Mermaid Garden

We're having some fun with mermaid paper dolls over at Alpha Stamps this month! There are all kinds of fishy things to play with: from articulated chipboard mermaids, to a collage sheet of heads that perfectly fit those dolls, to sparkly sequined seashells. I made a fancy little mermaid and decided to create an undersea garden in which she could live. Here's an extra large photo of her home. I'll break some of the details down in smaller photos below. Doesn't that blue scalloped at the bottom of the shrine look 3D? It's actually an image from the mermaid head collage sheet!

There's a lot going on in this garden: whispy fronds of seaweed, bright red corral, crashing waves, and a sassy mermaid who has crowned herself with sparkly seashells. The paper doll mermaid is supported in the middle of the shrine with a bamboo skewer, which is inserted into a bead glued to the floor of the box. The skewer is painted the same blue that was used to paint her tail fins, and partially hidden behind some coral. A fish placed in front of the skewer also helps to hide it. To stabilize the figure, the elbow of her raised hand is attached to the side of the box with a little dab of white glue.

The back of the box features a scene from the Sea Green Mermaids collage sheet. I couldn't resist adding a few more swimming fish, which are attached with dimensional foam glue dots to give the scene some depth. A rusty bottlecap and two fancy fish decorate the top portion of the shrine. To pull a little more red up to that area, a Copic marker was used to give those fish red eyes.

The Arched Shrine shadowbox is nice and deep; you can see in this photo how I curled and inserted the two sets of waves. They almost stayed in place by themselves, but just to be sure, I ran a small bead of white glue along the bottom edge of each of them. You can see how busy that right side is; the better to hide that stick! Isn't the mermaid's pearl necklace lovely? Those pearls serve to hide the edge of her paper neck where it meets her body.

Here's the back. I kept it simple.

And one more photo for the road. I hope you enjoyed the Mermaid's Garden. For a list of supplies, click here.

Little Garden Book

I enjoyed using the Alpha Stamps Hidden Drawer Book Box in my The Little Book of Men
project so much that I asked Leslie (Queen of AS) if I could have another one just for fun.  I got a brightly colored paper pack and was inspired to do a Spring Garden theme. An image from the Women and Flowers collage sheet was the perfect size and had all the right colors for the cover of the book.

I love how this "woodgrained" paper looks almost like book pages. Here's the spine and top of the book:

The Little Book of Perfect Men held ATC cards, but this book has a secret that's a bit more fun: a tiny garden and a tiny gardener, plus a pretty songbird and a sweet little bunny.

I used some Leafy Green Underbrush for a grassy lawn, and a stick from my yard for a tree. Some tiny leaves from some Miniature Coiled Leaf Stems were glued onto the branch with a little dab of hot glue. The bunting and the birdhouse were cut from the paper that was featured on the sides of the secret drawer, and the pennants in the bunting were attached to the back with dimensional glue dots to give them some depth.

I thought this would be a great playset, so the rabbit and the peg doll are removable.

Now you can take a little garden with you wherever you go! For a complete list of supplies, click here.