Paper Mache Cross with Roses Shrine

I just finished my paper mache 

cross and roses shrine.

It can stand on it's own, or hang on the wall. 

I think I'd like to buy a little

flameless tea light for it. 

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with blessings.

I hope you did as well. 

Now we're looking forward

to our daughters wedding on New Years Eve!

I'm still trying to think of something

meaningful I can make for her and my soon to be son in law.

I'll be sure to share it when I do. 

Happy New Year!!!

Love Shrine

This is how my "Love Shrine" started out.

The base is an old Lang Christmas card box.

(Whenever I come across a good strong box, 

I always tuck it away for a future project.)

I designed a fancy asymmetrical frame to go around it, built it

up with some air dry paper clay and cardboard 

designs, and then paper mached the whole thing. 

 Once it thoroughly dried (about 2 days),
I primed it with Zinzer Bullseye 123.

I used assorted acrylic and dimensional paints to create

a primitive design, which I sealed with a gloss medium. 

It's embellished with some cold porcelain clay roses

and rhinestones. 

It's rustic, simple, bright and cheery.

I may need to add some glitter modge podge

to the frame to give it even more pizazz. 

Either way, I "LOVE" it!

Star and Cross Shrine

This is the completed star and cross shrine

that I mentioned in my last post. I say completed,

but I'm still pondering adding something

to the bottom right (inside) corner to hide some

bubbling that occurred in that area. 

I still need to figure out how

to hang my shrines.

There's not a lot of weight to the piece, but

any hanger will need to be adhered with 

glue of some kind. I want something that'll

be sturdy and long lasting, but won't damage the piece. 

I'll have to see what Home Depot has available. 

Up next is a side view of the piece. 

I had to make that pretty too.

You can get more of an idea of

it's size next to my hand in this pic. 

On Wednesday, I plan to share some funky
Christmas ornaments that I'm working on.

Hope your day is a good one!

Bird and Bear Nicho

The base of this nicho is an empty crab meat can.  

It's a little deeper than a tuna can.

I washed it well and made sure to get rid of any odor. 

My next step was to draw and cut out a cardboard frame 

to fit the opening of the can.

I taped the frame to the can with masking tape. 

 Using my homemade air dry paper clay, 

I built up some dimension and ridges

on the frame and paper mached the whole thing. 

It took a full 24 hours to dry before

I coated the whole thing with Zinzer 123 Primer. 

The following picture is the completed piece.

I used an old greeting card for the background and some reindeer moss

for the inside surrounding edge.

The roses were made from my cold porcelain clay.

I used acrylic paints and dimensional fabric paints (which 

may be used on surfaces other than fabric). 

I coated the outside with Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel Medium. 

Because of the depth and the visibility of the outside

of the can, it needed some embellishing as well. 

I haven't finished the back yet because I have to figure out

how and if I want to hang it.

It sits nicely on a flat surface, but I think it'd be cute hanging as well. 

Once I figure that out, I'll add a meaningful quote and my signature 

to the back and give it a quick coat of the gloss medium.