A Romantic Shadowbox with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and Graphic 45

Hello everyone!  February is the month of Mon Amour, and I guess I am still in "Love" mode, so I want to share my GSL Memory Tray Shadowbox using Graphic 45's Mon Amour paper collection. 

I always do a dry fit of my chipboard, just to make sure I know how the pieces will fit together. This also helps if you a gluing directional printed papers to the pieces.

NOTE:  This shadowbox uses dovetail joints to join the pieces together for strength.  A dovetail joint is a series of pins cut to extend from the end of one board that interlock with a series of tails, or slots, cut into the end of another board.

First, cut five  2-1/8" wide strips from one sheet of 12x12 paper.  To cover the sides and shelf strips, first cover the side that will need to have the the tails, or slots, recut into them.  Never cover the pins or they will not fit into the slots. 

Right side that needs the slots cut out

Wrong side that has the slots cut out

Wrap and glue remaining paper over to the opposite side.  Do not recut the slots on this side.  The paper will cover the areas where the pins are inserted into the slots for a clean finish.

This side will be on the outside of the box, so do not cut the slots out.

I fussy cut images from the paper collection and decided where I wanted to place them.  Then I cut background pieces that would complement the images.  Rather than give you minute measurements, I always find it easiest to measure the pieces by laying the paper down and measuring against the chipboard itself.  Mark the spot with a pencil and take the paper to your paper trimmer for best results.

Cover the back of the shadowbox completely, including the pins.  This will cover the "works" when the shelves and sides are glued.  Trim away excess paper.

Glue the shelves and sides together, fitting each piece as you go.

Cut the Hearts Background apart, making the edges uneven, and paint the two pieces with red paint.

Cut and glue small pieces of the print papers to fit behind the open hearts, then glue the Hearts Background sections to the back of the shadowbox, as shown,  I also stamped the solid hearts with a crackle stamp and black archival ink.

Color the Love Heart chipboard with the red paint, then dab gold ink over the piece, concentrating on the word Love. I also treated Kiss Me the same and glued to the front, as shown in the photos.

Glue the Love Heart to the back and add diamond swirls gems to the back, as shown.

Adhere the fussy cut embellishments from the paper collection, using two layers of pop dots to lift the images in each shadowbox section.  I used flowers, charms, jewelry pieces, and anything I could think of that looked good.  

I fussy cut the large image of the pretty lady and adhered here to the left side of the shadowbox.  I also painted two wooden barrel shaped pieces with the red paint and a layer of interference gold paint.  Enamel dots were added to the front and back of the barrel pieces.

Here are closeup photos of each section of the shadowbox.  

Supplies Used:

GSL Memory Tray Shadowbox
GSL Word Art Romance
GSL Hearts Background
Graphic 45 Mon Amour paper collection
Black card stock
Embellishments:  flowers, leaves, jewelry pieces, charms, fussy cut images, gem swirls
Foam dots

I hope you enjoyed my project today and that you are inspired a bit to make one of these fun and easy shadowboxes from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts for yourself.  

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful week!

Barbara