a Silhouette Challenge project

This might look like a card in the photo, but...

 

... it's actually a collage on a wooden canvas
 to hang on the wall (or give as a gift):

(Psssst, here's the secret: at $3.50 the wooden canvas base
couldn't be a more affordable supply for making gifts!)

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This is a project I made as part of The Silhouette Challenge facebook group.
The goal of the group is to make a unique Silhouette-cut project each month & link it up.

 (This is my first one, so far!) :-) If you'd like to join us, simply drop Lauren a line.
Her blog is The Thinking Closet & you can reach here here via email.

...................................................

The wooden canvas (or 'cradled panel') was inspired by my blog buddy,
Lisa, who just created a stunning collage, that she shared on her blog, here.

I've had a few of these wooden canvases around for a while &
have been wanting to share them with you, since they're so very handy!

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(use a wooden canvas to make a quick gift 

that's as easy to make as a card!)

This is what my canvas looked like before I painted it, a wooden
 'cradled panel' base that measures 6x6 inches & 1/5 inches deep:

 
Cradled panels are surprisingly light, so they are very easy to hang.
(You can just use a push pin in your wall!)
 
  Their light weight also makes them quite affordable to ship in the mail.

They're made from a renewable resource, which is very important to me.
& Did I already mention they are 'cheap'? (The one I used was $3.50!)

 Want to know where to find them?

Since I live in BC Canada, I bought mine at Opus Art Supplies. If you're in the USA, you can find them at Dick Blick (I've never used that brand myself, but how exciting that they even have round ones!)

Do you sell your creations?

When I was researching the best supplies to make collage art to sell, these came up all the time. 

Many artist's prefer them to cloth canvases, because they are less likely to rip or crack in the mail.

They are great for encaustic work or beeswax collage & they can stand up to many collage layers.

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This is a rather simple project that makes a quick gift (it's
basically akin to sticking a handmade card on a wooden panel):

1) Cut a silhouette background shape from paper
2) Add a little paint & ink to the paper
3) Paint a wooden canvas
4) Stick the paper on the canvas & trim it
5) Add a focal image with some embellishments

• A Wooden 'cradled panel' canvas
• Paint (I used Black craft paint)
• Paper (to cut in the Silhouette Cameo) 
• A cut file to create a background texture with.
• Gesso/White Paint (optional: a brayer to apply it to the cut paper)
• Distress Inks or other colour medium of your choice
• Miscellanous paper embellishments (or a focal image)

Step 1) Make an interesting background element out of cardstock. I cut a design using the Silhouette cameo... this Small Fancy Gate file from the Silhouette store. It's cut out of Neenah Solar White cardstock.

 

Step 2) Add texture to your cardstock, if you like.

To add more interest, I applied acrylic Gesso to my Silhouette cut cardstock, using a brayer. After the gesso dried, I used a foam applicator to add colour with Distress Inks. (If you don't have any Gesso, white acrylic paint would work nicely and any ink or colour medium would work as well).



Step 3) Paint a cradled panel (I painted mine with black craft paint). Then adhere the cardstock to the wooden panel using acrylic matte medium.

I brushed on a generous coat of matte medium. It goes on white like glue, as you can see in the photo above, but it dries clear and matte (which is just a fancy art term for not shiny!) :-)

I use a local brand Kroma (from Vancouver BC) but Golden also makes it (they list some uses for it in art, here), and I have heard amazing things about Claudine Hellmuth's multi medium (matte).



Step 4) Dab off any excess matte medium using a rag. (It washes out of the cloth nicely with a little warm water).



Step 5) After the matte medium dries, trim the excess paper off using scissors, or a hobby blade.



Step 6) Distress the edges to soften the look, if you like. (I added a tiny bit of Black Soot Distress Paint & wiped away the extra with a damp cloth).



Step 6) Add a focal image - To adhere things like this, I love Weldbond glue because it's very ecological (it's non-toxic & has the eco-logo) Plus it's also strong & cleans up with water.



I added a fair amount of Weldbond and pressed on it a little here & there, to be sure it dried flat.

If you like the bird, you can find it free as a digital image, here:



The flowers on the focal image are hand-cut fabric flowers:



They were made like this:

1) ...printed a free flower template onto heavy cardstock.

2) ... added the fabric with Mod Podge (just coated the cardstock with a layer of Mod Podge & stuck fabric on it leaving the flower template printed visible on the back).

3) ...stamped on the fabric with Frost White Colorbox ink & this paisley stamp & heat embossed the ink with clear embossing powder. Distressed them, to look tea-stained, with a little Antique Linen Distress Ink & water.

4) ... Cut the flowers out & shaped them using a stylus tool (or the pointy wooden end of a paintbrush).

If you're a visual learner, you can see the flower making process 

in this 'Book page Mod Podge Flower' tutorial:

 (I just swapped the book pages for thin white fabric, here). :-)

...I also used the Weldbond to glue the flowers on & beads in their
centers. Just dropped a blob glue in the middle of each flower...



...and then popped in the bead:



& that was that!





If you'd like some ideas for how to use your silhouette,
these projects by the Gals in the group are sure to be fun!

DIY Paper Star Lanterns by Me & My DIY

A Jar of Gratefulness by We ♥ Cards

Adding Easy Sketch Pen Detail to Silhouette Cuts by It Happens in a Blink

Laundry Room Labels by Unoriginal Mom

Kids Step Stool with Sass by Joy & Gladness of Heart

Magnetic Perpetual Calendar by Everydaypaper

Silhouette Fabric Ink {An Experiment} by Create & Babble

Playhouse Signs: Who Will We Be Today? by Suburble

How to Get a Second Wind Out of Your Gel Manicure by The Thinking Closet

DIY Graduation Gift by Super Sweet Life

A Silhouette Challenge by Home at Eight

Oval Coffee Table Reveal & More! by Give Me a Paintbrush

Stamped Gift Boxes by Coley's Corner

Monsters University T-Shirt by Tried & True

Travel Accessories for Vacation Mementos & Business by An Elegant Touch
My Pinktastic Makeup Organizer by The House on Hillbrook

Whew that was a long one, hey? Thank You for 
having a look & Happy Creating! ox

P.S. Just thought I should let you know, I have no affiliation with any of the companies whose products I've mentioned here. They're just things I use and love & I'm only linking them in an effort to make them easier to find for You. :-)

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3D PCP Challenge: a ribbon spool with a secret compartment! (tutorial & printables)

When Adela, the magnificent Queen of all things 3-dimensional
asked if I would guest-host for the Paper Craft Planet 3D challenge,
I was honoured (and thrilled to get back to making something 3D!)


I hope you can play along!

This project made me feel like a little kid again!

At first glance it looks pretty grown up...



...It's an empty ribbon spool
made to look like a antique ribbon.

But the 'little kid part' is the secret compartment:

Can you picture giving one of these as a Mother's day present? ...

Mom: "Oh a spool of ribbon. Um. Thanks?"

You: "Open it up, Mum!"
Mom: "Huh?.... Ouuuu, jewelery!"

A much better surprise for my Mom than that time (in my early misspent youth) when I used smooshed up blackberries to make an empty jewelery box with a hole cut into it (and my finger poking through the cotton) look like a severed finger I had found in the ditch. Sorry, Mom! (It was my Cousin's idea, honest!) :-D Not on Mother's Day, by the by, because that would just be wrong.

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Since April is Earth month,

The challenge is...

What Goes Around comes Around!




You can find the 3D challenge page here on PCP.



Want to Join in
the challenge?

1) Simply make something 3D that reuses something
that you might normally recycle or throw out.

Or if you've already emptied the bins, just make something
3D that's round (or that has round elements on it).

2) Upload your project to Paper Craft Planet.

3) Be sure to use this challenge tag: 3d161
so that we can see what you've made!



If you'd like to make a hidden ribbon spool box of your own
please feel free to use these
printable labels that I made to share with you...

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To save these files:

Firefox/Chrome: right click on the image & choose "save link as"
Explorer: right click on the image & choose "save target as"

Round Antique Ribbon Labels:
&

or you can find the fronts on Flickr here
& the back on Flickr here

Credits: These were Frankenstein'ed together using
this label base, this label decoration & this free font.

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...make a ribbon spool box
with a hidden compartment:

You'd be surprised how easy this is, even though
this tutorial may look a little complicated (or long!),
since I've included every last step.

Basically it goes together like this:

A) Cover two empty ribbon spool rings with patterned paper.
B) Add some ribbon to the bottom spool & a pin.
C) Stick printed labels on the top & bottom to finish it off.

It came together surprisingly quickly
and it looks and feels just like a real spool of ribbon.

- Old ribbon spools in 2 sizes (empty packing tape rolls work great too)
- White cardstock & a printer
- Heavy cardstock or watercolour paper
- Decorative patterned paper
- Scissors & adhesive
- Ribbon & a pin



Step 1) Find two old ribbon spools and remove their labels leaving just the cardboard rings (if you don't have any ribbon spools, empty spools from packing tapes would work nicely as well).

The only thing to make sure of is that they fit one inside
the other, something like this:



(With a little room to spare for paper layers).



Step 2) Sand off any bits of paper left from the original ribbon labels.



Step 3) Print the label printables front & back (They are available as free downloads above). They measure 4" in diameter, but you might want to re-size them to fit your ribbon/tape spools.



Step 4) Cut out all four labels. You could use a circle cutter, if you prefer.



Step 5) To make a nice strong top & bottom for the ribbon box, you can adhere the decorative label fronts to watercolour paper or some other sturdy cardstock.



Step 6) Cut the labels out again.



Step 7) Flip the front label circle over (so you can see the watercolour paper or plain cardstock side) and adhere the plain back label onto it.




Step 8) Score the edges of your new double-sided labels with scissors to the edges out & distress them.



Step 9) Distress the fronts of labels to make them look all antiqued.


Then Add decorative paper to the ribbon rings...



Step 10) Cut 3 strips of 12 x 12 patterned paper to fit the width of your ribbon spool rings. (Cut 2 to fit the 'top' smaller ring, and cut 1 to fit the bottom larger ring).



Step 11) To make round liners for the inside of the bottom & top, trace the inside of each ribbon spool ring onto the same patterned paper & cut those two circles out.



Step 12) Stick the patterned paper on the outside of the top ring.



Step 13) Stick another strip of patterned paper on the inside of the top ring.



Step 14) Stick the final strip of patterned paper on the inside of the bottom ring.

Step 15) You should be left with something like this:



It might be a good idea to ensure that they still fit together before you finish things all nicely. :-)



Step 16) Wrap the outside of the bottom (larger) ring with ribbon. (I used some very affordable white seam-binding ribbon as an initial base, so that I could use less of the blue antique seam-binding that I finished with).



Step 17) Finish wrapping the bottom larger ribbon ring with ribbon.



Step 18) If your ribbon is the type that will fray, like this seam-binding, you may want to seal the end with a bit of glue as a fray check. (I used Weldbond glue since it dries matte and isn't visible).



Step 19) Add a pearl pin as a finishing touch, pushing it into the cardboard to secure it. If it's very sharp, you might want to sand the end to dull it down a little.



Step 20) Add your adhesive of choice to the bottom of each ribbon ring. (I used more Weldbond glue).



Step 21) Adhere the covered ribbon rings to the plain side (back) of the label circles you made



Step 22) Adhere the two patterned paper circles to the inside of the box bottom & top. (The circles that you traced and cut from patterned paper in step 11).

Finally, Slide the lid into the box:

And no one will know (until you tell them)
that there's a hidden compartment
inside that antique ribbon!

Please remember to add the tag 3d161 :-)

Hope you can join us on Paper Craft Planet to play along
with the challenge (or simply check the entries out!),



P.S. Quick links: Paper Craft Planet can be found here.
Not a member yet? It's free & easy to sign up here.
Once you are signed in, the 3D challenge page is here.

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