Vintage Shadow Box - Deborah Adams

My interpretation of the Paper Rose Autumn Inspiration Board for March 2019

inspired the creation of this Vintage Shadow Box.

To me the Board has an olde world Australian feel with cobblestones & ironwork.

It has cracks & texture as well as gorgeous Autumn colours.

Note the browns, yellows, greens & blue greys with pops of coral pink & red

in the gum leaves & bouquet.

I recreated these colours with a mass of Paper Rose Gum Leaf die cuts

& other ephemera using various sprays like

Distress spray stain, Distress Oxide spray, Lindys Flat Fabios, & Mica spray.

The Tudor Arched Window die was cut from black cardstock

& is almost completely hidden behind all the leaves.

It represents the ironwork on the board.

Love it displayed within my antique collection at home.

I included some gumnuts from my garden as well as an
Australian Vintage photo & postcards from my own collection.
The gumnuts were rubbed with a small highlight of Prima Art Alchemy wax
& attached with Prima 3D Matte Gel medium.
The photo & cards were scanned & printed from my originals onto thick card stock.
Photo edges were distressed & the surface aged further with Distress & Crazing medium from Ranger.

Other ephemera used for layering was made using Paper Rose Products, including

The Vintage Letter stamp was used randomly with Watering can Archival ink.

I converted some kraft packaging to form the base of my Shadow Box project.
I applied some Tim Holtz Tissue tape in areas to help support the frame as well as a design element.
I sealed it with Clear Gesso before adding all the layers.
White Chalk Paint was applied using a plastic card in a patchy manner
allowing some of the kraft to show through.
Crackle paste was then applied through a cobblestone/paving stencil across the base, sides & frame.
Prima Art Stones & Mini Art Stones were applied to fill the corners with gel medium.
Ageing & colouring of the base was done with Prima Artisan Powders in Umber & Clay.
Distress Inks in Weathered wood, Walnut stain & Abandoned Coral.
Diluted with water spray & dried between layers with a heat tool.

When making your composition of layers, build up the focal point

(I used cardboard pieces) so other ephemera can slip in behind.

Matte gel medium used for all gluing as it is not visible once dry.

Be sure to take a photo before gluing down to give yourself a reference.

With so many layers you can loose sight of your original idea.

This project is keeping true to my preferred style so I am very happy with the result. Lovely to have some die cuts that represent Australia so well.

Hope this inspires you to join the Paper Rose Community Facebook Group

Looking forward to seeing what you create.

Cheers for now, Deb