Floral

                                                 Clarity Stamps Challenge 24 Floral

February 2015

 Exterior

Interior

                                                                                                   

Materials:-

•  Shaker Box with Lid
• Gesso:- Black, White
• Cardstock:- Clarity Theuva Card, Supersmooth Paper
• Stamps:- Clarity Stamps ‘Happily Ever After,’ large and small Gerbera, repositionable ‘Funky Foliage,’ ‘Leafy Swirls’
•  Inkpads:- Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark; Ranger Distress Picked Raspberries, Festive Berries, Squeezed Lemons, Evergreen Bough, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Old Paper; Memento London Fog
• Embossing Powder:- Clear Detail, Gold detail Embossing
• Foam pads
• Mod Podge
• Cosmic Shimmer glue
•  Gilding Wax

Instructions:-

Box:-

   

                                                                          Plain Box

                                                                       Second Coat

                                                          Dry brushed with black Gesso.

• Coat box inside, out including side and base with White Gesso. Repeat on lid. When dry, give the box and lid another coat. Allow to dry.

•  Dry brush with Black Gesso to create a ‘shabby’ finish. (The photograph is much darker than reality but should you need to, it can be lightened with a dry-brushing of white Gesso.)

• When dry, and using the large ‘Leafy Swirl,’ apply Versamark and stamp around the side of box. Sprinkle over gold detail embossing powder and heat emboss. Repeat on lid. 

         *N.B. This takes some time; take care as the box can become hot.

•   Stamp along the side of the lid using the small ‘Leafy Swirl’ and emboss as before.

                  (I also stamped the large ‘Leafy Swirl’ inside the lid to add interest.)

Interior:-

'Happily Ever After' stamp

 

• Stamp the Happily Ever After castle eight times onto Theuva card using Onyx Black and emboss with clear fine detail powder. Brush ‘London Fog’ sparingly over extreme edges of stamped images and cut each out. Snip areas away and layer with 1mm foam pads to create a   decoupaged image. Set aside. (Please note the stamping shown here is on copy paper as this is a re-run for this post. The original in the completed box is on Theuva.) 

 Gerbera, Large and Small and Leaves from 'Funky Foliage'

•  Stamp large Gerbera 9 times on Supersmooth paper using Onyx Black and emboss with clear detail powder. Using Festive Berries and Picked Raspberries, blend ink over each image. Trim and decoupage into three flower-heads.

•  Stamp small gerbera three times following procedure at (3). Trim and add a small image to the centre of each flower-head. Set aside.

•  Stamp 8 straight-edged leaves and one curved leaf from the Funky Foliage set onto Supersmooth using Onyx Black and emboss with clear detail powder. Blend Mowed Lawn, Evergreen Bough and Peacock Feathers over the images and cut out. Set aside.

•  Draw around the circumference of the box onto a piece of Supersmooth paper. Cut out the circle, making fractionally smaller to fit the inside by cutting inside the pencil line. Check it fits snugly and adjust accordingly.

• Use your castle image to decide where the sun mask is to be placed on the circle; Blend over Evergreen Bough for the sky and Mowed Lawn for the grass. Tear a copy-paper hillside and blend ink over to create light and shade. (I also blended in some London Fog to create the illusion of a path from the castle.) Remove mask and blend Squeezed Lemonade over.

• Spritz the inked circle crumple it whilst damp. Dry then blend Old Paper over to create an aged look.

• Paint the inside base of the box with Mod Podge and apply the inked circle. Apply more Mod   Podge over the entire circle.

• Site the castle image to suit and attach using Cosmic Shimmer glue. 

• Glue the edge of each cut-out leaf and apply to the inside rim of the box, allowing a small over-lap.

• Decide where you wish to place the flower-heads and attach using Cosmic Shimmer Glue. Add remaining curved leaf to suit.
• My last addition was a touch of gold gilding wax to the lid and around the side.

My original idea was to create a ‘Secret Garden’ visible only when the box lid was opened, however I could not find a box that fitted my design. I tried various other designs over the period of a week until I happened upon a set of ‘Shaker’ boxes in a cupboard. The idea blossomed and my thoughts changed from the original secret garden to something more akin to ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ or even ‘Rapunzel.’

Thank you for reading the post and visiting my blog; apologies for it is rather lengthy, however there were more than a few steps and techniques to cover. Should you have any questions or queries, please ask and I'd be delighted to help or look for an answer.

Hope to see you back again!

Shelagh  ;~}