12 Weeks of Summer Fling- Stamped Shadow Boxes

Hi everyone- if you just hopped over from Tracy Harp's blog, welcome!!

Even if Summer does not officially start until June 21st, we are starting the 12 weeks of Summer Fling!

What’s the 12 Weeks of Summer Fling?

Each week will feature one of the rubber stamp lines at Cornish Heritage Farms with a blog hop and special gallery showing new samples using stamps from that line. The featured line will also be on sale for the week so definitely the time to add to your collection. :)

Two Gift Certificates will be awarded to 2 lucky winners who successfully follow the blog hop and comment as they go in the time allotted. This is not a race. All Blog Hops will start from the CHF Be Creative Blog on a Monday, comments must be made before midnight EST on the Thursday of that week & winners will be announced on the Friday. 1st prize is a $20 CHF Gift Certificate, 2nd Prize is a $10 Gift Certificate which will be emailed to the winning participants. The Gift Certificates will be valid for 6 months from date of issue. PLEASE NOTE that if you have a Club CHF award awaiting you on your next order, you will need to wait for the following order to use your Gift Certificate as the store only allows one discount per order.

If you upload a qualifying card (using the featured week’s stamp line) to the CHF special gallery for that week you will be eligible for the Design Team’s Favorite prize which will be a rubber stamp/stamp set of your choice up to the value of $16.99. The deadline for uploading cards for the prize will also be Thursdays at midnight.

This week will feature backgrounders.

All backgrounders are on sale, 25% off! Sale ends Thursday at midnight.

Starting today, the Design Team will be blog hopping with all new samples using backgrounders. You'll want to leave comments for chances to win prizes! Start at the CHF Be Creative Blog on Monday mornings to see some great eye candy!

Plus, now that you know we will be featuring Backgrounders, you can work on creating a card to upload to the gallery starting today. The more cards you upload to the special gallery, the more chances you have to win a FREE stamp!

For today's fun, I decided to revamp some adorable 4" shadow boxes I came across at an antique mall this weekend.

Cute Huh? But not exactly my decorating style and I don't have a nursery or kids room. So, I removed the contents of the boxes and got to work...

Now, if you have ever thrift store shopped, you know that shadow boxes abound! I always make sure that the back of the box can be removed so that I can empty the contents. If you are not lucky enough to find a matching set of four for this project, mix and match boxes for a unique version of this project. Still, if you do not frequent thrift shops, goggle "shadow boxes" on the web and look for smaller versions to buy new.

Here are the supplies you will need:

Four 4" wood shadow boxes
Cornish Heritage Farms rubber stamps- Backgrounders, Ornamental Vines, Vintage Chintz, Sympathy Expressions
Staz on ink in black
Various chipboard shapes and/or die cuts- I used Sizzix Bigz Dies- Serif essentials, Caged Bird, Layered Flowers
DecoArt Americana Acrylics- Lamp Black, Buttermilk, Green Tea
Aleenes Original Tacky Glue
Various embellishments of choice- brass bookplates, jeweled brads, faux moss, wood egg, self adhesive gems, cardstock, corrugated cardboard, recycled chipboard- I used a cereal box, old wood ruler
Tools- paint brushes, wax candle stub, sanding block, drill and drill bit, scissors, water, paper towels, hand saw
Seven eye hooks and three 12 mm or larger jump rings in finish of choice

I used the recycled cereal box to die cut my letters and bird. I die cut my flower layers from the corrugated cardboard to add to the rustic feel of the sign.

The distressed finish is entirely optional here. I like it since you don't have to spend a lot of time getting the paint streak free and such! I painted my boxes, bird and letters a base coat of black. Don't worry about painting the whole piece. You will be adding a top coat so that will be your main color. After the base coat dries to the touch (about 1 hour), randomly wax the front side of the surface.

Apply your top coat color. I used buttermilk for the frames and letters and green tea for a color pop on the bird. I painted the flower green tea and black and the insides of the frames black. After the top coat dries to the touch, lightly sand. The places where you have waxed will rub on more readily to reveal distressing!

Once all the pieces are painted. The fun part starts- STAMPING!!!

Backgrounder stamps are my hands down favorite Cornish Heritage Farms line. You can create seamless patterns on cards, pillows, frames, books, you name it. I chose the Ornamental Vines stamp for my frames and letters. I inked the stamp with staz on, and placed it stamped side up on surface. I pressed my letters and frames on the stamp. Notice how I did not paint the back of my letters since they will be inside the box and not showing....

I used the Vintage Chintz backgrounder for my little bird to give the piece another pattern.

I used the hand saw to cut a wood ruler in half and form the house on the top frame. Bookplates were used to showcase chosen ting words from the Sympathy Expressions stamp set.

At the last minute I decided to dry brush the inside frame pieces with green tea to give the insides a little more depth.

To make the bird "pop out" a little more, I painted the corner where he will perch, black.

Before putting your pieces back together, make sure you clean the front and back of the glass with window cleaner. Another option is to fore go using glass all together. The drilling comes in when the pieces are glued (overnight is best) and ready to be handled for assembly. Drill holes at the center of each frame and use the eye hooks and jump rings to link together.

So here it is hanging in my master bathroom. All stamped and pretty and ready to be enjoyed!

The design team has been hard at work coming up with some unique projects using the backgrounder stamps. Follow the link below to Holly's site to see what wonderful treat she has to share...