'To Be Happy' Shrine : A Tutorial

Hello!
Me again, back with another tutorial! I've gone for another 3D assemblage type affair today, a shrine. Here is the finished piece...

No pre cut shrine kits used, all done from scratch which means you can make them any size and shape you want! Easy too, really! I'll show you......
Firstly, you need to decide on a shape and size for your shrine. I knew I wanted a house with a pointy roof, so that bit was easy, but I wasn't sure about size. The size can depend on various things, maybe you have something specific you want to put in the niche, so obviously you need to create something that will be big enough for your chosen object. I knew I wanted to use a specific set of wings behind the roof, so that was the detail I needed to take account of. I roughly stamped out the wings, and sketched out a shape to fit...

Once you have a shape, you can trace it onto chipboard and cut out....

Next we need to cut the pieces for the niche. The back part is easy as it is exactly the same as the hole the the front part, so simply draw around the hole onto more chipboard. The sides will depend on how deep you want your niche. I chose a 2cm deep niche, so cut my sides accordingly...

As you can see, the sides are the length of each side of the back, and all 2cm wide. Next, tape the niche together with masking tape....

You could use sellotape if you have no masking tape! At this point, when you fold up the sides, you can see the box like niche appearing!

Tape up the corners so the box stays in shape...

Now, at this point I should say that you are not to worry about gaps, sturdiness or neatness! We will be covering the whole thing inside and out with gel medium and book pages, which will cover up and gaps or unsightly tape. Gel medium dries rock solid, so will give added strength to your niche. The only thing you need to do at this point is trim away any difference in height of your sides!
The general idea is that the pieces will look like this...

Again, don't worry if the niche looks too small! The book pages will add extra width to the chipboard, and you can add as many layers of pages as you need if the gaps are still in evidence!
 So, cover with book pages....

Decorating the inside of a box is tricky at the best of times, and trying to decorate once the box is attached to the front piece will just make things harder! Decorate the niche at this point....
I painted everything with Lime Dina Wakley paint, then added a touch of Sky over the top to give a gentle turquoise look in places. I then added a cut out figure with a magic wand and a star behind her head. As you do....

 I then put it behind the front piece to see how it looked, and decided it needed a pop of colour. Red to be precise! I made the border by painting some copy paper...

And then doodling a border pattern...

This can then be cut out and glued into the niche. Copy paper is way more flexible than card stock, so I always use the thinner base if I'm wanting to glue it into tricky places!
The finished niche can then be attached to the front...

This is done very simply by glueing on more book pages across the join. Two or three layers for a strong bond!
The shrine stand is made from a small wooden candlestick, and one of my new favourite things...a Prima Mechanicals Pendant!

These were thoroughly gessoed (is that a word?) and then had more Lime and Sky paint added!
Glue everything together, and you have....

Your shrine!
The Prima pendant adds a fabulous shape to the stand...

The candlestick was splatted with black paint, then had red cord wrapped around it for that colour pop!

The front of the house was simply decorated using a circle stamp, and a house number. The butterfly wings were stamped onto red painted card before cutting out....

All stamps are Darkroom Door.
In the end, I added some red moss into my niche....

I liked the way it spilled out, creating more depth.
So, another tutorial, and I hope it has given you a few ideas....go make a niche!!!
Love Trish xxxxx