Bread and Roses - Kitchen Shrine by Julie Ann

Hello, Julie Ann here. Our home is a bit like a building site at the moment with our kitchen re-fit entering its final stages and our new bathroom taking shape. I've been thinking about how each room in a home can be filled with stories and I've created a tiny kitchen shrine to put in place when everything is finally complete.

 Meet Elizabeth of Hungary in her mini shrine from Calico Craft Parts. Elizabeth who was married at the tender age of fourteen was a Hungarian princess. Humble and kind, she tended the sick and refused to wear her crown in church. On my shrine she has a crown taken from Mini Crown Shapes Style 3 that reflects the blue of the heavens. Elizabeth's legend associates her with bread and roses, so she seemed the perfect saint to watch over a kitchen.

Calico Craft Parts shrines are so easy to assemble. You simply press them out from the backing and use a strong craft glue along the edges. I applied a thin layer of Gesso to the pieces, before painting them with a blue and a white acrylic, blended with just a little glazing fluid to create the softness of clouds in a heavenly blue sky.

The MDF Crown Shrine kit comes with a beautiful arch. Before I started I knew I wanted to create the impression of a tiny, santos cage style doll. I used some rusting powder on part of Bird Cage Style 6 and added some tiny birds from the sheet of Mini MDF Garden Bird shapes, which is becoming one of my favourites. Elizabeth's face is my own art work over book text pasted to one of the mini oval shapes. I stamped a sun in Versamark and then heat embossed it with gold.

 Elizabeth's legend is that she was taking bread to the poor in secret when she encountered her husband out hunting with some other noblemen. He challenged her to reveal what she had hidden under her cloak to prove to his aristocratic friends that she was not hiding stolen riches. Her cloak fell open and the loaves were transformed into roses, showing that her charity was approved by God. Let's hope this was not a permanent transformation and that the poor were not deprived of their crusty loaves! I've fashioned some miniature loaves from air-dried clay, painted with acrylic paint and a glaze.

The crown above the arch gave me the opportunity to use some gold UTEE. I also stamped the archway and the sides of the shrine with script.

 I used moss to decorate her cage skirt and a little resin rose painted red, edged with gold gilder's paste. The Wings from Wings style1 are touched with white and blue acrylic and some gilder's paste and the hands are cut from my own art work.

A  bird turns back to glimpse the miracle taking place and cast a wistful glance in the direction of those little birds munching away at the bread before it turns into roses.

This label stamp seemed the ideal sentiment for Elizabeth and her miraculous roses.

Thank You so much for stopping by to look at my kitchen shrine. I had such fun making it and discovering Elizabeth's story. I'm now inspired to create a Calico Shrine to keep watch over each room in the house - it's more fun than contemplating all the plaster dust and confusion I'm going to have to deal with when the renovations are finally over! Have a creative and peaceful week everyone!

Calico Craft Parts Used
Crown MDF Shrine Kit - Style 4
Sheet of Mini MDF Crowns Style 3
Sheet of Mini MDF Wings Style 1
Bird Cage Style 6
Sheet of Mini Oval MDF Shapes
Sheet of Mini MDF Garden Birds