The Alchemists Oracle

Hello everyone, having a go with the new Simple Shrine from Alpha Stamps.
Oooh, this piece is kind of mysterious. In my mind the alchemist is using the oracle for calculating his transformational formulas. The planetary dials moving in sync with each other creating whispering harmonies, stopping at certain curvatures and creating patterns for the alchemist to study.
Or maybe......
The mouse is the oracle. Sitting on his stool, interpreting the rotations like a fortune teller or a Tarot reader.
That is one smart mouse.
Hey, stranger things can happen.

I started out with the Simple Shrine.


I dry fit it together, then took the front piece off and glued the actual box together.

I painted the inside of the box a blue-black, cut some starry paper for the background and some bits from a beautiful sheet of paper from the Alchemy 12x12 scrapbook paper pad.

I pumped up the color on the compass-looking paper using colored pencils. You can see the difference in the photo below.

I used the front facade of the the Simple Shrine as a template and cut paper out for it. I glued up and painted the Stairstep Shrine Base Small (no feet) black and painted a narrow edge around the facade with the intention of painting some made up runes on it as a border. I didn't like how narrow it was widen it, opting to use the doors on the back of the shrine.

 

I drilled a hole in the back of the box (after gluing my chosen papers on the sides and back) to allow for the tea light flame to stick through.

Right after I did that I realized that the doors would not fit properly, so I decided not to use them. Too bad, because I had a fun thing I was going to do. Ah, well. Save it for next time!

After I glued the box of the Shrine to the Stairstep base, I assembled, glued and painted black 2 1:24 Scale bookcases that I then glued to the side of the Simple Shrine box.
Then after the final fussing was done in the interior and on the outside, the facade was glued on.
The runes are just completely made up. If they say anything it was an accident! (or maybe I was channeling the mouse!)
I used some gorgeous Golden Iridescent Gold (Fine) paint to do the lettering.

The monocle was put on by drilling a small hole and attaching it with a brad. It can swivel up and down, which I thought was fun.
I placed it so that it magnified the tea light. And I did it BEFORE I glued the facade on the front. Everything that was done to the facade I did before the final glue down.
After that final bit of engineering was done, it was just making and placing stuff and having fun with arranging it all.
The plant under the dome is a Tiny Wooden Flower Pot I painted brown with a Copic marker, cut some leaves out of a random wee scrap of paper and glued them in with some moss.

The 'shelf' that the dome is resting on at the top of the shrine is a piece of filigree that I bent to shape and glued on the facade. Easy peasy!

For a link to all the supplies used in this piece, click HERE

SUPPLIES LIST
Stairstep Shrine Base Small-No Feet
Simple Shrine
Set of Stools-half Inch Scale
1:24 Bookcase (2)
Alchemy 12x12 Paper Pad
Large Bronze Finials
Ceramic Burnt Umber Owl Bead
Ceramic White Mouse Bead
15mm Round Glass Globes
15mm Tall Glass Jar
24mm Glass Bottle with Cork
Amber Even Tinier bottles
Small Square Amber Bottle with Cork
Small Square Cobalt Blue Bottle with cork
Mini Mason Jar-Large
Mini Mason Jar - Medium
Tiny Wooden Bowl
Set of Miniature Books
Tiny Little Books Collage Sheet
Miniature Glass Snow Globe (sub for dome with plant in it)
Piece from Large Filigree Set (top of shrine...globe is sitting on it)
Miniature Newspapers
various beads to make bottles
LED Tea Light
Stickles - Waterfall,Lime, Orange Peel
Tiny Wooden Flower Pot
1:12 Scale Gingerbread House



Additional:
Monocle
Acrylic paint

Another Tiny Thing

I am going through a phase of making small things. Well, some of them are smaller than usual. Lora here for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts with a very small birdhouse.

Here is a picture of it in my hand for scale....

And the back..

It was a fun, simple project and in the end, I really like how it turned out.
Just a couple tips on construction:
I started out with the Little Bird House.

I assembled it, primed it with gesso and sealed it with varnish. I will often do this even if I put paper on things later-it seals the chipboard from moisture and gives the piece a longer life and it becomes a pretty tough surface to apply all kinds of techniques to if you wish. This is not a step you have to do.
I set the little house aside to dry for a bit and took a small block I had (about 1/2 square) marked the center and drilled a hole in the it the size of a 1/8 inch dowel.

I papered all sides of the house except the bottom, which I drilled another (same size) hole in for the other end of the dowel. I used a scalpel to refine the hole.

I did not attach the dowel to the birdhouse - I left that until the last in order to make embellishing the wee thing a it easier. I papered the little block and stuck the dowel in that end after painting it white.
I used a gold ink pad to age up the edges of the bird house and the block, a tiny bit of scrap Dresden to trim out the gables and a couple of scraps of paper added to the house, like the stamps on the roof and the feather on the back for extra detail.
I then glued the house on the dowel.
I snipped some twigs off of my old dogwood tree and glued them upright on the dowel. I also glued a tiny twig into the lower smaller hole on the birdhouse for a little perch.
Then added moss and tiny rose buds to the piece.
The last thing I put on was the tiny little robin with a dab of glue.

I really like this tiny little thing.
I hope you make one!
Supplies:
Little Bird House

Wooden dowel
Wooden block
Stamperia Garden scrapbook paper
Dresden trim in white
Tiny rosebuds
Moss
Twigs

Thank you very much for dropping in!

Christmas in the Dog Days of Summer

Y'all, it's hot here in the south. I mean, really hot right now. And sticky.
Sticky on top of sticky.
So I have rejected the reality of the dog days of summer and have plopped my backside down in the air conditioning and have been making Christmas ornaments.
Yep.
Pretty, cheerful I-am-so-tired-of-hot-and-sticky-wanna-move-back-to-Alaska damn Christmas ornaments.
Actually, some of them are just wintery and can be hung/displayed for the whole season.
Here is a picture of all of them together.

They look so nice all together!
The top three with the Christmas goodies are made with rice paper and Chunky ATC's  and I decided I liked them as magnets.
The middle four are (again) Chunky ATC's and are nature oriented so you can leave these up all winter.
The bottom is a cute little Christmas garland made with Artist Trading Coins.
I have to share that tinsel in August just makes me happy.
Sorry Summer. Though I am still enjoying my vegetable garden, I sure would appreciate it if you would LIGHTEN THE HELL UP with the humidity.
Ahem. (smooths down wildly frizzy hair)
Thank you.
Here are some fast tips on a couple of the things I did to each group that might help you out if you decide to flip the bird at summer and make your own Christmas/winter ornaments.

Rice Paper Christmas Magnets:

 I love rice paper so much. If any of you has ever used napkins to collage with, peeling off the two extra layers of ply and gently brushing matte medium on the fragile surface of a single ply whilst trying to avoid air bubbles and wrinkles is sometimes quite trying.
Getting the bubbles out without tearing the surface too much is also a challenge.
Rice paper is much stronger than a napkin, but still has the translucence.

It's so much tougher, I have used sticky glaze and acrylic paints on them instead of matte medium and they don't dissolve like a napkin would.
When I made these magnets, I painted the ATC's white so that the colors would pop when I glued down the rice paper.

I painted a thin layer of matte medium on the ATC and laid the rice paper on top and then painted another layer of medium on top of the rice paper. You do not have to wait for the bottom coat of medium to dry before you put the top layer on.

And there is much less wrinkling and air bubbles. If you do get them, they are easy to fix if your matte medium hasn't set yet. After they dry, I use a sanding block (fine grit from the hardware store) to sand off the extra paper and give the ornaments a smooth edge.

I love these! After the medium dried, I added ribbon around the edges, lots of sparkly Stickles and glued a magnet on the back. They are easy and fun and glittery.

Winter Ornaments;

So peaceful and calm. And once again easy-peasy!
For these ATC's, I cut and glued papers on all the backs and a layer of background papers on the fronts.
I cut out the images I wanted to go on the front and set them aside for the moment.
I cut ribbons to the length I wanted the ornaments to hang and set them aside. (make sure that you cut enough length that the ribbob extends down to at least half the length of the ATC)
I laid a squiggly line of glue down the front of the ATC.....

Then stuck ribbon down on top of the glue squiggle. I then applied a thing layer of glue to the back side of my chosen image and stuck that down on top of the ribbon, making sure it was centered on the ATC.
I like doing ribbon this way versus attaching it from the back. It's simple and can actually keep your ornaments from hanging wonky if you've got a bit of weight hanging off the front of your piece.

I cut out some words that were meaningful to the image, inked the edges and glue them on. And, of course, added a lot of sparkle!

Artist Trading Coin Garland;
Basically the same techniques I used for collaging on the Chunky ATC's above, but with a couple of little tips:
I used this Tinsel for the edges around the coins and it has wire in it. I discovered that I could remove the wire and the tinsel stays intact. This makes it so much easier to glue around a circle! Save the wire you remove....it will most likely come in handy for another project.

The other thing I did was beaded the green and opal beads on to a head pin (the kind you get from the sewing notions section of the craft store) and using a thimble on my finger, stuck the pins right into the side/edge of the chipboard. If you are not comfortable doing this, you can make you garland two coins thick and glue the pin and beads between the layers.

And one more thing.......
When you glue the ribbon on to your coins, glue it on near the top of each one, that will keep the garland from flipping around too much.

I loved making Christmas ornaments in the dog days of summer, I hope you do to!
For a complete list and links to all the supplies used in these projects, click HERE

Supplies:
Chunky ATC Blanks
Artist Trading Coin
Patisserie Rice Paper (Stamperia Vintage Christmas)
Winter Botanic (Stamperia)
Christmas Vintage ( Stamperia)
Tinsel (gold and red)
Stickles in Diamond, Christmas Red and Lime
Ribbon in Pink and Red
Beads
Head pins

Thank you for stopping by!

Moving Day

Hello all, Lora here for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts with a little guy who after living in a busy village has decided to move his little house into a nice quiet, peaceful forest.

 He's got all the necessities - books, butterflies and a bottle of fizzy lemonade. What more could a person want?!
I started with Tiny Little Shadowbox House 4 
I love these little shadowbox houses-there are four different sizes and they are great separately or all together in a little wee neighborhood.

I glued my house up and bent up some fourteen gauge wire that will become the connection between the house and the 'ground'. I chose this wire because it was sturdy and bent well.
I knew I was going to use a propeller, and Hey presto! Gina just happens to have one......or twelve! (Propellers)

I chose one that was a good fit scale-wise for my house and painted it black, along with
Chipboard Shingles - Pointed

 And Tudor Rose Singles

I set them all aside to dry.

I found an old paint brush whose handle fit through the hole of the propeller and drilled a hole to fit into the top of my house. I painted the propeller black as well.
I covered the house inside and out with the papers I cut (and also painted the inside of the house a buff color so it reflected a bit of light)
After all was dry, I glued the house and wire together and then used linen hinging tape to help strengthen the bond.

I covered the hinging tape with an image that went well with the papers I used. (used Graphic 45 Old Curiosity Shoppe)
And let it dry. This takes a few hours.
Whilst that was drying, I cut out all of the things I wanted to put inside the house.
I used foam tape to stick everything in and give stuff some dimension. I added the propeller and shingled the house.

I also cut up the smallest Tudor Rose Singles and glued a piece to the gable of the house and the rest to the roof around the propeller. You can see the detail below...

At this point, I realized that in order to complete the base I had in mind I would need to straighten the ring of wire I made, which I did.
I drilled a hole in the center of an Artist Trading Coin,
stuck the wire through the hole and re-bent the ring.
And with a lot of glue, I sandwiched the ring between the top coin and a second coin (both of which I had papered with neutral green paper)
and clamped it together.

After everything was dry, I glued some cute green crocheted ribbon around the edge of the base and glued moss and little bottle brush trees on the top of the base.
I added some little touches like the buff and black paint dots and butterflies....

And here he is flying over the forest scouting for a good place to land!
Thank you for stopping by!

 SUPPLIES:
Tiny Little Shadowbox House 4 
Propellers
Chipboard Shingles - Pointed
Tudor Rose Singles
Artist Trading Coins

Graphic45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe Scrapbook Papers
Acrylic paint
Wire
Old paint brush stem
Bottle brush trees
Moss
 

Fresh Fruits and the Bats Who Love Them

Yep, it's hot. SO hot that I don't want to cook or eat anything requiring a temperature above my own. And so much wonderful fruit is in season, it's all I seem to want to eat.
And guess who I share that craving with?
Yes, the wonderful fruit bat. Here are a few of the more exotic ones in.......

 

Chiroptera Rubus,

 

And then there's Chiroptera c. Limon,

And let's not forget Chiroptera Cerasum....

This was a pretty straight forward project, cutting papers using the book pages as a template, fitting and gluing all the background papers in and then playing around with all the great collage sheets that Alpha Stamps has on offer. Choices are pretty endless for about any theme you could think up. And the new 3x4 Tabbed Book along with the 3x4 Pocket Set (both included in the July Fruit Paradise kit) were a lot of fun to play with.

 Ooh, I am not sure how these two got in a fruit bat book. 

I'll have to speak to the management......

For a link to the supplies used in this project, click HERE.

SUPPLIES LIST :

3x4 Pocket Set

3x4 Tabbed Book

Fruit Paradise 6x6 Papers
Orange Slice Fruit Cab
Mini Vintage Catalog Covers Collage Sheet
Fruit Postage Stamps half sheet
Mini French Fruit Labels
Vintage Fruit Catalog ATC's Collage Sheet
Chipboard Bat Set
1 Inch Bronze Binder Rings
Mini Bronze Butterfly Paper Clips

Thanks for stopping by!