Missing Willow Farm

For my first project, I was inspired to make a home for a pretty little religious statue I recently picked up on vacation in Valetta using the GSL House Shrine Box. It’s a really great size to show off lots of treasures and this one fits perfectly inside.

The first thing I do when I start a project is lay out all the pieces. This house shrine box is super easy to assemble and straightforward as to where the pieces fit together.

Before I glue anything in place, I cut my scrapbook paper. I use the front and back pieces as a template, which makes it easy to lay out exactly which parts of the paper I want to use.

Here’s everything cut out and ready to glue down.

I start by gluing the interior rear and side wall papers in place using a tacky white glue. I then glue the back, front, floor and side walls together. I use rubber bands to hold everything in place while the glue dries.

The base of my figurine is a little bit too wide to fit inside the shrine so I glue a domino for her to sit on. It’s the perfect height for her base. Around the domino, I glue a grassy green felt scrap into place to serve as the shrine’s flooring.

Shingles and roof come next. I used GSL Chipboard Shingles- Pointed to jazz up the roof.  I painted the shingle strips with brown acrylic paint then give them a thin wash of quinacridone azo gold paint. I painted the roof brown before gluing the shingles in place just in case any tiny section of it peeked through after I glued them in place.

Next I cut the shingles into 1 3/4 inch strips, which I then glued in place. This project required four of the shingle strips in all.

Once I glued my scrapbook paper on the outside shrine walls I was ready to get into my crafting flowers and embellish away.

She’s a beauty!

It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever made!

I’ve had the porcelain beaver since I was a teenager. I bought the crystal skull during our 25th anniversary trip to Asheville. I made the zombie display from an HO scale train figure. The green stone glows in the dark!  The shelf below has a glass rubber duck, a copy of the first Harry Potter book and a model of the Enterprise.

The shark’s tooth display on the wall was made from treasures I picked up on Daytona Beach when I was a kid. Below that is a metal pin from my first Prince concert during his Purple Rain tour. The jar on the left contains animal teeth, the one in the center is a realistic doll eye. The toad was purchased at Disney World the year it opened.

I love the metal box with a vintage sideshow poster. The fighter figurine is one I used often when playing D&D. The metal chocolate kiss was purchased during a visit to Hershey when I was 18.

The shelf on the right has a ouija board and a blue glass amulet I got in Greece. Of course, there’s a cup of black coffee.

The little box has black pyramid salt, a jar of preserved ladybugs, a Herkimer diamond crystal and a tiny sheep.

The feathers in this section include one from my favorite chicken Nugget and a hummingbird we found in our greenhouse. The jar has some of my kids’ baby teeth (sorry girls!)

I’ve had this brass diver’s helmet forever. The crystal ball is a marble set onto a silver bead.

Towards the back is a polished rock I set for my microscopy class at Georgia Tech, an animal jawbone given to my by a friend and a scarab I picked up in Cairo.

And of course there’s a jack o’lantern!

The drawer opens and contains miniature Christmas tree decorations, including lights, tinsel, icicles and ornaments.

The wreath is made from beads and nail art glitter.