Angel Wing Shadow Box

I've mentioned that I'm on an Angel kick lately. This is the centerpiece of it and reason behind it. 

Today is PhD boy's birthday. It's also the day 3 years prior that my dad died. Our son wasn't due for 2 more weeks so the fact that he was born 3 years to the day his grandfather died has always been significant in our lives. Though they never met, in addition to our son carrying on his grandfather's name, he has so many mannerisms and expressions that were my Dad's. 

When our son was home over the holidays we went to the cemetery. Sitting there was this perfect pine cone although neither PhD boy nor Mr. Chocolate understood what the heck I was doing when I picked it up. It was completely closed at the time and they said and I quote " It looks like a giant turd". Well, makers see things other people don't right?  They continued to taunt me as it dried in the laundry room. "You'll see" I kept saying. 

When it completely opened up, I was ready to make something with it. 

I painted the back and sides and using a piece of crackled scrapbook paper, Mod Podged it inside the box. I wanted things to look natural and aged. 

I painted the edges brown, and then using my favorite cracking technique, applied a thick coat of cheap old school glue ( I may no longer have to go back to school supply shopping but I go stock up shopping at back to school time!). You can find lots of glue crackling tutorials on Pinterest.  Basically apply glue ; wait until tacky but  not dry ; apply contrast coat ; watch magic. 

Ooooh crackle crackle

Here's the story on the Angel connection. The obvious is that with my Dad being gone I've always felt like I have a guardian Angel looking after me. The not so obvious is PhD boy has an Angel tattoo that represents many themes for him but is rooted in the story "Flying Home" by the author Ralph Ellison. This project brings these two together. 

The foil wings I found at Michaels for $4.99 for a pack of 6 sheets, 4 wings each. With a 50% coupon, well you do the math on of course I bought them. 

The wings come on a paper backing with built in transfer tape just like Cricut or Silhouette vinyl / foils. Remove the backing and apply to your surface and remove the transfer tape. 

Oh back to the pinecone! I dry brushed it with gold paint and attached it to the shadow box using an eye screw. 

To complete my project and tie the symbolism together I chose a quote about ancestors from Ralph Ellison. My dad is the ancestor ; Ellison is my son's tattoo inspiration and I am the link between them as the daughter / mother / artist. 

The full quote is: 

"Some people are your relatives but others are your ancestors and you choose the ones you want to have as your ancestors. You create yourself out of those values" ...Ralph Ellison

I printed it on kraft cardstock, cut it in three pieces, layered a transparency over top and trimmed it with washi tape. Adhered it to the shadow box with double sided tape and foam dots. Finally to finish, I added a wing charm that's almost identical to PhD boy's tattoo.

The shadow box is my keepsake but I wanted to bond our son to it so I'm not done!

I made him this brown braided leather and Angel wing connector bracelet. 

I also made him this altered candle to match the shadow box to which it's connected, as three generations are connected as a family. 

 Linking At:

Mad In Crafts Mad Skills Party
Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Link Party
Winter Blues Wednesday DIY by Design
Link It Up Wednesday at RavenWould

Weekend Plans Printable

Quick printable. Click image to enlarge ; PC users right click to save as! 

Have a great weekend! Party continues here

BFF Open House Link Party

NOTE: I goofed up somehow and did text only links. Inlinkz won't let me switch to thumbnails so will fix for next week! 

Happy Friday Eve all! Usually the best day of the week. Hope everyone's had a good one. Seems like we were just here doesn't it? But you can never have too many parties ( except in real life...I am a total party pooper!). 

Let's take a look at some great shares from last week's party. 

If you've ever wondered what you'd do with a dress form, here's a spectacular idea. In total love with this stunning Valentine's dress form from My Thrift Store Addiction. Gorgeous! 

The ingenious Mich in LA shared this lovely ring made from fleece and felt scraps! Who'dathunk of this except her? Not me!

Avacadoes aren't just for guacamole ( but oh how I love guacamole!). This time of year is hard on the skin yet so  many commercial masks still have chemicals. This one from Alba Rosa can be made from all natural ingredients you likely have in your kitchen. 

With Valentine's Day rapidly approaching, time to start thinking up special treats. How about this Raspberry Cream and Brownie Trifle for Two from the ladies at Lolly Jane? 

Now, let's see what you've been up to this week! 

Wings of Peace: Coffee Filter Angel Wings

I'm on a bit of an Angel kick right now, and I'm also in the process of updating my mantle after Christmas.  I want it to work throughout the rest of Winter and Valentine's Day so it's a work in progress.

This isn't a new idea but it's new to me since I've done coffee filter wreaths and other projects but haven't done these. I've seen them done as huge pieces but these are smaller having used a 12x12 piece of chipboard as the base. Cost-wise, this is a very inexpensive project. Timewise, I'd say it's a medium commitment and depends on how large you want to go.

Supplies:

• Coffee Filters. Hello Dollar Tree where I think I got 150 or 200 for $1
• Heavy cardboard for your base. I used a piece of chipboard that came in something I ordered for Christmas. Reduce, reuse, recyle!
• Glue Gun and glue sticks
• Stapler
• Angel Wing template. I drew mine but there are lots of templates online
• Netflix and a double iced mocha ( these are optional lol) 
• Time ( this is not optional) 

I started by drawing my template on a folded piece of paper, cutting out and unfolding.

Trace onto your base, and then cut out. This would be a good time to decide what your binge watching on Netflix. 

You can start from the bottom or top of your cut out base. I started at the bottom and worked my way up just like in life!  Take a coffee filter, fold in half ; fold in half again ; and one more time. I like coffee filter projects to be dense. Staple ;  take a sip of your mocha; repeat. I always think I'm going to count how many I use. WRONG. 

After I finished the first row, I layered the next row and kept going until my base was covered. 

Don't worry if the layers aren't uniform or you have sections that are sticking out. Try not to get hypnotized by all the wavy layers! 

See that layer at the bottom that's sticking out? Don't worry. See the next step.

Once you have all of your filters on trim your project like your trimming hedges. Just go all over with your scissors and snip off anything that's sticking out so they are all the same height. 

I wanted to add a little banner to my wings so I grabbed some glittered letters from my stash , cut out banner shames on my Silhouette and then draped them across the wings with baker's twine. 

I was already happy with the result but I was thrilled when while in Michaels for something else I wandered down the Christmas clearance aisle and found these for 80% off! $3.99 yes please. 

Normally when I find a deal like this I end up making it over but these I left alone. I think they work great w/ my wings what do you think? 

Sharing At:

Show and Tell Link Party

BFF Open House Link Party

Happy Friday Eve all! I hope the week has been good to you and that you've stayed warm! We were spared the snowstorm visited upon our PNW neighbors to the south in Oregon and I'm hoping it stays that way!

Grap a cup of your favorite whatever and let's look at some great ideas shared at last week's party. 

First up, a huge CONGRATS to Andrew and Dennis , the creators of Crafty Lumberjacks on not only starting their new You Tube Channel but on also joining HGTV's Handmade Channel!! Check out this genius idea they shared for their first feature: 

These fabulous tags from Much More Creative couldn't be more timely could they? 

I've yet to try candle making but this idea from Woods of Bell Trees is definitely one to try! Can you ever have too many candles? (Heather, I couldn't figure out where to leave you a comment)

Finally this printable from Lolly Jane is always a good reminder. A quote I've loved since "Dead Poets Society". 

Now, let's see what you've been up to this week! Thanks so much for stopping by. 

2017 Cards: Life Is Great Birthday

I have a few January birthdays to celebrate so this is the first of the cards I'll be making for them. For this one I went with foiled black white and gold papers, along with a wintry blue glitter scrap and black glitter paper. 

The focal sentiments were straight off the page. Literally. The DCWV Decor Noir  Stack they came from includes a couple pages of them so I chose two and put them together. 

Supplies: 

• DCWV Decor Noir Stack
• Craft Smith Gold Foil Stack (Numbers Sheet)
• Cordenons Cover Weight Cardstock: Crystal
• Gold Mirror, Blue, and Black Glitter Scraps
• Strong Double Sided Tape ( I used Scor Pal / Sookwang)
• Foam Dots 

Cut card base (5x7) from cover weight card cardstock. Score, fold. Cut base panel from gold and white Numbers paper. Layer onto card.

Trim sentiments and layer as shown. Adhere top sentiment to card using foam dots. Adhere bottom sentiment to card. 

The ScorPal / Sookwang brand of tape is great for glitter papers which can be a challenge to get things to stick to. Love this stuff. Most scrapbook and stamp stores sell it or of course there's Amazon! 

Easy, clean, fast! My kind of card. 

2017 New (and Old) Favorite Places for Fonts and Graphics (Update II))

Shortly before Christmas, I ended up having to replace my hard drive. Grrr. "Oh but you had backed everything up right?"  No comment. Lesson learned. Better yet, learn from my mistake! Back up back up back up!

On the upside, it gave me a good reason to discover some new resources for graphics and fonts (as well as discover some new images at familiar places). On the whole , the experience was more good than bad.  I thought I'd share some of my new finds as well as some of my go to regulars. 

Creative Market: This is definitely one of my new finds and fast favorites. It's free but you do need to sign up in order to use. Photos, graphics, themes, fonts etc. most of which are fee based, but the awesome part is that each week they release 6 freebies for you to download. The fonts are fresh and clean and the free graphics packs I've downloaded come with multiple elements. The magnolia wreath at the top of this post is from Creative Market!



Moritz Fine Designs: "Free Printables for Your Home and Workspace" and where I found 500, yes 500 free fonts! No I haven't downloaded them all...yet. What I love is that they're grouped and organized so if you're looking for Typewriter Fonts for example, they're grouped together. If you're a font addict, you want to pin / bookmark this site.

Star Sunflower Studio: In my search for fonts, I found this lovely grouping of brush fonts here but they have tons more! Again a site that's a combo of free and fee. 

Expressions Vinyl: In addition to being a resource for your vinyl needs, there's a fab collection of fonts at the Expressions Vinyl Blog! 

Fontbundles.net: Combination of fee and free and requires free account sign up. Fonts do expire so check periodically. 

Other great font resources:
DaFont (mostly free)
1001 Fonts ("Free fonts baby")
Fontspace (free)

You can also follow my Pinterest board on Fonts Typography and Hand Lettering

I also love these places I visited regularly before my hard drive bit it and am having fun re-building my library:

The Graphics Fairy OK who doesn't already know about The Graphics Fairy?!
Free Pretty Things For You
Free Vintage Digital Stamps
The Old Design Shop
New York Public Library Public Domains Collection
Just Something I Made