Monday, August 29, 2011

A SHADOW BOX

It has been some time since I've shared a little project with you, so this is a special day! Mostly, I've been painting trim, baseboards, and doors in our house bright white, but here's an idea that grabbed hold of me after watching the movie Miss Potter. Behold! A shadow box.....

About a month or so back I had found a shadow box at a garage sale for $2. (insert choirs singing here) It was a bit dusty, but that's an easy fix. I covered the back in leftover burlap. I used one large piece to cover the entire backing and then three strips across to give it some visual interest. I didn't need to glue it or pin it, because it fit nice and snug when I pressed the backing back into the box. After watching Miss Potter, I was inspired by a quote I heard, so I looked it up to make sure it was an actual Beatrix Potter quote which it was. The quote: "There is something delicious about writing the first few words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you." It seemed rather appropriate for where Mr. N. and I are in our lives right now and since we do love Beatrix Potter all systems were a go. 

I typed up the quote in a fancy font and printed it out on normal, white, copy paper. I cut out the quote leaving extra space around it, and then carefully burned the edges of the paper over a candle, allowing the edges to keep an organic shape. I only pinned it to the top, since I was afraid the hot glue would leave grease marks on the paper. I then used a little bird's nest party favor that we received at my brother-in-law's wedding. The eggs in it are Jordan almonds coated to look like Robin's eggs, so I sprayed a coat of polyurethane over them (we all know they last forever anyways, but a little extra coverage isn't a bad idea) and then hot glued them into the nest. I found two charcoal pencils from my days at art school and hot glued them at the bottom.


It's simple, but whimsical, and is now hanging proudly in our bathroom. =] Sometimes, less is more, and it's always fun to see what can be done with things you already have on hand.

5 comments:

  1. This is very cool! I like the simpleness and earthiness of it. I love simple creativeness of things we may already have. Nice work, Stacey!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha! Found you. This is really cute.

    ReplyDelete
  3. For some reason, I can only comment from my home computer. I know I already told you this, but you totally inspired me with this project. I can't wait to make my own!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like it! I love bird's nests, and that's a great quote. And $2? Awesome!

    ReplyDelete