I have been pinning some inspiring Christmas Dioramas this season, and believe or not, when I emptied a box of mushrooms I was inspired a little more to try my hand at making one.
My husband doesn’t ‘do’ Pinterest (ha ha, no surprise there! I’m just picturing him pinning cute pictures of crafts he’d like to do. Anyone that knows him and is reading this right now, is giggling, I’m sure. Let’s just say, he does not have the persona of the crafty type of guy) so he just doesn’t get the idea of making a diorama, unless it’s a 6th grade assignment. Oh well, being completely non-flustered by the elementary school ribbing, I proceeded to take my empty mushroom box upstairs to the attic craft area to start my diorama vision I was dreaming up.
After covering the outside of the box with some leftover upholstery webbing, I made a simple folded wedge for the outside bottom, here seen on the top of the box as I’m gluing it down. This cardstock wedge will keep the box standing upright on what was once the side of the mushroom container.
I printed off some vintage card designs I’ve been pinning as well. I have an inkjet printer barely hobbling along, the thing’s so old, everytime I go to print something out of it, I wonder if this will be it’s last time to work.
Using Dollar Tree glitter glue, I embellished the printed images I cut out and layered onto a piece of cardstock for the back of the inside of the box.
Here’s a quick picture of the progress. The white sides are cardstock too, cut to the right sizes and hot glued into place. I then covered all the inside seams with mini silver garland trim.
These metal snowflakes came from JoAnn Fabrics, along with the tree I put in the diorama.
I think the dioramas that have interesting things to see in a layered effect are so visually appealing, and add to the imaginative thoughts of the tiny world inside them upon viewing. Mine doesn’t have a ton of layers, but I added another small layer by printing another vintage card in miniature and embellishing it with some glitter glue too. It will be glued to stay in place with that white cardstock block you see glued inside on the bottom right of the diorama.
The outside seams and face edge needed a little trim to cover all the raw edges, I love how this skinny trim compliments the vintage look, and coordinates so well with the outside strapping covering too.
The front outside edge got embellished with a few more snowflakes and little bow. (I also glued a few snowflakes inside on the back)
For the inside bottom to have a snow effect, after the deer, tree and cardstock support were securely glued down, I spread a very thick covering of some more glitter glue and immediately sprinkled a liberal coating of this Martha Stewart Crystal Coarse Glitter, (it looks like flat clear flakes) to stick to the glitter glue.
This picture is super zoomed in so you can see the details of the miniature card, but in reality, it’s only a couple inches high. It was the last thing to get glued in place. (I had to print the miniature card out on plain computer paper and then stiffened it by gluing a layer of cardstock to the back. My old printer won’t take cardstock through it anymore.)
Finished and in place on the black shelf in our dining room, (here’s the black shelf when it was in our former house) the Christmas diorama is a sweet addition to our Christmas decorations and it was fun to make. I think I’ll try my had at a few more diorama ideas.
How about you? Have you made any fun dioramas? I’d love to see them, send them to me at Pinterest, I’ll add them to my board.
I’m linking up at these link parties:
mrsben says
LOVE your diorama as being a hobby sewer and one who enjoys dabbling in crafts , I appreciate the time and effort put into anything homemade and the very fact that the finished product is ‘one of a kind’ and is not MASS produced ….. ☺
With that said, something you might like to try some time is making a diorama with a plastic globe Xmas tree ornament. As my grandson who is eight years old wanted to make something special for his teacher we basically …..
used a dremel tool with the required attachment and first cut out a hole in the (pre-glittered & snowflake patterned) ornament and sanded the edge smooth. For the background we used a light coat of high gloss paint and added our 3-D accessory being a (chrome finished) Snowman which was the handle off a small pate knife which were secured to a piece of 6mm thick craft foam that we coated with faux shredded snow and was glued inside the ornament to create a flat resting base. The final touches were the additions of a co-ordinated glitter to the edge of the hole and a piece of satin ribbon for the hanger. -Brenda-
Footnote: Be sure to wear ‘safety glasses’ when cutting/sanding the ornament.
A sponge brush works well for the background. Choose a light coloured background if possible as you want your 3-D accessories to stand out. (It is pretty dark inside an ornament! ºÛº.)
Most pate knife handles have a flat bottom and are about 2″ in height, so choose an large enough ornament to accommodate its size.
To remove the handle from the knife, usually application of heat form a hair blow dryer and a bit of twisting will do it.
Test your glue to ensure it will bond both to the type of base you use and your 3-D embellishment(s).
WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
HomeToCottage.com says
Thank you. Yes, I hope to make a few more styles for sure. Thanks for sharing. Liz
Donnamae says
Cute! I’ve never made a diorama before…that I remember. Things are about to get hectic around here…my son and DIL are coming in from Japan for the holidays…needless to say, I’m excited and have quite a few things to do yet. Merry Christmas! 😉
HomeToCottage.com says
Merry Christmas to you too! Wow, from Japan… do they live there? I’m sure they must not be able to get back all that often, i hope your time together is truly blessed and memorable.
Donnamae says
Yes, they do live there and work there. We have been together since they’ve moved, but haven’t spent a family (I have 2 other sons) Christmas together in 4 years…I’m just a wee bit excited! 😉