Trapped in a cage...

I do feel like I'm trapped sometimes. Mainly by fear. Right now by the certainty (in my head at least) that my latest venture is going to fail. I don't expect success. I don't feel like I deserve success, even though I know I have worked so hard.

This is insecurity. The long held belief that, no matter how hard you try, you will never be good enough for anybody or anything. That nothing you ever do is good enough. The worst part is that, given time, you will ignore anything positive that anybody says about you/your work, and just concentrate on the negatives, most of which come from your own mind. The only way I have found that works for me is to push on and just work through the insecurities anyway. It doesn't make them disappear, but at least I will always try.

I've been using my Steampunk Spells set again this week. This was what I made. I decided to use the inspiration of the layout of the Steampunk spells paper, and make a 3D version for this cage.

I started by wrapping washi tape around some of the bars of the cage, and along the bottom of the cage as well. I then did a lot of fussy cutting!

The flowers and the cogs were from the borders of the Steampunk Spells page. I cut out the flowers and cut into the first layer of petals so that I could make them slightly three dimensional.

As well as the flowers and cogs, I cut out a few vines so that it more closely resembled the border of the actual page

I used glossy accents to glue the title to the front of the cage. I couldn't fit the word steampunk across the cage, so I split the word into two. The banner is still attached to the two S's in spells. The whole thing is positioned so that you can still open the cage.

Rather than use blue, I decided to use the cogs paper to line the cage. The hot air balloon is actually layered in three; the bottom was the balloon and a second balloon (just below it), followed by the balloon itself then the canopy part only (actually called the envelope). I added a smaller balloon to the right, then cut out a fan and layered some flowers and cogs, to add the finishing touches.

The only thing done to the lady was to crackle accent her wings, which has curled them slightly, giving them a more lifelike effect. 

The stamps are just fussy cut and foam padded on. 

One thing that I was a bit stuck on to begin with was lining the back of the cage. The paper did not stretch to the whole length of the cage, so I cut it into two. The line between the two was quite obvious, so I cut a film strip out of black card, attached a different paper to the back of it, then glossy accented the cells to give them a more authentic feel. 

Once I figured out that I wanted to mimic the layout of the titular page, I found this quite easy to do. Supplies needed were quite minimal; just foam pads, glue, washi tape, crackle/glossy accents and the Steampunk Spells 12 by 12 pad. I like this, as sometimes the paper is so beautiful that it doesn't need many additions, it speaks for itself. I also like the fact that, although this is the same cage (size notwithstanding of course) as one I have done earlier, the results could not have been more different. 

Happy crafting everyone

Emma x