"Enchanted Forest" Medieval Castle with Mini Album

I was so excited when I got my "assignment" this month for my Alpha Stamps design team project. I was to make a piece using the newly released Graphic 45 paper line "Enchanted Forest." I love this paper line - I think the prints are beautiful - and, as always, the Graphic 45 papers are of quality and can stand a lot of wear and tear during construction! Because of the Renaissance nature of the collection, I decided to create a large free-standing castle which would also house a photo album mini-album. Lots of work - lots of fun - and lots of paper!

I decided to challenge myself to make the piece almost entirely from the paper collection. With just a few exceptions, I kept to the challenge and am pretty pleased with the results (hearty pat on the back to myself here, haha).

The main structure consists of a set of stairs leading up to double doors and a balcony which is populated with Renaissance faeries. The rooftop is finished off with a royal golden crown with a strand of strung aqua beads, as well as two finials. There are miniature flower pots with greenery, blooms, and crown charms sitting on the stairs, which separate two tower structures which feature double shuttered arched windows and balconies with fair maidens awaiting the return of their knights on white steeds!

This photo angle shows the towers and the castle from the 3/4 side view, allowing you a peek at the photo mini-album stored behind the double doors.

Also, the roofs on each of the towers come off to reveal shelves to store jewelry, love notes, or special trinkets or memories. Having none of those things, I put small battery powered candles in them and they look terrific in the arched windows!

The flower pots are miniature clay planters with saucers (I left the saucers off so they would fit on the stairs) from Alpha Stamps filled with Mini Fern Garland, Tiny Tree with Pink Blossoms, Small Bright Pink Mulberry Blossoms, and Twiggy Leaf Garland - all from Alpha Stamps. The planters were decorated with molds made from paper clay and architectural molds I had on hand.

As you can see, I used a lot of the Gold Ric Rac Dresden Borders Sets to outline the corners of every seam in the towers and the stairs. The red trim balcony railing and door decorative 'molding' is from the Enchanted Forest paper pack, die cut with a Sizzix die. The ornamentation above the door is another mold I made from an architectural mold and paper clay that I had on hand.

Here are the double doors, which are outline with an on-hand piece of leather and trimmed with White Mesh Rhinestone Ribbon that I colored with Caramel Tim Holtz alcohol ink. As door handles, I used the Antique Brass Lion Door Knockers with a dry brush of black paint over them. I used the set of Curved Brass Hinges on the doors with a black paint and steel wool finish.

This photo shows the castle doors open, and the photo mini-album revealed. It is a perfect fit, and again is constructed entirely from the Enchanted Forest paper collection and decorated with a plethora of images from Alpha Stamps collage sheets. They will be individually identified in the supply list!

This is the album in front of the castle, and you can see the fussy cut images from the Enchanted Forest papers on the back wall - they are really lovely graphics and so perfect for this ... or any Renaissance or faery tale project! Let's take a look at the photo album and some of the pages. I'm never quite sure why these are called "mini-albums" - they hold dozens of photos - I'm not clear why they're mini!. This one has a completely closed cover that opens from the front. There are no pages visible from the sides of the outside of the album.

 Each page includes one large area to the left for a larger photo to be placed.

 Each page includes two small flap pages that allow for small or special photos or mementos.

 Also each page has a complete pull-out insert that will allow for two larger photos or journaling or memento/souvenir placements.

 In addition, each page has a flip up feature which allows for double sides for even more display space. There are really dozens of spaces for your photos in this album!

Thanks for taking the cook's tour of my Enchanted Forest castle and mini-album storage. I hope you will check out Alpha Stamps remarkable selection of miniature marvels and craft supplies and create something special from this wonderfully romantic and olde world style paper collection! Everything needed to create this castle and mini-album you'll find by clicking here.

Now...go make something beautiful!

¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)(¸.•´ 

(¸.•´♥ Tristan ♥

 Back of castle,with embellishments and a pocket for storing more photos, poems, journaling notes, or the perfect spot for a giver/receiver gift tag.