Springtime Shadowbox

Can you believe it? It's already spring! The beginning of spring probably means more to people living where there are actual seasons, like autumn, or winter, or any season other than summer, really. There's one season, summer, and two temperatures here: hot and unbearable. Azaleas bloom in January, grass never dies, and only a handful of trees go naked for a few weeks. I do not own a coat. The unbearable time of year is quickly approaching, so I thought making a fast and fun little shadowbox would be a nice way to celebrate the tolerable part of the year.

I started my spring project with Alpha Stamps's  Shadowbox with Square Cubbies - 6x6 and used the beautiful Farm Meadow 6x6 Paper Pad to cover the inside of the cubbies and around the outside of the box. The paper pad has 40 (!) sheets of double-sided quality paper. It is printed with flowers, rabbits, butterflies, baskets, chickens, hay bales, even garden boots. Some of the paper has a pearlescent sheen to them...it is a lovely pad.

It is a simple enough project that can be quickly made, then used to showcase tiny treasures. Normally I cover ALL of the horizontal surfaces with miniatures, cramming as many as will fit, but covering the paper would've been a real shame. 

After assembling the shadowbox, painting it white, then gluing in the paper, all that was left was to set my pieces inside. To make the wreath for one of the cubbies, I added a bit of glue to the bottom of a 1 Inch Grapevine wreath, dipped it into some chopped up green underbrush and yellow foliage, then added a bow. 

A very sweet white wicker fruit basket filled with peachy roses and ivy for the center. Above that is a Black & Yellow Finch wooden button glued to chipboard grass, then placed in the cubby. Did I mention this project was lightning fast?

The potting soil bag and seed packets are from the Miniature Garden Supplies collage sheet. They are the cutest things ever!

Sometimes assembling chipboard kits gets a little confusing, especially when there are multiple parts that look a lot alike. I snapped a few shots of the construction of this shadowbox for anyone that might need it.

1. Prepare your parts. Take everything out of the plastic bag and wipe the edges with a paper towel or cotton swabs. I'm using swabs since all paper products have been stripped from store shelves faster than a Tickle Me Elmo in 1996. 

2. Identify your parts. There's a back and 4 slightly different pieces for the center that make up the cubbies. Make sure you glue the 2 pieces with the slots facing upward first, like so.

3. Moving on...match the slots and glue the other 2 pieces to center.

4. Finally, glue the frame around the shadowbox, taking note of the position of each piece. 

All that's left is to paint it, add some paper to it if you'd like (maybe the Farm Meadow paper because it is just so scrumptious?), drop in your doodads or tchotchkes, then go outside (alone or with appropriate social distancing, of course) to enjoy whatever kind of spring you have. 

Go HERE to see the supplies used! 

The Egg Artist's Workshop

The March kit from Alpha Stamps, adorably named Mr. Bunny's Egg House, is (so far) my personal favorite of the many niche shrines available. After one look I pretty much knew what it was going to be, but quickly realized the potential for this little egg. Turn it on its side, add mini grapevine wreath wheels, and make a springtime egg car? Sure. What about having rocket thrusters on the bottom and bunny astronauts inside? I can see it. How about decorating six tiny shrines in different papers to make them look like decorated eggs and spelling EASTER inside the eggs? Add a string and hang it on the mantel or wall! So many ideas!

I loved the idea of Mr. Bunny's Egg House from the outset and went with creating a workshop where Mr. B paints all of the eggs for spring.

Cute Niche Shutters were added to the front along with a scalloped-edge roof and wee flower box. The flower box is simply a few strips of heavy cardstock glued together (and I promise it is, in fact, under all of those flowers). 

The smallest size of the Bunny and Egg Borders came in handy for the top of the window. It's so cute! To make the workshop inside the niche, I built a tiny table from toothpicks and basswood, then painted it white. On top of the table are the itty bittiest of mini eggs I "decorated", then glued atop a gold earring back, which, in my head, looks like an egg stand. There's also a couple of paintbrushes in a mason jar, and a bit of paint in another jar.

The roof is nothing more than a cardboard triangle with strips of scalloped shingles glued to it; when the strips were dry, I turned over the roof and trimmed off the excess. I wanted Mr. B's workshop to stand, so the picket fence was added to the front. The fence spent a day or two wrapped around a pint of paint with a giant rubber band to hold it in place, and even after painting, it kept its curved shape. 

A quick DIY egg roof:

Cut a triangle shape you like. Mine is 2 1/2" wide x 1 1/4" tall.

Glue strips of scalloped shingles to the triangle.

Snip off excess.

Ta-da!

Now that Mr. Bunny's Egg Workshop is complete, I can't help but think of the other niche shrines I haven't yet made. Then again, a rocket egg with space bunnies sounds pretty great.

Happy spring to you!

HERE is where you'll find all of the supplies used for Mr. B's workshop.