Woodland shrine. By Louise Crosbie

 

I seem to be a little obsessed with layering up these trees every winter but they are just so perfect for it. Especially as they come in several sizes.

I wanted to do a night sky scene with Santa but at the same time, I still love the natural wood colour. So I’ve combined the night sky on the outside with a more natural woodland vibe on the inside. I gave my shrine little feet using teeny wee thread bobbins so I can stand it on my shelf .

I’ve not been heavy handed with the paints. I didn’t want the colours to be too saturated. I painted it on then dabbed it off with a baby wipe, leaving just a small amount of colour.

The outside part of the shrine was first painted with black gesso. I then added a colour wash of midnight blue before taking sandpaper and sanding back all the edges. I just wanted to see a little hint of the natural wood to help tie it in to the inside part of the shrine.

Then I was able to glue Santa and the front trees into place. 

 It’s quite 3D inside as the shrine kit has a little bit of depth to it. I put the smallest of my trees at the back then layered more in front of them (as ever, I broke the pieces up to suit my desired effect). I glued a little stick half way in to give me something to glue the tree with the deer on to.

When everything was painted and glued, I added the decoArt snowtex and glamour dust glitter to everything along with some white paint splatters to make it look like it is snowing. 

Calico craft parts used:

Tree scene

Trees with deer and bird

Santa on his sleigh