Spring Stepping Carousel

Happy Wednesday!

Hard to believe we're already half way through April...seems like it was just Valentine's Day?!?! Guess that's a sure sign I'm getting old huh? Funny thing is ~ I don't FEEL old!

Oh well, as promised I finished the directions on how to assemble the Carousel I shared on Monday.

Spring Stepping Carousel

The base for my carousel is a heavy duty chipboard spool my dh gets from one of our clients. I'm sure you could use something else but a few people have asked me about these spools. I hate to sound like a commercial but I do have some of these spools listed on my Etsy store if you're interested. We have to buy them so I'm not charging any extra...just what we have to pay.

Supplies:

Spring Stepping Stamp Set - Whimsy Stamps

Archival Ink - Ranger

Distress Inks - Ranger

Adirondack Acrylic Dabber - Ranger

Stickles Glitter Glue - Ranger

Niji Waterbrush

Aleene's Super Thick Tacky Glue

EK Success Border punch

Chipboard Spool (Dh gets these for me...I am currently selling a few on my Etsy Store)

Paper Covered Wire or Dowel Rod

(optional) - Tin

(optional) - Crepe Paper Trim

(optional) - Faux Gemstones

(optional) - Glass Glitter - Meyers Imports

Instructions:

1. Paint the entire spool with white acrylic paint.

2. Paint three pieces of paper covered wire or dowel rods cut to size. Glue these poles to the spool with a strong glue of your choice. Don't worry about the glue showing...we will cover it up in later steps.

3. Stamp the horse image 3x using Archival Ink. Stamp 3 extra sets of tulips (located at the bottom of the horse stamp) again using the Archival Ink. Color all of these images as desired. I used my Niji Waterbrush and Distress Inks. Add Stickles Glitter Glue to highlight various areas of each horse.

4. Stamp the vine image multiple times on a sheet of white cardstock measuring 6 1/2" x 11" long. I used several shades of green Distress Inks.

5. Trim the vine stamped sheet as follows: 4 - 1" strips leaving 1 - 2 1/2" strip.

6. Use the border punch to cut the 4 - 1" strips of cardstock...this will become the trim along the top and bottom of the carousel. You will need to piece together 2 strips for each the top and the bottom trim. Apply to the edge of the spool with Glue Dots or a fast drying liquid glue.

7. Cut the 2 1/2" strip of vine stamped cardstock into triangles. These triangles will be assembled into the domed roof for the carousel. I used a 1 1/2" width for the bottom of my triangles.

8. Assemble the triangles in a circular form minus one triangle. Tape the triangles together on the bottom side. Trim off the center points leaving a small circular hole in the center. Tape the two ends of the circle together, by doing so you will now create the domed top.

9. Attach the domed top to the spool using liquid glue. 10. Cut a diamond shape from white cardstock. Crease in the center to make a pennant shaped flag. Stamp the sentiment on both sides. Stamp the vine using multiple shades of green ink and distress the edges with the Ink Blending Tool.

11. Fold the pennant around a dowel rod or piece of paper covered wire. Place a small piece of wire in between the two sides and glue shut around the dowel rod. Once the glue has dried bend the wire/flag so it looks like it is flapping in the breeze. I added a small bead to the top of my flag but it's not necessary. Now place it in the hole you made when you created the domed top and glue to secure.

12. Cover all of the seams and the flag pole base with Stickles Glitter Glue.

13. Glue the stamped/colored horses to the poles and let dry. You may need to hold the horses on the poles until the glue has a chance to set.

You can stop here or continue to embellish as follows:

14. Add faux gemstones and extra stamped tulips around both the top and bottom of the lace trim.

15. Apply a layer of glue to the floor of the carousel and sprinkle with Glass Glitter. This will help cover any glue that was used to attach the polls.

16. If you would like to add a base to your carousel you can do so at this time. I used a small metal tin ~ simply glue it to the spool base using a heavy duty liquid glue. I chose to add a crepe paper trim which matched the horses to hide the tin.

And you're done!

I know it sounds like ALOT of work but it really does go quite quickly once you get going.

Besides that it's really cool once you're finished ;)