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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Pretty Little Everyday Ornaments

Hello everyone! Lora here taking my turn for GSLCuts and happy to be here on this beautiful spring day.
I like making ornaments that I can hang all year. These two were inspired by my newly awakened garden and some recent baking experiments involving little pink cakes.
They were delicious.
 This was a very straight forward project, so instead of a step-by-step tutorial, I'm going to pass along a couple of tips for cutting tidy angles for things like Dresden trim and how to make a wee doorway that opens with linen hinging tape, one of my favorite things.

I started out with the Simple House Ornament. Love these! They come two in a pack and if you have half the obsession I do with houses, you'll love them too.
 I covered them with the papers I chose and on the green and blue house I decided to add some Dresden Trim. Dresden trim, for those not familiar with it, is an embossed, die cut paper trim made from old molds in a village just outside of Dresden. Often foiled in gold or silver and cut into very complex designs. They are gorgeous and a staple for me when I want added detail.
A very easy way to cut an awkward angle that for example, matches the angle of your roof line on your wee house, is easy peasy.
Glue the piece of Dresden where you would like it to go, making sure there is some extending off either end of the piece. After it dries completely, simply turn it over and cut of the excess, using the angle of your house as a guide. Make sure what you are cutting with is very sharp. I use a scalpel, but a good sharp craft knife will do.
There is a little bit of waste, but not much and for me, worth it to get those edges nice and neat.
This happy little house has a door that opens and I'll give you some tips on how to make it. Again, easy peasy!
First of all, save all those little scraps that pop out of GSLCuts pieces. You never know when they are going to come in handy! This door is two scraps that popped out of a couple of the frames I have. They are the perfect size and shape for this purpose. I pre-cut the paper (you only need three pieces as the one side will be glued down)  and I taped the chip board together with linen hinging tape (you can get it on Amazon) making sure the bottoms of the scrap were even with each other and that the space between them was wide enough for the door to close properly when I added paper and embellishments.
I glued the papers down, making sure the inside edge near the linen tape was aligned with the edge of the chipboard perfectly. It's easier to trim paper from an outside edge than it is to try and trim over lap off of an area where you have to fuss. I also colored the tape a similar color to the paper with  copic marker.
After my papers dried I sanded and inked all the edges. Not something you need to do, just a preference I have. And then I worked on the inside of the door, before I glued it to the house. After I glued it down, I added the details to the outside of the door.
I thought this little stamped brass curlicue would make a pretty hinge, so I cut it in half and painted it black. The door knob is the head of a straight pin I cut off and glued down.

 This pretty girl doesn't have any secret tips other than I'd like to point out that her head sticking out from the edge of the house is intentional. I could have trimmed it off as I did her shoulder, but liked the way she looked with her crown and hair intact.
And one more thing that we sometimes forget......

Sign your work!

SUPPLIES:
 Simple House Ornament

Dresden Trim
Double Dot Vintage Scrapbook Papers
(both can be purchased from Alpha Stamps)
Copic marker
White paint pen
Sandy Gordon Collage Sheets (from Art, Tea, Life)
Thanks you for stopping by!

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

The Girl in the Garden

Hello all! Lora here continuing my obsession with old masters paintings in combination with mixed medium.
What I've got for you today is a beautiful painting done by Antonio del Pollaiuolo called 'Portrait of a Young Woman' that I have surrounded with very modern watercolor flowers. Love the juxtaposition!
I am calling her, 'The Girl in the Garden'.

A detail shot of her pretty face.....
I began with the ATC Shrine Box and the Layered Frame-Aria. I primed both pieces (well, three pieces as the Frame is two pieces) and then painted both background pieces black and the front filigree of the frame gold. After the filigree piece dried, I added a little Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold over the top. It makes the gold pop and it looks oh so much richer.
After things were completely dry, I papered the outside of the box (which i forgot to take a picture of) and I began to play around with the composition of the interior of the box.
I thought I could work around the fact that the frame was a bit shorter than the box was, but I decided in the end to cut the bottom bar off of the frame.
I am always trying to find the perfect solution to getting different levels of depth inside of a shrine/box and this time I chose to cut up lengths of a semi translucent green straw.
Easy to cut and easy to glue....
I also used foam tape when I needed just a little lift.
After the interior was glued in and everything dried, I attached the frame around the shrine box with glue. (I love Aleene's Tacky Glue)
And was nearly there. However, I didn't like how unfinished the bottom of the piece was since I cut off the bottom of the frame.
Then I remembered I had those awesome Victorian Corners-2. I prepped one just as I did for the frame and attached that to the bottom.  Much better! My junk store find of a cute little brass candlestick finished the piece off.
As a finishing touch, I added some dot detail to the filigree to tie it in to the detail I added to the image of the girl.
 SUPPLIES
 ATC Shrine Box
 Layered Frame-Aria
 Victorian Corners-2

Additonal Supplies
Liquid Pearls in White Opal and Garnet
Black Acrylic Paint
Gold Acrylic Paint
Quinacrodone Nickel Azo Gold Acrylic paint
Antonio del Pollaiuolo's Portrait of a Young Woman
Floral collage images

Thank you very much for taking a look!



Saturday, April 1, 2017

The Little Book of Perfect Men

Oh, yes. We are going there. Back to the nostalgic days of the 1950's and 60's. Barbasol, Brylcreem and macho males in beautifully tailored suits. Think Rock Hudson and Cary Grant. William Holden, Burt Lancaster....did I mention Cary Grant?
And those hats. Men always look good in hats.
Well, here is a little treat for the lady or gentleman who has an eye for a well made um, suit.....





























































All of the supplies to make this piece came from the wonderful Alpha Stamps.
For those of you who have never done an ATC or Artist Trading Card, here is a quick tutorial....
An ATC is typically a 2.5 x 3.5 card made out of chipboard, heavy card stock or even playing cards. You can make one out of nearly anything and there aren't many rules to follow (or break) just the size of the card. Lots of folks put embellishments on them that stick out or are three dimensional and that is fine, too. Just keep in mind, if you are making one for someone else and they have a place where they display them, make sure they will fit.
I started out with Chipboard ATCs I traced and cut paper to fit for both sides.
I glued the papers on and inked the edges to give the card an aged appearance.
I chose my image from the Men In Hats ATC's Collage Sheet.
I didn't care for the pink background on the image, so I cut that away and tried the image on both sides of the card. And ended up using the 'graph ' paper side. I glued the picture down and re-inked the edges if needed and any raw paper edges from the image showed. And basically, there you have a simply made ATC! Just like a well tailored suit, there are a couple of rules and then the skies the limit. Go forth and create!








SUPPLIES
Hidden Drawer Book Box-ATC Size
Chipboard ATCs
Yes Dear! Text Collage Sheet
Satisfying Text Collage Sheet
Fifties Floating Heads Collage Sheet
Men In Hats ATC's Collage Sheet
Chipboard Pipes and Televisions (not sure what this one is called)
Brilliance Pigment Ink Pad-Galaxy Gold
Distress Ink Pad-Vintage Photo
Double Dot Vintage Scrapbook Paper in Gingerbread, Chiffon and Decaf.

For a link to all the supplies used, click  HERE



Thank you for stopping by!