life observed

Hi everyone, I am here today to share a masculine card I created, that was inspired by Elton John's "Your Song." There are a number of challenges this month that are based on music; as I was working on an idea I had for manipulating the Tim Holtz vintage globe die, to use on a birthday card for a very special man, this Elton John song kept repeating in my head. I have to admit, I am a music lover, any and all types can grab my attention. It's as common to find me listening to BB King or Patsy Cline as it would be Skrillex, Martin Garrix, U2 or Pearl Jam. I don't; however, often listen to Elton - the fact that this song was constantly on my mind, was how I knew the direction this piece was going to take.

My initial intent was to create a three-dimensional surface on the globe, that would be held by a "metal" axis and armillary. To create this, I die cut the globe multiple times out of a heavy weight multi media paper. On one of the globes, I used texture paste to create "topography" on the areas representing land  within the globe. Once dry this paste was colored with various distress inks to accentuate the highs and lows. These pieces were carefully cut out to be adhered to the final globe construction. On a different globe, I inked the areas, designated as water, lightly with iced spruce distress ink and coated them with fractured ice embossing powder. This was melted with a heat gun and set aside to cool. Using an exact-o knife, I carefully cut out the "water" areas and "inlaid" these onto the globe that had the land masses. I removed the axis and base from another die cut and heat embossed it with Emerald Creek charred gold embossing powder (a long time favorite of mine.)

These pieces were then adhered to a full die cut. This globe is the focal point of my card cover.

I coated one of the new paper dolls, with embossing ink and sprinkled it with vintage beeswax Baked Texture. This step was repeated 3 times to give it a rich, vintage look.  The vintage boy rests seemingly on the armillary.

Next, I set out to create the perfect background for my centerpiece. I was fortunate recently to be the lucky winner of a Frilly and Funkie challenge hosted by the Funkie Junkie Boutique. I was able to use my "winnings" to acquire some of the newest release of distress oxide inks. What a wonderful addition of colors to my palette! I am so grateful for this prize. I layered aged mahogany, forest moss, tattered rose and bundled sage distress oxides onto a large sheet of bristol. When I was happy with the results, I flicked distress resist spray onto the background and coated it with more of the charred gold powder. Once the resist spray had dried, I heat set the embossing powder. This piece was cut to an 8" square. Using the lattice pattern from mixed media dies, I cut the bottom corner.  In the upper right corner, I used a coordinating stencil to layer the lattice pattern onto the background with forest moss distress oxide. Using a brayer I coated a script stamp with antique linen distress paint and randomly stamped the background. I inked all the edges with forest moss distress ink.

The inked panel was layered over a piece of heavyweight dark green card, which was then layered over a piece of card embossed all around the edges with charred gold. All three of of these layers sit above a piece of chipboard covered with burlap. 

The wording on the panel was selected from my stash of bits and pieces. The "how" industrious stickers were colored with botanical alcohol ink; "wonderful" was die cut from alphanumeric dies; "life is" was created with alpha tiles; "that" uses label letters;  "you're" are vintage scrabble pieces; "in my" is a portion of a quote chip, and the "world" letters are typography pieces that were painted with antique linen distress paint and inked with forest moss distress ink.  

I realize that the wording of my card does not exactly match with the song lyrics:" how wonderful life is while you're in the world" but I feel that my version works perfectly for the purpose of the card.

 Once the panel was complete I adhered it to a square, heavyweight card base I cut from bristol board. I hope that the recipient realizes how much it means to me that they're in my life. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by the blog. 

I wish you a day filled with creativity!

~Ann 

I am entering this in: 

Emerald Creek Dares: Guy Style 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Inspired By A Song

A Vintage Journey: Words and Music