For the Girls

For the Girls

Hi There!

So here we are with the 

final project in this strand

and what a project it is....

Here's Jane Castle to

show you what she made:

 

The project I have made does take a little time

 to make but then if you are going to give 

someone a handmade present your 

time is the main part of the gift. 

So grab a cuppa and we will make a start.

One of my main hobbies is gardening 

and I like to save seeds for the next 

growing year. 

A very close friend and neighbour is 

a keen gardener also and we

 always give each other birthday and 

christmas presents, nothing expensive but 

always something with a special thought. 

So I decided to turn this wonderful 

mini house into a seed shed for her.

Using Art-C mini house box kit I gave

 the outsides of each part a coat of white gesso.

The inside of the base, back and 2 sides 

were then covered with some of 

Imagination Crafts Rice paper.

 This was attached using 

Ranger Distress Collage Medium.

The distress medium does make the background

 quite a bit darker as you can see 

in the photo above.

Next I made a start on the seed envalopes. 

For these I used some ordinary brown

 wrapping paper as this helps to keep the 

seeds dry. 

Cutting pieces 10cm x 10.5cm, I then made 

folds so that the finished size would be 6cm x 4cm. 

the corners were cut away so as to 

remove some of the bulk.

In the picture above you can see the various stages, 

the last one has the bottom sealed and 

the top open ready to be filled.

I stamped the labels onto white card using 

black ink and a stamp from JM15. These were then 

lightly coloured using Chalk Cloud blending 

ink before hand writting. 

The envelopes were stamped and heat embossed 

with white powder using various PaperArtsy stamps.

The tag was made from kraft card and also 

heat embossed.

The seed packets were then filled --

and immediately sealed. 

Poppy seeds can go a very long way !!!

At this point I decided to make a sign for 

my shed, so masking off a stencil I 

inked onto a strip of shrink plastic.

This took about an hour to dry and then

 I cut it to shape and punched the holes

 in the top before heating

Now onto decorating the outside,

 the roof had a coat of Granny Smith paint 

before adding Grunge Paste through a Tando mask.

 I added a little Slate paint to the paste 

before applying it to the roof. 

Once dry I lightly sanded and 

added some Treasure Pewter.

The sides and the back were painted in 

Blush paint and then sponged with the 

Chalk Cloud blending ink in Toasted Rose. 

Stamped flowers were added using

 Carabelle Studio 'Zinouk du Jardin'.

Using the same stamp set I made a 

little figure, she was stamped onto

 300gsm card and then cut out. 

Her dress was stamped onto an off cut 

of painted card and stuck on top. 

Colour was added to the figure with 

Distress Markers.

Self adhesive gems for the ear-rings and

 Liquid Pearls for her buttons. 

The spade was stamped from JM 43.

There are holes in the 2 roof pieces so I 

added a ribbon bow and attached the 

'Don't eat the Daisies' tag.

The 'Seed' sign was threaded with some 

silk thread and tied to the decorative edging 

which was painted in China paint.

Zinouk and her spade were stuck on 

with some glue and the seed packets

 popped inside.

As this is a fairly small house/shed

 it's hard to catch the detail of the 

inside on camera.

I have been very impressed with this kit, 

it all went together very nicely.

I might include a battery nightlight to go 

inside for when the seeds have 

been planted.

The bow could be untided and then

 it could hang from a branch on a

 summers evening.

Thinking about it several would look

 very cute!!"

Items Used

Art-C Mini House Box Kit

Brown Parcel Wrapping Paper

Imagination Crafts Rice Paper

Ranger Distress Collage Medium

Shrink Plastic

Brilliance Ink Pads

Tando Creative Mask

PaperArtsy Stencil

PaperArtsy Grunge Paste

PaperArtsy Rubber Stamps

Carabelle Studio Rubber Stamps

Ranger Liquid Pearls

PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints

Cosmic Shimmers Chalk Cloud Blending Ink

Treasure Pewter

Stampendous Embossing Powder

and some seeds!

Thank you Jane - I can

just see these little houses

dotted about the garden

holding those little battery 

operated night lights!

Another delightful present

don't you think?......

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx