Charlotte's Garden Nicho

Today,my project for Gwen's Artist Tribe is my use of a Going Global Mexican Nicho,which I have turned into a magical garden for my Frozen Charlotte.

Gwen carries a wide variety Mexican Nichos in her store;with shapes varying from a flaming heart,a hand,and also a Nicho shaped as a Well with a Bird! Have a look here in her online store.

Mine started out this way-beautiful as is,but I love my color!

For those of you unfamiliar with Nichos, I found this bit of information online at Wikipedia.

I chose the Materials part to share:

"Nichos are made of objects that can be easily purchased or scavenged in the home or community. The media are characteristically humble for a religious object, especially compared to the typically ornate icons of the Catholic Church. The shadow box itself is easily converted from a cigar box or other mass-produced wooden container, but can also be constructed from any lightweight wood, recycled tin, or glass. The colorful designs on the box and borders are created not only with paint, but also with sequins, glitter, chain, thread or rope, paper mache, and any small bric-a-brac. Other ornaments within nichos include milagro charms, beads, stones, nails, and other manufactured and found objects."

So now that you know a bit more about Nichos,on with the show!

My first step was to gesso the tin Nicho using black as my base.
While that was drying I started to choose my elements.

Chum got in on it as well,helping my pick out which Chiyogami Papers might work best. 
He loves Gwen's mixed media supplies as much as me! teeheehee

Here I pulled out a handful of my stash of treasured miniatures to use as well as a Frozen Charlotte doll.

Next out came my bags of Turkman Jewelry Parts and a Jewelry Curated Stash Pack from Gwen's store.

This is where the in process pictures stopped as I just started creating and could not stop!

I dry-brushed several layers of Paper Artsy colors,which I will share below,as well as Iridescent Gold and Iridescent Copper over the black gesso.

Once the paints were dry,Chum and picked our favorite Chiyogami Paper from the Exotic Japanese Paper Sampler and I aged it with a watered down coat of Quinachridone Gold.

After the paper was secured with Tacky Glue, using my awl,I punched in two holes behind the Sunburst.Through these holes I hung Gwen's Czech Butterfly Glass Beads which were strung with gold thread. A few other butterfly beads were glued to the back and sides,inside the Nicho.

Next I added a few tiles to the inside base,two were made for me by my sweet internet friend,Felicia Aaron (thank you💜)and the third is a G for garden. 
The tiles made Charlotte's walkway and also gave her a bit of height.

At this point,I added a few bisque flower pieces,a vintage plastic bird and the lovely yellow flower Czech Glass Beads,again from Gwen's online store!

Lastly added,along with Charlotte is her vintage aqua poodle dog! Charlotte's poodle was a vintage sweater pin and now has become her favorite friend,whom she calls Skyy.

door open for better photos

After the inside was complete,as lovely as it was,I decided the outside of Charlotte's Garden needed decor as well.

To the purple flowers,I added some Glossy accents to give them a bit of shine.

Using various sizes of wire and jump rings,I beaded together various Turkman jewellery parts,colorful beads and some of my favorite yellow flower Czech Glass Beads.

 

 

The I remembered that I still had two of these gorgeous peacocks from Gwen's store.
Surely one would be perfect for the top of the Nicho!

A bit of paint applied in layers and a coat of Glossy Accents and this beauty was glued on~Front & Center!

And that completes Charlotte's Garden Nicho

 Pretty magical,don't you think?

Thank you so much for joining me! I hope you found a bit of inspiration and maybe also found a few things you need from Gwen's store! 

Chum and I going shopping again tomorrow!

peace & love

Jackie ")

Products from Gwen Lafleur's online store:

Global Mexican Nichos with Sunburst

Beautiful Butterfly Czech Glass Beads

Fabulous Florals Czech Glass Beads 

Going Global Turkman Jewelry Parts

Jewely Curated Stash Packs

Proud Peacock~Bronze Peacocks Findings

Exotic Orient Japanese Chiyogamy Paper Sampler

Other products used:
 Paper Artsy Fresco Paints in shades of
Glacier Ice 
Beach Hut
Spanish Mulberry
Mermaid
Haystack
Here in the states you can purchase these from
Frantic Stamper 
Simon Says Stamp 

Golden Paints used Iridescent Gold (Fine) Iridescent Copper (Fine) Quinachridone Gold

Ranger Glossy Accents

Aleene's Tacky Glue

Finnabair's Heavy Black Gesso

Vintage stash items-my miniature collection



Playing along with-

Mixed Media World~Anything Goes

Paper Artsy~ Topic#4 Whimsy

More Mixed Media Challenge~Anything Goes with the option of Green
~Have green wallpaper inside the Nicho

That's Crafty~Spring Into Action

Also playing Along with A Vintage Journey~Treasure