Shadow Boxes

The thing I love most about working with chipboard is the endless amount of creative possibilities it allows. You can finish chipboard with such a multitude of products and techniques the hardest part is deciding what to use for a particular piece! Creating pieces with chipboard allows me to combine my love of all types of media - from stitching and beading to painting and much more.

Our theme for this week at Scrapware is boxes and memory frames .... products of which Scrapware has an awesome range! For my first project I have used the Mini Shadow Box, KT61. This shadow box is only 4" x 4", a perfect size don't you think! It is super easy to put together, the sides simply fold in. Once I put my box together, I covered the whole thing using plaster cloth. Plaster cloth comes in sheets which I cut down into smaller sized strips. Simply wet it and smooth the layers over the chipboard. Layer by layer gradually build up the plaster using the chipboard box as your "frame". Before you know it you will have a shadow box it looks like you carved out of clay!

Once my plaster was dry I simply coloured it using layers of Glimmer Mists and Walnut Stain inks. I have then use the Small Nadine Frame, CH381 to decorate the window of the box. The Nadine frame is a perfect fit!

My centrepiece is the Elegant Hearts, HS04 which I have also covered using Plaster Cloth. Once the heart was dry I painted it using my favourite Golden Acrylic paints and adhered the new wings behind the heart. These wings are also part of Scrapware's latest release ... you may have been lucky to see them at Paperific in Melbourne recently ... if not they will also be coming to a store near you very soon!

I finished it all off with some sticks from my garden (painted and sprayed with glimmer mists) and some hanging charms and beads.

Another of our latest releases is the Open Shadow Box. Now this new product is just a little bit too awesome! Ange actually sent me a sample of this one some time ago and I have been working on it ever since ... it's been a labour of love indeed!

The frame is constructed in the same way as the other Memory Boxes, only this one is different in that there is no back. For my piece I simple adhered a piece of transparency to the back, adhering my embellished piece of fabric to the front of that on the inside of the box. This gives the inside piece a "floating" effect, cool ha!

As I mentioned the inner piece is actually made of fabric. I have used calico and covered it with layers of printed 7 Gypsies tissue paper and Golden's Fibre Paste medium (love that stuff!). I have then both hand and machine stitched layers of ribbons and flowers on to the piece which was first coloured with Glimmer Mists. I did a separate piece which I adhered the new Keyholes, CH466 on to before stitching this piece to my main piece. I have also used the Elegant Heart HS04 again, first embossing it in the Cuttlebug and then painting lightly with cream paint. I have poked some holes through and sewed on some beads too! Finally I decorated the other frame with a combination of Fibre Paste, printed tissue papers, stitched fabrics and ribbons and the Damask piece which is also new and coming soon!

I hope I have inspired you to get creative with your chipboard!

Have an awesome week Natalie W xxx