Alice and George's Garden

Welcome to Magpieheaven and a special 'Hello' to my new followers who so kindly decided to peek at the Magpies' Nest. It's lovely to have followers old and new and to feel connected to the wonderful world that is Crafty Blogland.
This week over at Paper Artsy, Liz Borer has surpassed herself with some incredible projects. One which was a great hit with everybody was her 'Witch's Garden' - a fantastic Halloween 3D creation. Please click Here to see how fabulous it is - after you've watched the video about Darcy's new stamps, of course! I loved Liz's magical garden and I was inspired to create a garden of my own, which I should like to link up to the Paper Artsy Challenge. I moved away from the Halloween theme with my project - hope that's OK - to create a little box featuring my ancestors, Alice and George. I have wanted to display their images in a more permanent way for a while now and this is the way I chose to do it, courtesy of Liz's wonderful inspiration! To begin with Mr Magpie found a box in the loft.

It had glass in the front and a detachable back. I wanted my box to be open so I made a backdrop to cover the glass and removed the backing, which I decided I would not use.

I think I used every shade of Fresco blue I possess! I'm still kicking myself because I didn't get hold of Antarctic or Space Cadet at Ally Pally! I do have Lake Wanaka and that features on this project along with Mermaid, South Pacific, Bora Bora and Baltic Blue. I also used some Tinned Peas and a little Rose and Snowflake on the moon in the background. I just treated myself to some Frantage, so I had a play with this on the moths and some flowers too, cut from painted card, stamped and embossed with clear ep and my wonderful new discovery (for me!) Frantage. The edge is a Tim Holtz 'On the Edge' die, which I highlighted with White Fire Treasure Gold. I also used some Grunge Paste to create the moonlit trees in the background, pushing it through a mask to give the impression of the moon rising in a twilit garden. I used mainly stamps from HP 1006 and HP1009 and I stamped with Wendy Vecchi Archival inks in Cornflower Blue and Fern Green.

Then it was time to add people and flora and fauna! I used print-outs of George and Alice, coloured sepia and stuck their heads onto the two halves of a Cafe Retro Art Gallery fairy shrine. I chose not to use the centre, so in the final box George becomes a gateway into the garden and Alice his angel! For her dress, I used the lovely lady from ID02. The bird-cage is from a Tim Holtz die-cut made in shrink plastic, the leaves and butterflies are stamped with Lost Coast images and the leaves are shrunk versions of Tim Holtz's Tattered Leaves, as I don't have the Paper Artsy Oak leaf die-cut. I decided not to glaze the plastic for this project, as I liked the matte effect of the Fresco Paint.

Here they are in their moonlight garden of dreams. If you peek through George you can see the garden glimmering beyond him! And the Mica in the Frantage does certainly glimmer!

For the sides of the box, I broke open the Grunge Paste again to make silver birches, painted with a mix of blues and Treasure Gold.

This is now the third project in which I've used Alice and George and I have to say I loved creating a garden for them.

My son pointed out that they may be in the garden, but they are still looking highly respectable! Well, thank you so much for stopping by today and saying 'Hello' to the ancestors again! I so wanted to create and post today, as next week is going to be very, very hectic with moving Magpie Granny into her new flat near the Magpies' Nest. If I do have time, you can be sure I'll craft in some way. It might be to make some change of address cards for my mum! Kevin says the cupboard doors should be ready by the end of next week too, so fingers crossed it will be full steam ahead with Project Kitchen again!!! Have a great week!