This past week=insane at work. Working 9-10+ hours a day and now the weekend too!? Believe me, this is not happening regularly, it's just the lead up to our staycation=get everything done before we shut 'er down for a week. I've been cranking out projects and Norm's been immersing himself in Expression Engine & Wordpress while working on my new blog... and researching for some upcoming client projects. Whew!! My head is spinning!
This morning I did a bit of work, then we did chores- Norm vacummed and I cleaned bathrooms, mopped the floor, tidied/dusted/cleaned my desk, put away all the junk piled on my desk, blah! We've been so busy, we have neglected our chores and yuck. 2 weeks is too long without cleaning! Cat/dog hair dust bunnies! Cobwebs! Dirt! Dust!! Yikes!
After that. we took Starr to the doggy park. She was totally wound up and we played ball for a while, then we met up with at least a dozen other dogs and their owners there. She met a boxer puppy who she played chase with the entire time we were there.
Then came home, went and got groceries, exciting eh?
Then I started my shadow box. I told you I was going to make one right!? I thought of maybe getting wood or balsa wood to make it but that for me involves too much math and measuring and planning. I just like to dive in. So! I scooped a couple of cardboard boxes at the old liquor store, and got to work. Recycled boxes- yay! I wanted this shadowbox to be offkilter- not perfectly square, kind of wonky and handmade. Cardboard is perfect for this! And if you mess up, it's easy to cut another piece.
No real written down plan, not much measuring. I just used a good size box, roughly 13"x12"-ish. Used one side of it as what would be the back and outer frame of the shadowbox.
I measured 2" all around & drew a pencil line to cut on. You can make it any depth but 2" seemed to work for me. After I cut the back off with an exacto knife, I taped it all around with masking tape. The top part pops open of course, so you gotta tape it all up anyways. All we had was painters tape but it worked well as it was easy to position the shelves once I got to that step....(read on..). Also, to hang it, I reinforced the top edge with an extra layer of cardboard so I can drill thru a wire hanger or ribbon or something- I'm not sure what yet....
Once the outer frame was all taped, I started making shelves. I measured width-wise and cut a few pieces that length by just under 2" wide(depth of shelf). The cardboard back is about 1/8' thick so had to allow for that.
I didn't want the shelves to be even or symmetrical so I made them as I went, cutting chunks off here and there then taping them loosely in place to see how it looked.
Here's the real one in case you were wondering....
Once I had them all taped in place, I started modgepodging newspaper on, to cover all the tape and cut edges. Ultimately I want the whole thing covered inside and out to smooth it out and not look like a cut up box! I had scooped a big stack of old newspapers from my gran's house, to use for art projects. etc. so I had already decided to use that. But any newsprint, or softer paper will work. You want something to cover all the cardboard so you probably wouldn't want to use tissue paper or wrapping paper, unless you want to see the cardboard thru it for your final effect or a more textured surface is what you're after. I find the newsprint soaks up the modgepodge nicely and softens so well you can kind of shape it around corners and smooth out edges nicely.
And here's how it looks mid-way- I'm not done this part yet. Tomorrow!
I am sooo stoked about this you have no idea! I have more plans for it, I'm not leaving it fully newsprinty as the end product. I'll update you once I get to the next step! Fun!!
Ok, enough on shadowboxes already!
This is Starr's new favorite game, the Growly Game. She goes to the top of the stairs and Norm sits on the stair below her and runs his hands all over the floor in front of her and she growls and growls- she sounds like Animal on the Muppets. It's pretty hilarious! I'll try to get a video of her doing it next time so you can hear her!
And lastly, I am on a mission to repopulate our house with plants. Our banana plant bit the dust- the stem rotted and the whole thing just fell apart. We had a nice palm we got at Ikea but it dried up and died despite regular waterings and plant food and the like. It just wasn't happy. All the other plants we had got left behind when we moved except for some dusty old spider plants that refuse to die. We need green! So I got a baby snake plant and some ivy to start.
Shhhh we had no plant pot saucers so that's one of my gran's old vintage china plates under it, it's ok tho' it's terribly chipped on the edges and not really usable for eating off of so it' ok....
Whew what a day!
More to come tomorrow, after the required work duties are complete.
See you then!
