Nests and Eggs

 A Shadowbox for the Country View Craft Challenge - Easter - bunnies,chicks or eggs,

I have put together a curated collection of elements to create this curio shadowbox

Process Steps

Background - Scrape some gesso randomly on the paper, dry and stamp with text, I used ground espresso distress ink.

Making the nests - Pull out some natural cocosfibre, wind tightly round a pencil glue together with heat gun. Cut some of the fibre away and create a second one to glue on top keeping it to fit the dome. Keep pushing thumbs down in the centre to create the bowl nest shape. 

Spray with distress sprays to get the colour you want. I used gathered twigs. I then made two more and set them on two wooden spools bound with dark brown hemp.

Painting the eggs. Line them up on some double sided sticky tape to keep them secure and free from fingers for painting.

Here the nests were settled on the tops of two wooden reels.

The large bottles were filled with moss and three of the painted & speckled eggs. I added some brown paint to make them somewhat distressed. 

This is how I put the nest together for the dome.

The feathers actually ended up in a different bottle. 

And so did the twigs.

I used Tim's matchbox die to make these boxes for the larger die-dut eggs to sit in. I used leftover pieces of distressed card to cut them.

The smaller die-cut eggs were raised slightly by some small pieces of dowling wood my hubbie cut me.

It took several days to make decisions on how to put this together but I love that there are lots of eggs here to fit the theme of the challenge.

xx

Supplies

Tim Holtz latest paper pack for background and the title came from an old 8x8 TH pad  https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/th94473-tim-holtz-palette-collection-neutral-8x8-183470-p.asp

Tim Holtz dies - Vault Matchbox 666604

Tim Holtz Stamps - Ledger Script CMS241   https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-stamps-by-stampers-anonymous-193-c.asp

Tim Holtz - Idea-ology Bottles, tny eggs, ephemera, Curator snippets,   https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-idea-ology-102-c.asp

DecoArt - Decoupage    https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/decoart-americana-decou-page-sealerglue-gloss-4oz-167418-p.asp   Gesso not in stock

Tim Holtz - Ranger - distress paints - tumbled glass, weathered wood, fired brick, seedless preserves, ground espresso, vintage photo     https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-paints-436-c.asp

Distress Inks - ground espresso, scorched timber  https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/distress-ink-pads-1907-c.asp

Distress Sprays - Pine Needles, Twisted Citron, walnut stain, antique linen,    https://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/tim-holtz-distress-spray-stains-696-c.asp

Sizzix dies - eggs a very old set.

49&Market Mindful Moments words  Out of stock

Wintry Christmas dome

 Glitter for Country View Crafts

The lovely Susan Seabert of Country View Crafts has now sold the CVC shop and handed over the products, name and challenges to Brenda O'Reilly who is the new owner.

This is a bitter sweet time as Susan and her husband will be moving down to Dorset to be nearer their family and for her and  me it is an end of an era. I am so happy for Susan but I also feel rather sad at the same time as I, with my sister, helped Susan set up her original blog and begin the workshops. In fact I taught the very first one.

But I will be continuing with Brenda and look forward to new beginnings with her.

So here is my second project for the November Glitter challenge.

I used two small wooden log slices, glued together and painted with gesso. When dry I placed them into the base of the dome.

One of the bottles was painted with a mix of toffee apple and mahogany paints, the other was painted white and sprinkled with fine glitter. Whilst they were drying I made a couple of labels using free images found on the internet and simple ones with words on. 

I glued a star to the little tree. I used a sponge to give the deer his colour using toffee and buff paints.

The base of the scene was covered with snow-tex and the 4 pieces glued into the wet mix and left overnight to dry.

The surface was painted decoupage glue and covered with fake snow and the chunky glitter -  which doesn't show up well in the photos.

The base of the dome was covered with a strip of glitter card, the dome had a strip of glitter washi tape wrapped round with some red twine tied over it.

This will go out as one of my new Christmas decorations for this year.

xxx

Supplies

White Gesso

Bottles

Tim Holtz Deer, 

Tim Holtz crackle paint, Rock Candy Chunky Glitter, Stickles

Snowtex

Decoupage matte Glue/Sealer

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint - Mahogany, Toffee Apple, Toffee, Buff

MIscellaneous - Fake snow, labels (hand made), Tree with star, wooden log slices, small cloche dome,