Live - Laugh - Love Wall Hanging

Hey there, everyone.  So glad you stopped by.  Barbara here with Gina's Designs Lasercuts, and today I want to share an inspirational wall hanging that I made from three blank coasters and lots of Gina's chipboard shapes.

I knew from the very first time I saw the Birds on Key Set that I wanted to use one of them (you get two in a package) as a hanger of some sort.  I also seem to have accumulated quite a few blank coasters over the years.  So, I pulled them out, saw that they fit with the Key, and voila.

First lay out your chipboard pieces to see how you may want to arrange them, and what will fit on each coaster.  Tip:  If you have a digital camera, take a picture of your layout to refer to.  Remove chipboard shapes and set aside.

Cut six pieces of print paper to 4"x4" and adhere to front of each coaster.  I used the music paper on the front, and the woodgrain paper on the back, but if you want to adhere the hinges with brads, then wait to cover the back of the coasters so you can cover the brad prongs.

I inked the hinges with Versamark ink and embossed with Rustique embossing powder.  To make the EP look a bit more orange, I added some Adobe ink to the edges, reheated the hinges so the ink just sinks into the hot EP.  This was done to all three sets of hinges.

I adhered the hinges to each coaster as shown in the final photo.  Tip:  Because these are chipboard hinges, and really meant for decorative purposes only, you will want to be careful while adhering them.  I decided to strengthen them with a small piece of Tyvek glued to the back of each hinge before gluing them down.  This will prevent them from tearing apart.  

Here, you can see the front only is covered with the music paper,  the hinges are glued down, and I also used the brads because I liked how it looks.  I used an awl or paper piercer to mark the holes for the brads.

I used mixed media inks to color my chipboard this time.  For tiny areas, I simply used one of these Fantastic brushes to color with the ink.  To remove the ink and pick up another color from another ink pad, I simply dipped the tip into water and dried it off with a cloth or paper towel. 

I used the Patina, Vintage, and Honey on the birds.  A black ink pen was used for the eyes.  The key was covered with the Delicate Gold and Silver ink, then a tiny bit of Adobe was randomly applied.

Each of the Word Stackers 1 were covered with Vintage, watered down Leather, and edged with Mossy Green. The corrugated bottom pieces were all gessoed on the high spots, then either Schoolhouse Red, Patina, or Mossy were inked over the white gesso and spritzed with water to enable it to run into the crevices.

The tree was colored with Leather, highlighted with Honey, and Mossy with a touch of Vintage for the leaves.  The bird was, of course, colored with Schoolhouse Red, and Vintage for the beak.

They honeycomb was inked with Vintage, then added Adobe sparingly.  The bees were colored with Vintage and Black, the wings were colored with Pewter, edged with Patina, and Delicata Silver was added to the center of the wings.  The crown was colored with both Delicata gold and silver.

The heart was covered with Schoolhouse Red. The flourish was covered with Delicata gold.  (See photo below to see how I cut out this shape).  The smaller heart was inked with Schoolhouse Red, blended with Honey to make a more pink color.  The lady silhouette was inked with Black.  Then the dress form was inked with Leather, and the body portion with Mossy.

I used the outer filigree frame that matches this solid heart as a template to determine where to make my cuts on the Texture Sheet - Flourished.  Rather than cut in straight lines, I cut along some of the flourishes themselves, to get this more "flourishey " heart shape.

When all pieces were attached, I covered the back and the brad prongs with the woodgrain paper.  This finished it off nicely.

One last thing to do was to attach those top hinges to the Birds on Key Set and hang it on the wall.

Gina's Designs Lasercuts Used:

Birds on Key Set

Texture Sheet - Flourished
Leafy Trees Small
Bird Watching Shape Set
Word Stackers 1
Honeycomb & Bees ATC Sized
Filigree Frames Shape Set
Border Sticks - Hearts
Miniatures Shape Set - Ladies Choice
Hinges

Other Supplies Used:
Blank coasters (4"x4")
Print Scrapbook Papers (Echo Park)
Mixed Media Inx (Adobe, Vintage, Mossy, Honey, Leather, White, Schoolhouse Red, Black, Patina, Pewter)
Delicata Golden Glitz and Silvery Shimmer
Rustique Tin Can Embossing Powder
Brads

In our busy lives, I sometimes think we need to stop long enough to live, laugh, and love a bit.  So, I hope you are inspired by my wall hanging today and will give one a try for your home or studio.  Be sure to stop by Gina's Designs Lasercuts, and visit the blog to see what the rest of the team are cooking up.

In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend and stay crafty, my friends.

Barbara