LOVE NEST: THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX
A papercrafted miniature scene featuring a mini-matchbox, created for the altered matchbox papercrafting contest.(Update: I've now included links to 3D photos of some elements of this roombox. Just follow the thumbnails at the very bottom of this post. 
)"Mature" images included.
Here it is! My first challenge entry ever. Woo-hoo! I've had so much fun making this! (And it took me FOREVER! Solid working for 12 days solid--but it was worth it!) TA-DA!
This room-box represents my husband and our love and life.
Central to the room is a bookcase, made out of a teeny matchbox (original matchbox size: 1 x 3.5 x 5.25cm) (more about that later).
Off in the hall is a painting of Aphrodite. My hubby calls me that as a nickname all the time, and is convinced that I'm the goddess of love! lol
In the corner is a picture of a sexy woman (Kate Moss in Prada, actually)--and represents my recent venture into absolutely loving sexuality and love in all of its forms.
To the right is a fireplace, with fire, and a picture of me and my husband over the mantle. It represents the passion and the love we share, the unity we feel, the flame within each of us that blends together and makes us one.
The bookshelf doors open, so you can see the many books that are on the shelves. They each represent the love my husband and I share of knowledge, our thirst for intellectual pursuits, the drive that we have to learn. The intellectual connection that we share is intense and deep.
Interestingly, the bottom shelves of the bookshelf are empty...but then that means that there's always more room to learn and grow!
The top of the bookcase.
View from the side.
But what's this? A door opens on the side?
What's that in the secret compartment?
to change your image viewing settings please click hereOh!
to change your image viewing settings please click hereOh -MY-!
If it isn't a few edgy prints of me! Hidden away in case the neighbors are offended by such things!
And my hubby’s favorite picture of the two of us.
And, yes, they are SO a representation of me and my hubby.
Maybe this is why he nicknamed me Aphrodite? lol
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So, now you want to know, where the hell is the matchbox?
The slide-out box is in the top of the bookshelf.
The majority of the sleeve of the matchbox is right below it, in the lower bookcase with doors.
There was a little bit left of the box and so I used that in the fireplace, as the foundation for the pile of coals in the fire. I covered it in black paper, glued orange beads onto it for coals, glued real fireplace ash on top of that, and inserted the final "pile of coals" onto the floor below the burning wood in the fireplace.
Hard to see, huh?
The wood on the fire is made of paper, covered in hot glue, and while still hot, touched to create texture. The fire itself is hot glue, with melted crayon in it to give it tint. The grate is made of paper clips. The fire tools to the left of the fireplace are made of paper, with paper clip handles.
This is the final copy of my design sheet for the bookcase. I designed this entirely myself on the computer program Xara. Each element of the room-box has a complementary design sheet, from the logs on the fireplace to the trim on the walls to the columns.
As per challenge guidelines, almost everything in this room-box was made of paper.
The walls are made out of a lightbulb box broken down and covered in paper from old magazines.
The only items not made of paper are the base, which is an old cigar box, the windows of the bookcase and the actual window itself (both things are made from up-cycled clear plastic tomato cartons), and the elements of the fireplace that I’ve already pointed out.
Man, but I definitely embellished the hell out of that matchbox! And using just paper, too. I guess that means this fits the requirements of the challenge, even though it turns out I was SO thinking outside the box!
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NEW 3D Pictures:Follow the link to each individual image. Once there, stare at the double photos, slightly unfocusing your eyes, until the two photos merge into one 3D image.
