And so, here's my ode to the sixth day for Alpha Stamps 12 Days of Christmas...
I know what you're thinking. "Meh, it's one stinkin' goose on a box" A-HA! How wrong you are! First of all, THAT is Mother Goose (the greatest goose of all time) AND this box, like many lovely things, has a secret....
This is a Victorian Exploding Box and opens wide when the lid is lifted! Inside I've created a secret garden with a miniature carousel.
But there's another secret still...
You'll forgive me for not doing a step-by-step of this particular project, but I WILL show you a few things you might find useful if you'd like to create your own.
The carousel is made by creating a tube from translucent paper. Here I've used three layers to get the opacity I was looking for. Don't go crazy, you need some light to shine through. The 'fancy bits' are trims like Gold Fleck Trim, 2mm Rhinestone Chain and Thin Looped Dresden Borders.
The silhouettes are just paper cut outs that are adhered to the rim. Rather than spend ages cutting out geese you could use these Black Dresden Swans.
To achieve the peaked roof of the carousel, I cut a circle from the Robin Red Breast Collage Sheet and then made straight cut from the edge to the centre. Overlap the edges and you'll get a shallow cone shape.
For the lighting I used this LED with Battery Pack. To accommodate the light, I cut a hole in the centre of my base...
... as well as the bottom of the box. To make things tidy I cut rings from the Artisan Elements Borders Stickers and placed them over my rough cut edges. The light will fit though these holes snugly. If your light tilts to one side once through, the shadows will become distorted. You may find it useful to place a small pit of plasticine or clay around the light to hold it in place.
Decorating! You want to make sure that you can close the box comfortably without squishing the paper carousel inside. With a bit of fiddling you can actually get quite a bit in there. The trick is to open and close your box repeatedly to make sure everything fits. Here, I've used moss, Mini Rose Buds - Pale Pink, Mini Rose Buds - Ivory, and Tiny Paper Roses. They're so pretty and just the right size for that small space.
Finally a couple of words about the outside. I've used Small Wooden Finials for the feet and they are quite important. You'll need the box to be elevated to facilitate the wire from the LED with Battery Pack. Also, I've used a Small Wooden Box Foot as a sort of lid handle (who says they're just for feet!) but try not to make the lid too heavy or else the box will tip backwards when opened.
And that's just about it! Here's a list of all of the supplies I used for this project...
