I made some mini bookshelf ornaments as a tribute to my love for LettuceCraft. I wanted to share them with others who love LC just as much as I do, so I created a few for my shop in Shop the Swap. These ornaments were a labor of love and I am so happy with how they came out!
During STS, @Mountains_and_Clouds offered up some teeny tiny vases. I claimed one and added some curlicued wire to the vase, then added it to my own ornament!
The first element that I created for these ornaments was the shelf itself. I bought a file on Etsy, then proceeded to modify it to my satisfaction using Silhouette Studio. I knew I wanted a matte paint in the coral pink LettuceCraft color, but I wasn’t sure where to find it. After discussing it with my husband, he suggested that we go to some hobby shops and take a look. I was excited when I found the perfect color and I picked it up along with some primer and varnish. After testing to figure out the right amount of coats for each medium, I got to work painting and putting the bookshelves together.
Often in laser cut pieces, individual layers are stacked on each other and when you look at the finished product from the side, you can see the multiple layers that make up the finished piece. There’s nothing wrong with this, but I wanted a nicer finish for my ornaments, so I set about trying to think of how to accomplish this. After thinking through various ideas, I realized that I already knew of the perfect technique from some projects I created years ago. I did a trial piece to make sure it would work and was happy to find it was just right for my needs! Thus, the sides have a sealed glitter finish.
So, obviously, a bookshelf needs books. I took each of the nine LettuceCraft categories and turned them into mini ‘books.’ When adding the LC books to the ornaments, I used Scotch brand removable mounting putty so that the swappers who claimed the books could rearrange them to display their favorite categories.
The rest of the books were made using colorful scrapbook paper.
The inside of the books are small rectangles of laser cut wood. Because I used a laser to cut them, the edges were very dark and didn’t look like book pages. So I spray painted the books with two coats of primer to lighten the edges and give them more of a paper-like look.
I also made a little sign to add to the bookshelf. I created the Make More design in Silhouette studio and cut the words out of vinyl. The words are a little over 0.5" in length, which made weeding the vinyl difficult. There were definitely a few unsuccessful attempts.
In addition, I made a spider plant for each bookshelf. I bought the plant and pot files from an Etsy seller, then shrank them down to meet my needs. I hand cut each leaf and coated them with a few layers of polycrylic to give them that real-life plant shine. I added some of the Scotch putty into the pot and using needle nose tweezers I first shaped the leaves, then planted them into the putty. As a finishing touch, I added Spanish moss around the perimeter of the plant.
Once I had crafted the various elements (other than the mini cup and saucers, which I had purchased on Amazon), I went about filling the shelves. These are the ornaments I created for STS:
After I put so much love and care into each mini bookshelf, I wanted to make sure that they would be well protected when not in use. I bought these perfectly sized boxes from Amazon and created an individual label for each ornament.
This project originally came about as an idea for the 5th Anniversary Challenge. In the end, I realized I wouldn’t have enough time to make and submit an entry, but I was okay with that because I knew I would make these shelves regardless and share them with fellow LettuceCrafters. I love our community so much and I am so grateful to each and every one of you who make this such a wonderful place! Thank you all for sharing your projects, your knowledge, and consistently uplifting the members of our community in so many different ways. 
. So much detail! LOVE the little plants!! 
). This is a true labour of love - thank you for sharing your process!
. I’m totally speechless at the amount of work and detail that went into these.
