Hello everybody! Liza Sivek, new featured designer, with an acrylic title designed to bring Spring into the home. Because here in the Northeast, it isn't arriving outside!
With Easter, Spring and Mother's Day around the corner I wanted a piece I could display all season. "Hope" seemed appropriate with all the renewal and blooming that will happen between now and summer. My hubby and I were remembering those sugar easter eggs with the little scene inside and that gave me the idea for this shelf-sitter!
First, I removed the film from both sides of the "Hope" acrylic title. You can see they are crystal clear.
Then I pulled out the Gelatos and gesso and added pale green grass to all the letters. I kept it light so that it was still transluscent and had some areas you can peek through. I am building a garden theme.
Keeping with the idea of "sugar eggs" I added diamond glitter glue liberally around the edges of all the letters for that "sugared" feel to peek through.
The next step was the platform for shelf sitter. I cut a piece of scrap mat board - but a couple of layers of heavy card stock or cardboard will also work - and covered it with a weathered board patterned paper. I also cut and covered a "platform" for below the opening in the "P". After the glitter glue completely dried, I used Zip Dry glue to adhere the platforms and let it dry overnight. (The bunny was still in process but he really wanted to be in this picture!)
Once everything was fully dried I began adding layers of paper shapes in a diorama style. I fussy-cut floral hedges from 12" x 12" patterned paper, made a hand-pieced bunny, and die cut grass, bird, nest, easter eggs, and two-layer butterfly. Everything was adhered with a Xyron or Zip Dry into a garden scene behind the title. Winged creatures cannot be contained by mere letters, of course, so they are flying through the "O" and perched above the "H".
Every secret garden needs a fence to hide behind! Using the same weathered board pattern, I die-cut two layer cake shapes from paper and card stock, cut the cake stand off, flipped the shapes upside down and adhered the paper and card stock together for stability. Voila, fence! I added "posts" with brads and inked all the edges. A few more fussy-cut flowers are growing through the gate opening.
Now when you peer through the acrylic titles you can see all different creatures and details peeking back at you against the backdrop of the gate!
Here is an "aerial view" so you can see how I built the layers from front to back. You can see the nest is up on the platform I made so it shows through the letter "P". The "P" tail hangs over the front edge of your shelf or mantel.
The shelf sitter now sits on my glass table giving me hope that the temps will rise here in New England above 60 someday before July. Don't you love how the sun shines through the word and makes shadows and light?
I "hope" you find inspiration to make your own secret garden or other miniature world with a Clear Scraps acrylic title word that means something to you!
Supplies used: Clear Scraps Acrylic Title "Hope", Zip Dry glue, Stickles Diamond glitter glue, My Mind's Eye Bramble Rose paper stack, Cricut Straight From The Nest die cuts, Recollections pewter brads, Faber Castell Gelato and Gesso, Stampin' Up watercolor markers (on hand pieced bunny) and Grey Flannel ink pad, Xyron sticker makers and tape runners.
