American Dream Shadow Box

"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement."    --James Truslow Adams, historian, 1931
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Hi crafty folks!  Today I want to share a vintage-style American dream tucked inside the 4" x 4" Mini House Room Box.  This young couple is just starting out and have saved their pennies for a home.  Let's build it!

First thing is a bit of a warning that this is an image-heavy post.  A lot goes into home construction.  ::nod nod::

I measured and cut vintage ledger paper to cover the back wall (including the attic area) and side walls.

Then I laid out the parts before gluing  -- notice the right wall is upside down?  Luckily I did, too.

Brick is my favorite construction and this young couple deserves the best!  I used the Brick Wall 2 stencil and molding paste on the back and sides.  Allow it to dry overnight.

For the roof I used the pointed Chipboard Shingles.  I gesso'd a bunch then cut them down to 4 points each, which allowed me to stagger the points.  Next thing was to glue them down and allow to dry, then cut with heavy duty scissors.  I tried to use a guillotine paper cutter but the shingles were too thick.  A little sanding helped to clean up the cuts.

Time to paint the bricks!  This isn't a real brick factory so I had to paint them... You know how it is.  I've made bricks a couple of ways so far, and this time I used my education teammie Nicola Battilana's video tutorial.  It was very helpful!

I glued tiny little rocks to the base and let it dry overnight.

So back to the roof!  I needed to cap it off.  My idea was to cut a piece of thin chipboard, score it, and glue it down.  In the second photo, you can see I found a big enough blank in the middle of another GSL Cut laser cut.  Yay!   

To finish off all the roofing edges I mixed molding paste with black gesso (even though the photo shows acrylic paint -- oops).  I carefully applied it to the peak and all the edges in layers, allowing it to dry each time.  It took a couple of layers to fill it all in and look like roofing tar.  Or whatever that's called.  The black stuff!

For an inside element  I used a piece of felt (just because it was close by) to dab black paint on a Filmstrip Mini Sheet then cut down photos of the couple.

And finally, they moved in!

Here's a view of the filmstrip and see their first house number plate?  That's from the white set of Faux Metal Number Plates.  There is a mini wood spool popping out from the back wall.

Here's a finish view of the roof peak.  See how I softened the edges with the molding paste mixture?  Once that was dried I did a bit of finish work with a fine sand paper and coated it all with flat black paint.

GSL Cuts Used
Mini House Room Box 4x4 Open #D13WB
Chipboard Shingles - Pointed #D119P
Brick Wall 2 #D42D
Filmstrip Mini Sheet D12J
Faux Metal Number Plates (White) #LN042114001