Monday, December 20, 2010

My Premier Post

Well, here I go.  I have often thought of starting a blog, and day one of my winter break has offered me the opportunity to finally put my thought in motion. 

Today I am going to highlight a little shrine I have made for one of my swap pals.  Little does she know, but the recipient of this shrine is a true inspiration of mine.  She really likes fairy tales, so this was my chosen theme.  I can only hope she likes it. 

I have never made a shrine on this scale prior to this project, it is made from a 250 count matchbox as the base. 

 




The images used for the "door" of this shrine were found in a calendar.  I loved the image of the window and I thought this added some shape, by extending beyond the boundaries of the matchbox.  The keyhole was found in my stash, as was the vintage key I attached to the outside for movement.  Amazingly, the little transfer was also discovered while rummaging through some stuff.  I was so pleased that the perfect little decal presented itself at the perfect time!



Now, I know that there is no dragon in Rapunzel. However, I just could not pass up this perfect mirror image...so I took creative liberty and used it anyway under the guise that this is a "Fairy Tale Shrine."  I added a tiny red gem in his eye, and yet another touch of stickels  to accent his fire. 




The inside of the shrine is a small scene from Rapunzel.  The starting point of this whole project was the game piece from a Renaissance Chess Set.  I found it at a flea market some time ago and fell in love with the pieces.  This is the first project I have made with that find.  I added a bit of paint and wiped away to age the castle a bit.  I also distressed a bit with some inks. 

The ground is made from Crayola Modeling clay, paint and some stickles for texture.  Rapunzel's braid was made from yarn I dyed with some spray ink.  The trees in the back ground were charms I cut up and repurposed. 

I searched and searched for a Knight in Shining Armor (they are just so hard to find these days!)  Alas,I had to make my own.  I found a horse charm and a "lord a leaping" charm at my local bead shop that I altered to suit my needs. 

The sky is speckled with stickles stars and some natural paper, which is torn to give a bit of dimension.  A glittery moon is tucked in a corner. 
I could not leave out the back, and felt that an image of Rapunzel would be cute back there.  I happened upon a window made of foil that I had purchased a while back.  The picture used for our famous princess came from a great piece of collage cardstock. I simply took my little window and used it to find an image that would fit inside appropriately.  Again in the end, I was seeking something to add texture, so the felt vines achieved this desire.  I added the metal bar for interest as well. 



 
So there it is, my little creation made for one of my swapping pals. 

I learned a lot from this experiment.  The one thing I would do different next time is plan for a closure for the box.  I wish I had the foresight to see that this should have been done earlier in the project.  I did not want to mess up the door, so I tied a ribbon around it for shipping purposes and sent it off.  

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I am in K'zoo also. Do I know you? Your name doesn't appear on your blog.

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  2. Your swappin pal will love this!! Hope you had as much fun makin it as I did lookin and reading about it! Thanks for sharin.

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  3. Lovely! I love the detail. Come by and check out my blog!

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  4. Very cool shrine! Fantastic job. :)

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  5. Wow. Sooooo beautiful. Was this for an organized Swap-Bot swap? I can't wait to see what you create in the Love Shrine swap. Great blog. Keep on blogging! And if you go by my blog, you'll see I'm doing "Craft It Forward". http://www.inkstainedthoughts.blogspot.com Hollychihuahua on SB.

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  6. pity you have so few posts your art is class ,oh by the way I'M blackbird 4 on swapbot ,don't know if you got me on the swap I'm at www.patriciasfabricart.blogspot.com

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  7. I hope you love blogging as much as I do! Keep it up! mamatoallie on swapbot

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  8. you have amasing crafting talents!

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  9. Oh I so wish I was the recipient of this! I LOVE this door!!! very beautiful job! hope to see you in more swaps!! Love all your work!

    leecytx from swap-bot

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All the comments and feedback you leave affirms my creative spirit on a very deep level. I am grateful for your time and readership!