Spring toadstool fairy exploding canvas

Hi Everyone,
I'm up on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Blog today.
The weather has been so nice here.  Flowers are blooming and pretty soon we will start seeing the baby ducks in our little neighborhood lake.  It's also the time of year when I start to make fairies.  Ah, who am I kidding I love to make fairies all year round!

A couple years back I made an exploding canvas and I totally loved the process.  I decided it was time to make a new one and this time I gave it a little twist.  I knew I wanted a tiny fairy so my canvas had to be small  too.
I started by covering a 5x5 canvas with Tim Holtz Collage paper.  I used collage medium to adhere it to the canvas and coated the top too.  I dried it with a heat gun.  Once the collage paper was dry I used texture paste and a flower stencil to add detail to the top and bottom corners.

I sprayed the canvas using Distress Oxide Spray in Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, and Iced Spruce.

 I added paint splatter in black(Distress Black Soot) and gold(Dina Wakley Ancient).   I used Distress Crayon in Lucky Clover to enhance the texture paste flowers. At the end I decided to add a bit of Worn lipstick and Picked Raspberry Crayon to the flowers too. 

Once the paint was dry I flipped the canvas over and used a different collage paper to line the inside of the canvas.  I blasted it with the heat gun and then cut the canvas up.  You can see the cut lines.  This is the scariest part of the whole process, but the outcome is fabulous.  

Before I started prepping my canvas I took the Mini Shadowbox set and put together a couple of the boxes I thought might fit into the frame.  Once I had one that fit right I started working on the canvas.  I didn't want to get this far into the thing just to discover that what I thought it would look like in my head would not work out at all. 

After the canvas was cut I glued the pieces to the front of the canvas creating an opening.  

For the hollow, I wound up using the smallest of the shadowboxes.  The fun thing about the box this size is that it doesn't take much paper to cover it.  I spritzed a manila tag with Worn Lipstick Oxide Spray and let it air dry.  The air drying seems to make it oxidize a bit better(it also could be my imagination).I gave it a quick mist of water on either side and ran it through my 3d Kaleidoscope  embossing folder.  This one tag covered the entire outside of my box with some to spare! I sanded the tag a bit and added some Distress Crayon in Gathered Twigs to highlight the raised areas.  

For an added detail I ran metal plumbing tape through my impresslit folder.I colored it using gold, latte, and caramel alcohol inks.   

I cut the manila tag to cover the outside of the shadowbox I used the faux dresden to cover the edges.  The edge of the dresden is the perfect size to cover the edge of the chipboard. 

The inside of the box was lined with paper and washi tape.  I really just wanted the little flowers to peep through in the back there.  I added some spun cotton toadstools, moss, and a teeny paperdoll.  The new Tim Holtz  wings work perfectly on this guy.  

To finish the canvas I colored seam binding using the Worn Lipstick Oxide spray and a bit of Tea Dye Distress Spray.  I made a fluffy bow and added a word band. In the top corner, opposite from the bow, I added a flower cluster with some additional moss.    

Happy Spring! 

Jess

Spring is here! Happy Bird Shadowbox

Spring is one of the best seasons in Arizona.  The weather is perfect and everything is in bloom.  We have a little sparrow that decided to build her nest on our porch.  We can't wait to meet her teeny family.  To celebrate spring and our little mommy I made this shadow box.

I love birds.  They show up all the time in my work. This shadow box will make a great addition to my collection of bird related creations I have in my bedroom.

I started with a basic pine box that I picked up at Goodwill.  I painted it with a Cornflower blue acrylic paint and then applied a light tan wash.  When the paint was dry I speckled with walnut ink, black and cream colored paints.  It looks just like a bird egg.  

Sorry about this terrible picture.  It was late and the light was really bad.  I wanted you to be able to see the paper I added to the back.  It's from BoBunny Press.  I added some Tumbled Glass and Pumice Stone Distress Ink to grunge it up a bit.  

Now time to add in the fun bits!

This is the smaller niche.  The three little birds are remnant rubs.  The ephemera bits are from an old K & Company line.  Of course they are made to look grungy using Distress Inks.  

The larger niche has moss from the Dollar Store on the bottom.  The bird(the nest and eggs) is from my stash.  All of the paper ephemera on the left side are front the same K & Company kit.  The ticket, the bird cage, the remnant rub, and the saying are from Tim Holtz.  The pen nib I got on clearance at work(I work in a bookstore).  The little brass bird in the cage was purchased at a sewing expo.  

The sides have Industrious Stickers on them.  I rubbed Weathered Wood Distress Paint on them. I let it dry a bit and then rubbed it off with a cloth.  I used the same technique for the feet. 

There you have it.  A happy shadowbox to welcome spring.  

Did you know I usually post pictures of projects I am working on on my Facebook page and Instagram?  You can find me on both by looking for TwoMadDahlias.  

I am entering this shadowbox into A Vintage Journey's Say it with Words Challenge.

Rhedd and Rosies is having a wood challenge this week too.

What have you been crafting?

Jess