Life)
White acrylic paint marker
Gesso
Matte Medium (I like Liquitex)

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Fairy Tales and Secret Doors

I've had a lot of fairy tales running around in my brain for the last couple of weeks and they are ripe with endless possibilities. So much so that it's very hard to get them out of ones head! Not that I'm complaining, I love fairy tales, but they do seem to have a mind of their own and tend to go galloping off with a person on little side trips!
I was thinking of pivotal moments in fairy tales and wandered down the Sleeping Beauty path whilst playing with the Hidden Drawer Book Box and this project is a result of that.
That moment before Aurora touches the spinning wheel needle. Open the box and it tells you a story.........

I had a lot of fun using Lumiere Metallic Acrylics and Liquid Pearls dots for embellishing the cover and inside the box. I like the pearls in her braid.

All the papers were from 'An Eerie Tale' by Graphic 45. The fancy green and purple curlicues are from the Wrought Iron Set.
I cut up various bits to suit the space they were going in to and primed them all with Gesso. After they dried I used Metallic Olive Green acrylic paint (from Lumiere) on the inside pieces. The purple bits on the outside of the box I colored with Jaquard Dye-na-Flow Violet fabric paint. Let me tell you, that stuff is fun to play with! The colors are fantastic and they mix well with each other. I spent far too long playing with them on various surfaces. Including my skin, accidentally. It was a little awesome....The violet made my skin look really cool.....kind of like Violet Beauregarde from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

SUPPLIES:
Wrought Iron Set
Hidden Drawer Book Box
Windows 4 Panel
 (Window is the medium one and used behind the old spinner and Sleeping Beauty)


Additional supplies:
Lumiere Metallic Acrylic Paint in Olve
Jaquard Dye-na-Flow Ink in Violet
Liquid Pearls in Blackberry and Key Lime
Wooden knob
Swarovski Crystal in Aurora ( I thought it apropo)
Glue
Matte Medium (I like Liquitex)
Graphic 45 'An Eerie Tale' paper

Thank you for visiting!