Snow (French: la neige) - by Claudia

Servus and thank you so much for stopping by! Today is an "every other" Monday - so it is my turn to share with you a wintery make as it has been finally snowing over here in Vienna! Yay! And I don't mean just some few snowflakes but real loads of snow - enough to build a huge snowman with and more than enough to make my dog happy who loves to jump and run through the snow like a little fox.

So my project was inspired by a world that has suddenly been turned into a white winterwonderland with glittery snow that cracks under the feet.

Originally this is an arched ATC with a frame that has a snowflake on top, but I used only the frame and cut an arched opening into a piece of heavy card so I could create a little shadow box with a "snowflake window" to look through.

Calico Craft Parts used:

- Gothic Arch ATC Wood Blank with Snowflake Frame
- Winter Tree Scene MDF Wood  Shape - Style 2
- Sheet of Mini MDF Christmas Wood Shapes - Snowflakes 1
- Sheet of Mini MDF Label Holders Wood Shapes

I started with covering the lid of an old box using DecoArt matte Decou-Page and old dictionary pages. While that was set aside to dry I picked a piece of heavy cardboard and outlined the box lid as well as the ATC frame so I could cut out the opening.

Once the front panel was cut out I covered it with old dictionary pages too. I left a bit of an overlap on all sides so I could later glue the front piece to the box by fixing the overlaps to the sides.

I sealed the ATC frame and cover with a coat of matte Decou-Page so I could add some DecoArt media crackle paint later on. 

The back of the shadowbox was given a coat of DecoArt media fluid acrylic Translucent White  to make the text less prominent. 

Then I cut apart the lovely Winter Tree Scene wood shape and marked the perfect positions for both halves in the box so they could be seen properly through the ATC frame opening. 

The trees were given a coat of matte Decou-Page as well. 

Next I sprayed some of the gorgeous Mini Snow Flakes with some Turquoise DecoArt media Shimmer Mister. 

As there was some excess left I spontaneously dabbed the front panel randomly into the still wet puddles of spray paint. 

I also added some spreckles of Turquoise and White Shimmer Mister to the front piece and background of my shadowbox. 

The trees were given a brushed on thin coat of DecoArt media white Crackle Paint. I also scraped on some of the Crackle Paint to several spots on the front cover using a palette knife.

I then added some DecoArt Snow-Tex to the ground and then set the trees aside to dry naturally. 

Once the crackling process was finished I added some Raw Umber DecoArt media Antiquing Cream to the crackled spots to highlight the cracks. To do so I let the Antiquing Cream dry and then wiped off the excess with a damp soft cloth. 

Once I was content with the look of my trees I layered them to the background of my shadowbox using stacks of sticky foam pads. 

The front piece was glued into place and the sides of the shadow box were covered with strips of dictionary page too. 

For a finish I added the sprayed snowflakes and a small label to the front. 

The word inside the label says "NEIGE" which is French for snow. 

Et voilá! 

I especially love the crackle and texture on the ATC frame's snowflake:

And I also love how the Antiquing Cream brought an additional shade of brown to the project that now repeats the brown colour of the MDF. 

I hope you like my little "Snow" shadow box and are inspired to happily crackle away on some of Calico Craft Parts' wonderful MDF winter wood shapes! It's so much fun and the results are so rewarding! 

Hugs and happy crafting! 

Claudia

xxx