The Captured Mermaid

She was found tangled in a fisherman's net, her arm badly broken. That day there happened to be a journalist at the harbor photographing the boats when the fisherman came in with his odd catch. Before anyone could say 'Fish and Chips' she was whisked away to London, her arm repaired with the most advanced technology of the Victorian era, placed in a large, specially made tank and hauled to the British Museum where she was the talk of the nation as folks came in droves to see her.

She spent many months in her beautiful, small prison..........

watching all the passers by much the same way they were watching her.
After a few months, the novelty wore off and the people were off to see the newest, shiniest thing and it was decided that she would be moved to another location to make room for the Gryphon that would soon be coming from the mountains of Tibet.

Whilst in transport over the London Bridge, the wagon bearing the full load of the tank, hit a large pot hole jarring the tank and cracking the glass viewing window.
The mermaid saw her chance, pushing as hard as she could on the damaged glass.
The glass burst with the added pressure, water came rushing out, the mermaid along with it. Eye witnesses said for a moment or two she clung to the rails of the bridge before she plunged into the Thames and disappeared.
It was speculated by many that she made her way to the sea. She was never seen again by human eyes.
Back in London in a dusty corner of a minor museum, her empty tank can still be found....

Here is where I began...
The lovely Alpha Stamps supplied all the wonderful items used in the project including this spectacular Arched Shrine Shadow Box and the Stair Step Shrine Base.

I began by cutting and fitting my interior papers, then gluing the basic box together, leaving the front facade off for the moment.
I put a couple of rubber bands around the box so it would glue tightly fitted together with no gaps.

I assembled the Stair Step Shrine Base and let it dry.

I painted everything black.........

And cut by papers for the risers of the steps and used the facade as a template for the front piece of paper.

Using linen hinging tape, I carefully attached the gates, making sure the tape came up to the edge (and no more!) of the inside of the gates and  also making sure that the tape was wide enough to fold over the outside of the box, giving the gates more strength and support. I then painted the hinge black.

Next, I VERY CAREFULLY dry-fitted the facade paper over the top of the gates, trimming where needed as I opened and closed the gates. This is an important step. If the paper impinges on the gates in anyway they will not open and close properly, so make sure before you glue that you've got plenty of leeway there.
After the paper was dry, I started messing with my chosen elements and embellishments until I got a layout that I liked, my object was to give her tank a steampunk look to match her repaired arm.

A detail picture of what I ended up with liking best. I glued everything down using E6000.
Make sure you've got ventilation...this stuff is super smelly and not good to breathe, but boy does it stick well!
I decided she need some flotsam in the tank so I used some closed cell Styrofoam that I tore into a couple of chunks and painted to look like sand mounds.

I glued them in the tank and used shells, pearls and micro beads to embellish them.
Here is a detail picture of my little mermaid....

I used the top half of the Mermaid Paper Doll in the Mermaid Paper Doll Kit and a tail from the Mermaid Tales Half Sheet.
I used small watch parts to repair her injured arm and had fun embellishing her with Liquid Pearls, a crown and pretty shell sequins. (all supplies are listed below)

In the above picture, you can see the little dot details and arm a bit better. (please ignore my paint dotted hand)

So, if some day you are out fishing in the deep, deep ocean and you see a mermaid with the sun glinting off of what appears to be a metal arm, give her a wave.
Thanks for stopping!
For a link to all the wonderful supplies provided by Alpha Stamps click HERE

SUPPLIES:
Arched Shrine Shadowbox
Stair Step Shrine Base
Wrought Iron Gates For Arched Shrine
Mermaid Paper Doll (smaller size)
Finnabair Mechanical Metals Rustic Gears
Belle Epoque Mermaid Heads & Hats Collection
Spanish crowns Collage Sheet
Mermaid Tails Half Sheet
Coral Chipboard Set-4 pieces
1mm Micro Beads-Aqua
Brass Patina Conch Shell Charms
Seashell Sequin Mix
Seashells in Plastic Tins
Brass Patina Seahorse Charm
Voyage Beneath the Sea-Deep Blue Dreams Scrapbook Paper
Down By the Sea Tide Scrapbook Paper
Mini Steampunk Seahorse-Set of 2
19mm Fancy Metal Drawer Pull or Box Feet
Hitch Fasteners
Liquid Pearls White Opal
White Pearls Mix in Tin
4mm Brads-Antique Gold, Copper & Pewter
Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Ink Pad

Additional Supplies
Larger Shells
Watch Gears
Black Acrylic Paint
Matte Medium
Tacky Glue
Styrofoam
Green Glass Pearls
Brilliance Galaxy Gold Ink Pad
Liquid Pearls Lime Green
Thank you for visiting!

A Pretty Victorian Wall Shelf

Detail can be a thing of beauty. I have always loved hand painted details on furniture and combining that with the wonderfully scrolly Victorian Wall Shelf Miniature is a match made in heaven!
I love working in 1:12 scale and this is a perfect piece for the WIP doll's house I have been slowly working on for about a year. The beautiful and graceful scroll work on this piece inspired me to enhance the already lovely shape and add pretty gold details.

 Here's where I started out....

Glued the bits together. Make sure you put your brackets in right way up! Just sayin'......

I gave it a good coat of gesso and then a coat of white acrylic paint.

I have a nice little collection of old watch faces and wanted to use one for the circle that was just crying to be a clock.
I chose one and dry fit it into the hole, then drew a circle around it to mark where the edges were on the circle.

And yes! This next picture is meant to be upside down. The shelf part of the clock would have inhibited me from doing a consistent paint job on the details, so I flip the piece over and did my rough guide/sketch of my design....

And then began to paint it on. I used Lumiere Metallic Acrylic in Sunset Gold and a #4 round brush. I like this brush because it holds it pointy tip and allows for fine lines and it's stiff enough that I can paint little swirly circles and dots.

I am right-handed, so I paint from the left to the right, that way I don't drag my hand through any wet paint.
Here is what the completed gold paint looks like.

I wanted to age it up a bit...the white is a little too bright for me, so I used a little water and Quinachrodone Gold to 'yellow' the white and make the gold look just a bit richer.
Quinac Gold is a semi translucent acrylic paint that I use a lot either by itself or with a little black to give the appearance of age or grime to a piece. (this is a variation on something I learned from the amazing and very funny Michael deMeng)

I smoodged around a bit of the quinac and water and then wiped it down with a bit of damp paper towel. I reapplied as I need to to get the color I wanted.
It goes without saying that you want your detail painting to be completely dry before you do this!

 The finished shelf!
And with some fun goodies displayed on it...

Supplies:
Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts
Victorian Wall Shelf Miniature

Additional supplies from Alpha Stamps
Even tinier books-set of 12
Three Miniature Vases
Small Mulberry Blossoms
Amber Candy Dish Set

Acrylic paints
Gesso
Glue

Thank you for stopping by!

Sometimes You Need A Crown

Hola everyone! Lora here taking my turn in the wonderful world that is Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts
Crowns. Sometimes you just need one.
Mothers Day, Birthdays, International Wear a Crown Day.
I don't think there is such a day, but why not?
And there are some days, draggy, blah days, days of gloominess where a crown would perk you right up, give you that extra boost of confidence.
What about exam days?
Laundry Days? Dental appointments? Grocery shopping?
Mondays.
Any occasion, any reason is a good one to wear a crown. Makes you feel like you can tackle anything, like going to the zoo with an entire Kindergarten class or walking into a bio hazard area like a teenagers bedroom.
So go ahead, put the crown on....you'll be so glad you did!

 So very....pink. For some reason, this shade was singing a little 'I'm so pretty' siren song to me. MacGyver says it reminds him of a Hawaiian princess, so I'm gonna go with that.
It even looks pretty nice from the back, because you can't have too many flowers.

Here's where I started out.....

I then used the crown pieces as templates and cut my paper, glued it on the appropriate pieces and painted the fancy top layer white.

I glued the skinnier pink strip to the bottom of the fancy cut layer for extra strength and when it dried, I glued it to the large base layer. I glued the wide strip that wraps around the back of the head on ONE SIDE ONLY of the crown front. The reason being, that it is much easier to embellish on a flat surface than a curved one.
I also added a couple of brads for extra strength at the attachment point and do the same thing when I complete the circle and you can see that in the picture below.

But while the piece is flat is the time to add all of your chosen embellishments. I went a little nuts with the pearls and sparkly Stickles. It was fun!
I left little spaces at the top of the points so there was room to glue on flowers.

I piped some lime green and orange peel Stickles around the fancy cut piece and flower centers.

 Added some dot detail with Opal White Liquid Pearls to tie in with the pearl strands.....

And voila! A crown fit for a princess! Or a soccer mom, or a CEO. You get the idea......

SUPPLIES:


Additional supplies:
Stickles in Lime green and orange peel
Various 'silk' flowers
Liquid Pearls in White Opal
White Acrylic Paint
Brads
Glue
Thank you for stopping by!