Small Shrines

Anne Davis: Arachne

SilverCrow Creations is having a Shrine Challenge this week. So I thought it'd be fun to enter, if I had time to make a shrine, and then I realized that I already had two shrines I'd made using their nichos. So here is one of them, which hangs in my studio above my sewing cabinet. Arachne, by the way, is my sewing machine's name.

This started as a SilverCrow mini shrine kit. I added some color to the outside with Coptic markers, glued sequin trim and a nameplate with a scissors charm to the front, and measuring tape trim around the back.

I didn't want to use the loteria image that came with the kit, El Mundo, this time, as I already feel like I'm carrying the world some days. Spiders are one of my goddess/creativity totem creatures, and there is a loteria card of the spider, so I started with that. I added a dollhouse sewing machine, made a tomato pincushion from a red felt bead, wrapped a miniature wooden spool with floss, and glued the fancy sequin trim from the kit around the loteria card image.

Anne Squire: In Honor of Japan - First Prize (Small)

In an odd way, it was easier to do a shrine relating to the Japanese earthquake & tsunami, than for the ones in Christchurch, my own country.  That is still a Work In Progress.

This fits in the "small" category.  The shells were picked off "local" beaches, which all got .6 - 1 metre high surges from Japan.  One shell, with the zig-zags could represent both a seismograph in action, and the mountains which would have been safety.

The fish, shoe, seahorse and doll all came from you.  The jewellery finding linking the shell to the shoe reminds me of the Yin Yang concept, about the balance between man-made and natural, land and sea, life and death...

The stamp is "Sirena Muerta" from ThirdCoastRS.com  There are gleaming paua shell chips (NZ abalone) around, would you believe, the pouring spout from a tetrabock milk packet.  It made a great hinged coffin, perfect size for your wee dolly.  The text was a genuine headline relating to the event.

Bethany Nickolas Royston: Small Shrine

From Bethany: Here's my last one for the small shrine contest, this one is 4"x4". The SilverCrow Creations products are all the stickers, the small skull bead, & the coffin.

Bethany Nickolas Royston: Last Supper

This shrine is for the small category it is 4"x 4". The SilverCrow products included are The Last Supper postcard & all the medallions.

Carol Ann Fulton: lotus

This little shrine uses one of SilverCrow's sliding Matchboxes.

Cate Amador: Guadalupe

From Cate: Entry for the shrine challenge. Made with a SilverCrow nicho. About 4 x 4.

Cate AMador: obscene larvae

This called "Obscene Larvae". Inspired by this quote: A Cat, with its phosphorescent eyes that shine like lanterns and sparks flashing from its back, moves fearlessly through the darkness, where it meets wandering ghosts, witches, alchemists, necromancers, grave-robbers, lovers, thieves, murderers, grey-cloaked patrols, and all the obs...

 from Silvercrow: word beads, Dresden black cat, tiny skeleton, and a plastic lens that came in a little box of goodies. It's about 3" high and 6" wide, and was an antique cigarette box painted what I call "Vintage Halloween Blue".

front: Front of "Obscene Larvae". Beads (black cat, moon, skull) and a boiled and varnished bone.

Ellen Hanes: Alma's Garden

This is made with a 1 inch by 2 inch matchbox insert. The Silvercrow components used: the hand charm, the clay lilies and the rectangular love bead. This is a guardian angel I made for my sister.

Ellen Hanes: Light as A Feather

This small shrine is made of a 1x3 matchbox insert. Silver crow items are the hand, the clay lily, the red glass heart and the loteria card (el corazon).

front: Front of "Obscene Larvae". Beads (black cat, moon, skull) and a boiled and varnished bone.

Jan Webb: Heart Shrine

My shrine was made from a heart-shaped Altoids tin and it 3.75 inches high. I am entering it in the small shrine category. I used white flowers I purchased from Silver Crow Creations to make the lei.

Kim Tedrow: Shrine to a Shrine

Entry for Shrine Challenge (small): Shrine to a Shrine. Approximately 4x4" sheet tin soldered to a mini-Altoid tin, includes a Silver Crow teeny shrine

Kim Tedrow: Shrine to the Shrine to My Heart

Entry for the Shrine Challenge (small): "Shrine to the Shrine to my Heart" approximately 4 x 4", sheet tin soldered to a round Altoid tin. Includes a Silver Crow teeeny shrine.

Laurel Sparks: Anniversary Shrine

I made this for our 6th wedding anniversary from an empty tin nicho from Silver Crow. The photo on the inside shows our wedding rings on a little rock shelf at Watkins Glen, NY, and the sides are lined with bits of green velvet, and lichen and a tiny tree ear from our backyard. (Had to take the photo with the door open, otherwise there was glare from the flash on the glass, but we usually keep it closed.) The traditional 6th anniversary gift calls for iron, and the nicho had just enough iron in it for a magnet to stick to it—close enough! Dimensions are 2 ¾ x 6 ¾”, and this hangs in our dining room.

Mel Kolstad: Windows

Here is my entry for the shrine contest! :D I used your teensy window shrine kit (just one of the windows!) and your teensiest little people. The entire thing measures just 7/8" square - a little more if you count the shooting star on top. :D

I included a photo with a dime for comparison! :D

SHERRY SCOTT: Japanese Buddhism Travel shrine

Japanese Buddhism Travel Shrine - made in Altoids tin - 3-1/2" tall

Sherry Scott: Recuerdo de la Casa de Dana - Second Prize (SMALL)

Mini shrine made for the Dana Adobe, Nipomo, CA. "Recuerdo de la Casa de Dana". Made in an Altoids tin. 3-1/2" tall.

Large Shrines

Anne Davis: Home & Family

I finally screwed my courage to the sticking point and took a photo of the other shrine I made using products from SilverCrow Creations.

This is one of SilverCrow's nichos with windows, about 8½" high by 6" wide, with plastic letter tiles and a house milagro glued to the front. Inside are photos, ceramic beads and some dollhouse miniatures representing my family.

Center window: Photos of the stately Davis bungie, some of the plants, and our cats, Patches on your left, Shadow on your right. The small window above has clouds.

Smaller windows, clockwise from your left:

Paul (dollhouse mini notebook, pencil and carpenter's plane)

Me (white tiger)

Katherine (Maneki Neko)

Emily (black crow bead)

The nicho and the crow are from SilverCrow Creations, the rest probably came from elsewhere, although it's been a few years, so I'm not sure about the other ceramic animal beads.

The more I look at the photo, the worse it is, but right now, better bad than not at all. One of these days, I'll take the time to set up lights, such as I have, and play with settings, but right now, busy busy busy no time.

Bethany Nickolas Royston: "Ode to Charlie" - Special Prize

By Bethany Nikolas Royston "Ode to Charlie" this shrine is 10in by 15 in. The small rosary, the flower on the top, the small coffin, & all the sugar-skulls are from SilverCrow and so is the Dos Equis bottle in Charlie's Hand.

Note from SilverCrow: We received so many comments on this shrine and it generated so many chuckles among our families & friends, we decided it needed it's own award!

Bethany Nickolas Royston: Large Shrine

From Bethany: This is for the large shrine contest it stands 22" & is 10" wide. The SilverCrow Creations products used are all the Virgin Mary Stickers & the 3 cards on the top of the shrine

Cate AMador: El Amor es Eterno - Second Prize (Large)

This is "El Amor es Eterno". It is large, measuring approximately 14 x 12. It was originally a drawer. Silvercrow components include: paper roses, Dia card, chenille skeleton, mariachi, sugar skull beads, milagros, tiny fruit bowl, clay bowl. tiny Our Lady of Guadalupe statue, tiny holy card (beware!). Non Silvercrow components: vintage jewelry, Fimo clay items, art paper, acrylic paints and mediums.

Close up of shrine shown on the right. The top was made with CD's with acrylic modeling mediums and paint.

Cate AMador: Meow

From Cate: My final entry for the Shrine Challenge. It's made from a cigar box, I think about 8 inches.

Close-up of inside front door - Dresden Heart with Arrow from SilverCrow (MEOW)

Front of the shrine.

CATT Alexander: Voodoo Queen

My Shrine is in the form of a Voodoo Queen Doll.

She stands about 28 inches tall. I've included several items I've purchased from SilverCrow...the Raku Devil Head Bead Bottle, the Raku Blue Hand, and on her paper hang-tag I have some little Trouble Dolls. I'm hoping to post four

Here's the Raku Devil Head Bottle and Raku Hand, on the Voodoo Queen's apron.

Here's her paper tag with the Trouble Dolls stitched into place.

And here's the Voodoo Queen's head, so you can see it close up.

Deb Christensen: Large Shrine

This is a great challenge!

I’ve been a silver crow fan for a long time, and treasure every little bit & tiny piece of good stuff I get from you. I have attached photos of a shrine I made that lives in our kitchen, in honor of the ice cold corona spirits.

I’m not the best photographer, so hope one of them is viewable… It measures 7.5 “ tall x 4” wide. The Milagros and charms came from you (love the itsy corona bottle) and maybe the beads too, I’ve lost track.

My kids will be appalled that I’m telling you this, but the wooden base I found on the ground by our dumpster…where many great things begin at….

Can’t wait to see what everyone has created~

The milagros and the charms are all silver crow treasures (love that little gnome!) some of the beads came from you too...the shelf was a dumpster score...

Donna Moon: Family

This is a FAMILY shrine, with wedded couple, baby holding small worry doll, auto, Tia Frida at the side and O. L. of Guadalupe watching over all. There may be more items from Silver Crow, but for sure, the magnifying globe over Our Lady of Guadalupe's face and the wee candle (came in a shrine kit, I think). Measurements are 5 1/2" high x 4 1/2" wide.

Jamie Dunn: Work in Progress - Frida's Garden & Milagro Cross

I used vintage and new milagros, and your turquoise fabric to make this 8 1/2 X 13 1/2 large box shrine. My shrine has been a work in progress as I continue to add milagros to the cross, and I fashioned my own Frida's garden out of your lovely fabric! The cross is the cover of my box and it's very portable, allowing me to take my shrine wherever I go!

Jessie Thomas: Crow Evolution - First Prize (Large)

"Crow - Evolution" is 5 1/2" by 7 3/4", and it is 2 1/2" deep. It's made from a wooden cigar box. There are a couple of Silver Crow products in it. The watch parts and spring, the bit of paper that reads, "Talisman Mano Poderosa," and the large claw the Crow is perched on all came from you guys.

I believe the musical paper that the Crow itself was cut from also came in a grab-bag of ephemera.

Laurel Sparks: Gnome of Last Resort Shrine

I built this one out of a salt cod box, and from Silver Crow I added the nodding head figure and the silver paper cut-outs of tools, the watch parts, and the silver trim in the back. This was a present for my husband, who is a geology lab manager and ends up fixing a lot of things around work and home. It’s a running joke for us that the larger machines at work (some of them very large) come with gnomes to set them up or help repair them. The dimensions are 7 x 4” (9 x 4”, including the whiskey), and this hangs in the basement by my husband’s work bench.

Laurel Sparks: San Pasquale Nicho Shrine

This is actually a nicho that you sell, but I dressed it up with—since he’s in the kitchen—vegetables, cheeses, pizza, a bottle of Corona, measuring spoons and other utensils, and some flowers (including a red rose that he’s holding), etc. And a little mouse. The measurements are 9 x 8 ¼”, and from Silver Crow I had the original San Pasquale nicho, the trim on the little shelf (I think the popsicle stick that the shelf is made of is from you), and the little icon that’s above the stove. There may be more, but I stuffed so many things in there . . . it hangs in our own kitchen.

Liz Petro: My Shrine

My shrine, though you can't see the whole thing in this pic. The window is 5 inches wide by 7 inches tall. I used 2 Silver Crow coffins, and the golden heart. I put two empty cocoons & 2 butterfly people in it to symbolize life after death. My shrine from a distance, w/ cross, it's 12 and a half inches tall.

Maureen Null: The Other Little One

This little one is 5 by 5 inches.

Maureen Null: Frida

This one is 10 by 8 inches.

Sherry Scott: Frida Kahlo Inspirational Shrine

10"x7"x6" Mexican style Folk Art SELF-PORTRAITS

Metal pan riveted onto wood base. Highly embellished and découpaged with color photos of Frida's self-portraits and black & white photos of Frida herself.

The color photos of her portrait paintings are placed in the circle of bottle caps in chronological order going clockwise from the top right. You can definitely see how brutally honest Frida was about her own appearance as she paints her aging changes.

I've added the dates on the back of the shrine along with other information and Frida's quote regarding painting herself so much. "I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone; because I am the person I know best."

All of the black & white photos are of Frida through the years including as a young child. Her husband, Diego Rivera, features prominently in many of her photos.

I've used ceramic skull beads, rough glass tiles, photos, sequins, paint, metal findings, a milagro cross, a red glass heart, metal skeleton hands, a variety of woven trims, red metal roses and paper flowers.

On the back there is a description and chronological display of Frida's self-portraits.

I love this piece and I'm VERY tempted to keep it!

All of art pieces are handmade and signed by the artist (Sherry), SheMakeR - Available in her Etsy Store

Valerie Kravette: Desk Shrine

Saw your challenge and had to dust this off, altho' it's a few years old. I used your Los Mestizos Shrine in a Box kit, the Virgin of Guadalupe. I used quite a few items in the kit and added only paint, some rhinestones and the prayer on the doors. This lives on my desk next to my computer. Sacred objects tend to migrate in and out of the niche, but the glow-in-the-dark Mary seems to be a permanent resident. Dimensions: Roughly 6 1/2" by 4 1/2'' and 2 1/4" deep

Not Entered But Posted to SilverCrow's Facebook Page! (LIKE us, please)

Bethany Nickolas Royston: Jesus

The Jesus sticker is SilverCrow & so is the tiny rosary, these are some I made a while back.

Bethany Nickolas Royston: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Posting a few just to share not for the contest the Mary decal on the left is SilverCrow

Bethany Nickolas Royston: Mary & Jesus

This Mary & Baby Jesus are from a SilverCrow card

Cate AMador: The Cat & The Moon

This is made from an old watch case, acrylics, glass glitter, beads, and vintage jewelry, and a photograph of one of our happily adopted shelter cats.

Not an entry for the shrine contest, but I wanted to post this in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Slainte!

Prizes