Shrine Embellishing

Remember this shrine from

way back when? 

In case you missed it

and are so inclined, 

you'll find the related post here.

It's just been sitting around 

on a shelf waiting 

for some zhooshing up.

I got out my bead box,

assorted assemblage items,

and went to work (or play, as I'd rather say). 

I used a PVA glue instead

of a glue gun, or the stinky

kind of glue that'll literally 

glue your (I should say,

 'my') fingers together. 

It takes a little longer to dry,

but I think in the long run

it'll create a more durable hold

and my fingers will remain separated. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Hoping you have a fabulously creative week! 

Terri

"Home Tweet Home" Bird House with Stand

It feels so good to have this one finished. 

I've finally freed up a little more floor

space in my art room. 

It's funny though, solving one problem can 

sometimes create another.

The newly created space in my art room

is now filling up space in our guest room.

Oh well, hopefully we'll get some of

these sold and that'll free up that room.

Dream big, right?

I wanted to take this out in the yard

to get some pictures, but we had

a much needed rain storm last

night and the ground is still wet. 

This'll have to do for now. 

We've made two stand sizes for our

bird houses. This

size is the shorter of the two. 

The flower embellishments on the sides of 

this house are raised wood cut-outs. 

I drew a couple flower patterns on

wood and my husband cut them out

and affixed them to the sides. 

The next two pictures I took from underneath

so you can see that every spot is painted. 

This was an important tip I learned

from a very wise gallery owner and art dealer. 

Don't leave any blank spaces!

Thanks for visiting!

Folk "Heart" Bird House with Stand

This cute little bird house has been sitting

on our guest bed just waiting for me 

to paint a stand for it. 

I've had 2 unfinished bird house stands sitting in my 

art room/studio FOREVER (it seems). 

They're taking up a bit of floor space

and starting to get in my way. 

It's one of those projects that I know

will take some time, so I put it off. 

One day rolls into the next and

well, you know. . . 

Last weekend, I felt the need to check 

it off my list and "get 'er done"!

I set a goal for myself of one day

to accomplish it. 

It was such a good feeling to have 

finished it in the time I allotted myself. 

Today's goal: 

*Paint the 2nd stand. 

The only problem is that today's goal

is in competition with 5 loads

of laundry AND changing the bed linens. 

We'll see, I'm going to push myself. 

I'm all about striking while the iron is hot!

Bowl Cozies

A couple years ago I received a 

bowl cozy as a gag gift. 

As it turns out, that had to be

one of the most useful gag gifts

I've ever gotten. 

We eat a lot of hot foods

in bowls, from soup to

rice with vegetables, and of course, 

our morning oatmeal routine. 

I'm always heating up a bowl 

of something in the microwave. 

Since these have come in 

so handy for us, I decided to

make a bunch for Christmas gifts.

I've picked up a few helpful hints

that have made the process of making

multiples much easier. 

First I made a 10" template out

of cardboard which included the triangles

for the darts. This saved a lot of time measuring. 

There are several good instructional videos

online that will give you measurements

for the right size bowl you're looking for. 

I cut the cotton batting an inch smaller (9")

than my fabric (10"). This made finishing much simpler. 

My last helpful tip is to work

in an assembly line process

instead of making one at a time. 

This saved me so much time and 

was much more efficient.

I hope our recipients get

as much use out of these as we do!

Love Shrine

 From the time I was very

young, I've loved dioramas. 

These three dimensional vignettes 

often capture a snapshot of life

which tends to spark my imagination.

I guess that's why I'm drawn to

Mexican nichos and shrine boxes. 

The one I'll share with you today

conveys a simple message. . Love. 

I started out with some nice sturdy

boxes for the base and designed

frames out of cardboard. 

More cardboard cutouts were added

to enhance the dimension. 

I then made cold porcelain clay roses. 

Cold porcelain clay was fun to 

work with, but I learned a few important things. 

First of all, don't use a good pot. 

Had I've known my pot would be ruined,

I would've bought a cheap one at the thrift store

to make the clay in. 

Next, when coloring the roses I used

markers instead of paint because it was

easier and less messy.

The problem with that is it completely

dries out the markers and then they're no good. 

Next time I'll put up with a little mess and use paint.  

After that, I covered my shrine boxes with paper mache, let

them dry, and then painted them with a base coat. 

I added some gems along with 

the roses and coated the frame with

a glitter mod podge for some extra sparkle. 

The "LOVE" letters are made

out of folded magazine pages. 

I thought it was so cute. 

I'd gone to Hobby Lobby after

Christmas and picked up a bunch of 

ornaments for a couple dollars each

with the intention of using them in my boxes. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Terri