Challenges Entry: Life

Dearly beloved,

We are gathered here today

To get through this thing called LIFE.

- Prince

A little musical introduction for a piece I'm calling "Life".  Entering this into three challenges out there in blog land:

• Studio L3's Grungy Monday #16:  Grunge Paper or Grunge Board
• Simon Says Stamp & Show Some Embossing
• Gingersnap Creations GC110: Spicy Supply Challenge - Gears, Cogs & Watch Bits

The Details:

Where to begin?  I'll try to hit just the highlights and not bore you!

• I started with a thick piece of cardboard, painted it with copper acrylic paint (just rubbed it on with a make-up sponge), then I used clear embossing powder with a crackle background stamp.  Once the embossing was cool, I rubbed black antiquing gel over the entire surface, waited for it to dry and used a paper towel to remove the gel from the clear embossed areas.  I then sprayed the whole surface with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist, with a heavier application to the corners.

The embossed crackle background.

• The Life image is pieced in four layers.  Each layer was adhered to scrap cardboard (cereal boxes).  The base layer is the whole image.  Second layer is just the woman and bird.  Third layer is the biggest flower in her hair, the bird, and her lower hand and wrap.  Fourth layer is the smaller part of the flower in her hair.  The edges of each layer were colored with Old Paper and Vintage Photo DI before being glued down.
• To steam punk things up, I made a little top hat for our bird friend out of Grunge Paper.  It is colored with StazOn Jet Black, then the band and highlights were created using a white gel pen.  I then sprayed it in gold PP mist and antiqued it with Vintage Photo DI. 

Here you can see the built-up layers. 
The poppy in her hair is embellished with a TH gear, metal foliage, and some Walnut Stain Distress Stickles.
In addition to the Grunge Paper top hat, the bird is embellished with Old Paper Distress Stickles 

• The clock face is also made from Grunge Paper.  I used several layers of paint (Cornsilk Yellow, Metallic Gold, Metallic Copper, Black Antiquing Gel) to create a semi-metallic face, then distressed it with Vintage Photo DI and Walnut Stain Distress Stickles.  I used Glossy Accents to give the hands dimension.

• The rest was layering up the gears and charms, adding the sentiment, adding touches of Distress Stickles and Glossy Accents, and then a final layer of PP Heirloom Gold mist.

Supplies:
Paper: TH Grunge Paper, scrap background paper
Stamps: SU! Crackle background; TH ‘Life’s Possibilities’
Inks: Top Boss embossing ink; DI ‘Vintage Photo’, ‘Old Paper’; StazOn ‘Jet Black’; Glaze pen ‘white’; Folk Art acrylic ‘666 Metallic Antique Copper’, ‘660 Metallic Pure Gold’; Delta ‘Black Antiquing Gel’; Delta acrylic paint ‘Cornsilk Yellow’
Embellishments: clear embossing powder; Perfect Pearls Mist ‘Heirloom Gold’; Glossy Accents; Distress Stickles ‘Walnut Stain’, ‘Old Paper’; TH corners; TH swivel clasp; TH mini paper clip; K&Co. keys metal art; TH foliage; glass beads; TH gears; brads; TH jump rings
Tools: heat gun; make-up sponge; embossing powder tray; foam ink blending tool; TH paper distresser; emery board; hammer; foam tape; glue dots; needle nose pliers; hole punch
Misc: cardboard