Friday Fun Day and Halloween Shrine.

Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.
Angela here again to show you what I've been up to this week.

With Halloween so close this had to be a fun time to make something Spooky and that's what I've been doing this week.
So here it is!!!!!!!

 

I started with this little beauty from That Craft Place.

 

First thing, painting with black Gesso. Some sections were left as they would be covered later and try to avoid getting too much paint round the slits as that can make it difficult to assemble.

I often leave areas without paint and complete this as I construct.

 

Once that is done it's on to the decoration.

I used Graphic 45 papers for this shrine mixing together, Rare Oddities and Olde Curiosity Shoppe.

 

I glazed the bottles with Glossy Accents giving a slightly 3D effect. This needs to be done and allowed to dry before going to the next stage.

 

I also glazed the bottles at the back too.

 

I love this time of the year as it is so easy to get lots of lovely creepy stuff like the bat I've used on the back of the shrine.

 

You may be able to see that I had glazed the eyes too just behind the bat and small blobs on the Pinnacles of the shrine.

At this stage I started adding other embellishments which were coloured with Stickles Glitter glue for a bit of bling. It makes them look as though the moon is shining on them (just use your imagination!!!).

 

When I was looking through the stash I found these googly eyes, no idea what I bought them for but thought they would look fun down the sides.

More fun stuff.... some skeletons arms, little tiny vials, painted frogs, centipedes  and a very! very! large spider!

Spooky or what!

No Halloween shrine would be complete without cobwebs so got out the kitchen scrubby again and pulled out some nice big pieces to use as cobwebs, lovely!

 

 You can probably see now that I wrapped the webbing under the large spider and around the eyes.

Then used a large section for the shrine to stand on.

 

A little extra tucked inside.

 

And so to a final look at the finished project.

 

I hope this made you smile, I certainly had fun making it.

Have a great weekend and a brilliant Halloween,

 thanks for stopping by.

And if you would like some more smiles you just need to pop over to see what our other friends have been doing this week at Annie's for
"This Week's Smiles" and you can also share your  smiles too.

Angela x

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

A Vintage Journey: Make it Spooky.
Make My Monday: Challenge # 33 I Put a Spell on You.
SanDee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenges: 16 October.
Left of Centre Creative Challenges: 153 Halloween with Bugaboo Stamps.
Mixed Media World: MMW#19#Assemblage/Altered Art.
Country View Challenges: October 2016 - All Things Spooky.
 

Friday will Bee Fun Day.

Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.

I've been working on a mini shrine this week and I would like to show you the stages in making.
So here we go.

Deciding how to decorate the shrines never comes easy, well not for me Lol!
They are such works of art in themselves that I am eager to do justice to them.

None the less after much thought this is where I ended up.

 

And this is the shrine I chose to use.
Again this is from That Craft Place and available here.

 

Although I had an idea in mind of some of the things I wanted to use, this time I have to say that this project just kind of evolved as I worked on it.

 

So here are the stages in making:

They arrive flat but no worry because they fit together really well.

 

On this occasion I am constructing the shrine before starting to

colour it.

 

Usually I cover them with a coat of white Gesso and then put them together but this time it's not necessary as I will be adding elements to it and then covering with Black Gesso later.

 

So here goes:

 

First an MDF lizard I had in my stash.

Placed him on the back.

 

Then added other embellishments around him.

Any bits and pieces work well with this even a corned beef can key Lol!

Next I moved to the front.

Building up the design with shells from nuts, bottle top, little gems, pen nibs and some brass bees and other objects. The inside is a honey comb die cut from card. I actually added more of this to elevate the inside.

 

 At this stage I was ready to cover the whole thing with Black Gesso.

Front.

 

Back.

 It really starts to look quite different.

 

I actually like the black, however!

 now the rusting paint.

 

To give a little more texture I started by adding some Art Stones to the paint and added some Soft Gel to the mixture for additional adherence.

There is some fine sand like substance in the paint already but I wanted larger pieces too.

 
I continued to add the colour until I felt satisfied with the effect.
This paint dries really quickly which is useful as you will want to add the three different colours as you go along to give the rusty effect but also blend them without intermixing the colours too much which could happen if they were too wet.

 

 This close-up shows the texture quite well.

I felt it needed a little bit of green adding and I used some Paper Artsy paint for this and also some black. I applied the black and then rubbed some off.

Finished this by adding gilding wax to bring out the details.
Just rub this on and then buff gently.

Finally it was time to add the main embellishments.
You may have guessed what this might be!
I have some gorgeous bronze bees and just had to use one in this project.
So here is the finished shrine once again.

 

The eye is a replacement dolls eye and is there to watch over the bees!

You may wonder what this design is all about and where the idea came from.

Bees are very important creatures probably more so than we realise as without them many plants that we depend on would not be pollinated so this is a tribute shrine to the Bees.

 

 

I took the following information from:

 

SUSTAIN

the alliance for better food and farming 

 

The humble bumble

Many domestic and imported fruits and vegetables require pollination. Examples include avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash, and sunflowers for oil, cucumbers, citrus fruit, peaches, kiwis, cherries, cranberries and melons. For crops such as blueberries and almonds, the honey bee plays an essential role in pollination of commercial crops,  with around 80% of the US crop said to be dependent on honey bees. Honey bees can also pollinate clover and alfalfa, which are fed to cattle, so there are implications for the meat and dairy industry too. And that is not to mention the huge range of manufactured food products made from all these ingredients.

 

Products used:

 

 

I hope you like it, I would love it if you leave a comment relating to any of the post.

 

Have a great weekend

and

happy crafting,

Angela xXx

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:

SanDee & amelie's Steampunk Challenges: Anything Goes Steampunk/Industrial June 2016
Anything But Cute: Challenge # 14 The Birds and the Bees
Altered Eclectics Anything Goes New Challenge for June
Rhedd's Creative Spirit: June Challenge 
Paper Artsy# 11 Our House Challenge 
I loved the Bird House by Claire Lloyd so why not a Bee House!
Things to Alter: June Challenge Anything goes.
A Vintage Journey: Texture or Embossing Paste.
 

Mini Shrines for That Craft Place.

Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.

You may remember that earlier this month I mentioned that I would be posting a tutorial showing how to construct the Mini Shrines.

If you are a follower of The Craft Stamper magazine you will have seen the gorgeous Mini Shrines this month which myself and my team mates at That Craft Place made. 
These little beauties are all designed by Lisa and cut by Danny at That Craft Place.

Here is the one I made and if you would like to see how I completed it I have posted a tutorial showing its construction over at That Craft Place Blog.

 

These gorgeous little Shrine parts are available in different styles from That Craft Place.

Definitely be working with them again.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you will pop over to That Craft Place.

Angela x

The Craft Place Challenge

Welcome to all my new followers, hope you enjoy the journey.
And here is my new design for :
That Craft Place Challenge Blog.

As usual this fortnight's theme is:
Mixed Media Anything Goes!
So lets see what you can come up with!

But before you start here is my piece using a variety of products from That Craft Place.

You may recognise it as it was featured in the Craft Stamper Magazine.

 

I shall be posting a tutorial, for making this later in the month.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Hope you will leave a comment so I know if you like my little Shrine and maybe pop over and join in the challenge.

 

Happy crafting,

Angela x

 

I would like to enter this project in the following challenges:

Rhedd's Creative Spirit: January 2016 Challenge
Tando Creative: Anything Goes
Challenge #9 - Ring out the Old, Bring in the New. As these were all new pieces from That Craft Place thought I would give it a go x