Springtime ATB

Hello all!  Thanks so much for dropping in today - it's lovely to have your company.


Despite squeezing in my Tim Tag and a bit of visiting, I'm still struggling with time, so it's another Calico Craft Parts creation today - one of my Calico Crafts DT makes which hasn't so far appeared here.


Given the happy reincarnation of the Calico Craft Parts, it seems a good time to get my virtual scrapbook of projects a little up to date by posting some of the projects using these wonderful laser-cut wood and MDF designs.

This springtime ATB was constructed out of beermats (or coasters if you prefer!), covered with a stone effect paper from the Kaisercraft BaseCoat Collection.






















I used stiff kraft card to join it all together and give it extra stability.













On each side I added a Calico Craft Parts flourish.













There are lots of flourish designs to choose from, including some fabulously intricate new ones which I'm looking forward to playing with.











I dabbed texture paste onto the flourishes, patting it with the palette knife to create extra texture, and painted it white once it was dry.












The delicious Artemio Summer Meadow stamps provide some of my favourite meadow grasses, stamped in Coffee Archival.












The words are stamped using the Artemio Typewriter Alphabet stamps.

And I positioned them at different heights so that as you rotate the ATB they progressively "grow" upwards.











These are individual letter stamps including multiples of each letter so that even if it's got, say, more than one e in it, you can put a whole word on the acrylic plate and stamp it all in one go, rather than stamping one letter at a time.







I quite like that you get the mysterious deep dark hole at each corner because of the rounded edges of the beer mats.  And of course I inked the edges of the covered coasters for a more distressed look, and to draw the eye inward.

On the top of the ATB is a little springtime bird's nest.















The upright supports are formed of some of the Corner Wood Shapes available (again lots of different designs to play with), glued in place.












There's a bit of Icelandic Moss to keep the eggs cosy, and the eggs themselves have had a soft wash of gesso to keep everything nice and pale and delicate.














The nest is protected with some whitewashed driftwood and decorated with some daisies.











And underneath, some whitewashed cotton reel spools give the whole ATB a little lift!

I hope you like it - remember if you saw it last time around, you really don't have to comment again.  But do hop over to Calico Craft Parts and take a look at the lovely goodies on offer!





By now, I should have been able to repay some visits around Craftyblogland - if I haven't got to you yet, I'm sorry... but I am on my way!!  Happy Crafting all.

There is some of the same fitness in a man's building his own house that there is in a bird's building its own nest.  Who knows but if men constructed their dwellings with their own hands, and provided food for themselves and their families simply and honestly enough, the poetic faculty would be universally developed, as birds universally sing when they are so engaged.  But, alas, we do like cowbirds and cuckoos, which lay their eggs in nests which other birds have built, and cheer no traveller with their chattering and unmusical notes.  Shall we forever resign the pleasure of construction to the carpenter?
Henry David Thoreau

There's still time to join in my little GIVEAWAY - if you'd like me to put your name in the hat, just pop along and say so!