October 2024 SHELFie box
Hello SHELFie's!
This month we are trying something new... I am coming to you to share MORE insight to our monthly SHELFie boxes.
This month, we have the cutest woodland critter set! If you love this box, you'll LOVE the additional pieces that are available on our website.
First, we have the Raccoon Hut. Randy the Raccoon lives in his tree hut complete with a hanging lantern (pick one of two styles both included in your box or switch them out as Randy changes his decor style). He also has a picnic bench to enjoy his meals outside. We included FOUR of these picnic benches. Originally, this bench is glued to the backside of Randy's home, but we included four so you can layer 3-4 of the benches together to stand alone if you prefer. The choice is up to you!
When painting Randy's home, I used a dark brown (Traditional Burnt Umber) as the undercoat and then, once dried, lightly dry brushed a light, grayish brown shade (Mississippi Mud). The window frames used the dark brown again, the candle used an off white (Light Mocha) for the stick and a warm yellow (Deep Ochre), these colors are also used later in the SHELFie box too. The lanterns were both painted by misting water on the wood pieces and then lightly painting (Primary Red) on top. This creates a stained affect and allows the etching to be the primary star of the piece. Randy himself was painted using black, white, a little bit of gray and a smidge of pink. OH, and the mushroom on his home was painted using the same red from the lanterns and same off white as the candle... see how we reuse colors to keep it simple and a uniformed pallet?
Now for constructing Randy's home. You'll notice the two center pieces are the same. Glue the "wrong" sides together so they line up with one another. Then align the etched parts of the log to their corresponding sides. While the glue is still WET, adjust the alignment using a flat surface to ensure the final piece will stand on its own. Carefully set down and allow it to dry fully. You can then add the candle to the upper window, Randy to the front entrance, the window frames on the front, and if you want the bench connected to the hut, then this is the time to glue a single layer of it to the back of the hut. The mushrooms can also get their caps on the front and back. If you want this to be a stand alone piece then glue all the benches together and make sure to align them on a table while the glue is wet just like before.
Don't forget to share YOUR Randy and his home with your fellow SHELFie's in our facebook group or private community hosted right on our website.
Now onto the most delicious Honey Pie Shop in the entire forest! Hailey the Hedgehog (I think hedgehog...) bakes yummy honey pies in her cottage bakery. This cottage has four layers but you only need to paint the outer two walls (the ones with the bricks). The half circle like pieces will act like wooden log steps to enter the cottage bakery.
The front will have two doors, the shelves, the larger sign, two pies, a honey stick, and a small honey pot along with two windows and two wreaths.
The back of the store has honeycomb shelves that hold the rest of the delicious pies (please save these pies for the WOODland critters and don't sample them yourself). There is also a smaller sign, door, and honey stick. (check out the video for a visual walk through). The colors used in this set is (Light Mocha), (Deep Ochre), (Traditional Burnt Umber), and a light gray for the pie tins and (Light Avocado) for the wreaths. For most of this project, I misted all of the wood and watered down the paint to create a stained wood effect for the building. I also used a fine tip paint brush to paint the brick with the light mocha/off white paint.
For the signs, I used the dark brown as a base and then, once dried, lightly brushed the light mocha paint on top. Oh! And for our bee hive tree, I used a tree base on both sides BUT we did include three in total so you can make it either 3 or 4 layer in total. And Hailey has her little tail in the back and nose right under her little eyes.
As a BONUS project this month, we included a Scarecrow door hanger. He has a cute flower on his hate and a big honker of a nose! Again, see our video tutorials for a more visual walkthrough. For the scarecrow, I use left over paint and mixed them to get shades I wanted for the face and cheeks. I then kept it pretty simple and used black and orange for the main body.
Other things you could do with this projects is use sand paper on the building to reveal other colors underneath or create a jean style on the scarecrow. Share your own tips in our group and craft with others!