Magic Forest

For this blog project I have worked with the Winter Forest Book Nook kit. When ever I make these up I go into google translate and convert the engraved Polish words to English so I know what each piece is for. 

In addition there is a step by step video tutorial which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-NOQPqKgJMhvb4d1nsZHvw/videos 

which it is advised you watch first. Of course I used magic glue to adhere everything in place.

Through out the project I used Magic Forest 12 x 12 papers and also a pack of the ephemera die cuts - I really like the later as they are not as chunky as traditional greyboard die cuts but are thicker and there fore more substantial than just fussy cutting images out from the papers.

When ever I make this type of project I, I have a dry run of construction and then take it apart and decorate as I go. To help with this process I took a series of photographs:

Dry run

Paper added to one side and back panel

The back panel has holes ot pass strings of lights through - I used three for this set and fed them through the bottom holes and left them unattatched.but coming out though the gap in the floor

Then I placed the floor and steps in place having covered the pieces with paper.

Next I took the lights and ran one set up each of the backs of the lanterns, bunching some togehter to form a ball to light the lantern and then took the light string back down the lantern before then running the rest of the string across to the opposite side then along the floor and then to the back of the book nook/ I used one set for each of the lanterns and then the thrid set I used to add more lights around the back.

Before going further I then added the elements that are on the right hand panel as you look at it - simply colouring the mdf trees and lanterns with distress inks. At this stage I also added the lady ephemera piece to the front of one of the lamps and other elements to further enhance the piece. I added moss to the floor for further details and to cover the string of the lights. Having go most of the pieces in place I then added paper to the remaining wall and adhered that in place leaving the top open to add the remaining trees and decorative elements. 

I decorated the inside of the top piece before adhereing in place and then decorated the outside top.

I addde paper and ephemera to the side panels.

The back of the nook has a space for the batteries - I papered the back and then used hook and loop strips to attatch my battery packs inplace meaning that I can remove then to change the batteries as needed. Then I added the remaining panel covered with paper and ephemera.

Though this may not use masses of products it is quite a lengthy project to make and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed creating it. I think it would also look lovely dressed as a winter forest too.

Lit up I think it is so worth putting the three sets of lights in as it really does look quite ethereal and as though you have stumbled across a house hidden in the forest and protected by its griffins. 

A Vintage Book Box

For my make this week I have chosen to work with the wide mdf book box and three different rice papers -simply beautiful 01 simply beautiful 02  and simply beautiful 03,

To start with I laid out the pieces of the mdf kit before gluing them inplace and then letting them dry completely before starting to decorate.

Once dried I painted the entire piece with a blue grey paint and left it to dry before rubbing over with a candle and overpainting with white paint leaving the inside of the box element the original colour. Once the second layer of paint had dried I then sanded back the box to give a distressed feel. There are lots of paints to choose from on the website but for this effect to work it is important that you choose contrasting colours. My preference is a dark underlayer and a paler top layer especially when adding rice papers as they blend into a pale top layer more easily with out the need for lots of paint blending to disquise the edges. The inside of the box was dry brushed with white to co-ordinate the whole look

Having finsihed the painting I tore elements from the rice papers before gluing them in place as shown in the images- my preference is to use a dedicated rice paper glue but watered down pva will work. This book box has a very large spine area which I felt looked bare and so I added several lengths of shabby ribbon from my stash wrapping the entire length twice round the spine and simply knotting them together. You could use the ones that come it the seastories kit with ribbon and add a brown tone from the selection in store. Finally I added three handmade foamiran flowers to the knot to complete the piece.

Decorative Cart

I had the MDF candy trolley for a long time waiting for inspiration and then having collected lots of bottles decided that it would make a great place to show case them. Alternatively the cart is big enough for you to put lots of albums in to keep them safe or to use to put candy jars in at a celebration for people to help them selves from.

This piece is large! but not so complex to make. To cover it in one paper though would require you to have at least 3 of the same paper and if you are buying pads that seems a tad extravagant to me but never fear I have a solution.

I started by making the cart up leaving off the wheels and painted it in a pastel blue paint - the country green would work well as an alternative or even country rose avoiding areas that I knew I was going to cover with paper.

I chose to work with Rose Parfum 12 x 12 background papers and cut triangular pieces to size for the end panels and then distressed the edges with vintage photo distress oxide before adhering in place.

For the roof and bottom of the cart I simply measured the size of the arch shape and cut strips that size from three different papers from the paper pack. I distressed the edges with the same brown ink and then adhered them as show before sanding off the edges and then adding more of the brown ink to the curved edges. I then glued the wheels into place.#

 For more decorative details I took some extra light clay and cast 4 pieces of the long ornament B mould which was in stock when I made the piece and then additional pieces that I cut the flowers from only. You could do this with the decorative baroque mould using the central element for the wheels - alternatively you could decorate the top and base areas with long ornament C and use the large rose from the rose and bud mould for the wheel decorations. Once the clay was dry I painted it with same paint I had for the cart before dry brushing with white gesso.

I do hope that by showing how to decorate this large MDF piece I have taken the fear out of making such a large piece as broken down into steps its really not that complicated. I know I really enjoyed making it and then filling it with my altered bottles - that's a blog for later on this month so please watch out for it.

 

Love as Noble as Gold

I do like a challenge - can you make something with MDF and with rice papers was the request and so I searched my stash and this piece was formed. It is very definitely a full on mixed media piece but I am hoping over a series of blog posts with rice papers I will be able to share with you some of the ways of using this fabulous craft essential (well it is for me).

The base of my piece is a teapot artboard which comes complete with attatchments to make hanging easy. they can be simply glued to the back of the piece if you want to use them or left off the choice is yours.

 Normally I would prime any mdf/artboard/birchply piece before painting but for this piece as I knew I would be adding lots of layers I simply painted the entire surface with salmon acrylic paint. Once the paint had dried I applied white one component crackle paste - so easy just use a palette knife to apply varrying thickness and you con't even need to cover all of the surface if you don't want too. Let the crackle paste dry - it is safe to use a heat gun to speed up the process. The crackle paste gives a white layer which is really essential if the colours of the rice paper you are using are going to be shown to their best advantage.

 

Next I took a blooming retreat A4 rice paper and drew around the imagery with a wet paint brush - this then allows you to tear around the images giving a soft feathered edge which is then easier to disguise on your project (hiding edges is one of the tricks for successful use of rice papers). Having decided where abouts the floral elements were going to be I then used decoupage glue to adhere them in place and over the top to protect them - you need a thin glue and there are lots on the market. 

The salmon paint showing through the cracks also shows through the rice paper helping to disguise that the rice paper is just glued ontop - it links the layers together. To further help with unifying everything I then added areas of gold stencil paste through damask stencil 16 and again left it to dry.

Having created my base I knew that I needed to create a focal point on top of it and yes I know that means covering up some of the layers but that really is the key to mixed media creating. For my embellishments I layered elements from the  rose buds and leaves chipboard sets placing some directly onto the base then a layer of distressed cheesecloth followed by faux fern leaves, although one of the faux greenery pieces I have used is no longer in stock the berries will work and I also added in leaf 11. On top of the faux greener  I then added flowers similar to lime daisies and lime poppies. The embellishment clusters were then filled out by tucking in more of the chipboard leaves and then everything was dry brushed with white gesso.

 

I chose a sentiment from the wedding inscription set and edged it with gold wax before adhering it in place. To finish the piece I then added more wax around the edges.