Time for Love!

Here's a wall-hanging that used my left-over hearts from last week's Stampotique Designers Challenge. Actually, truth be told, I had this project in mind when I started to die-cut and emboss foil-covered cardstock hearts.

If you visit here, you know I love all things Steampunk and also love birds. This wall-hanging brings together both loves and is also seasonally inspired.

Here it is!

This card features Special Delivery*, a Steampunk parrot, who is one of the five stamps included in SCACD's fabulous MechAnimals rubber stamp set. He was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto Neenah cardstock, colored, then cut out using micro-tip scissors and my handy-dandy Fiskar's Fingertip-Control Swivel Kraft knife. When I was done, a black Big Brush pen was used to edge the piece so that unsightly white would not show. Clear Gelly Roll Glaze pen was added to his beak and talons to add dimension and shine. He was set aside while I worked on the rest of the piece.

I used a 5" x 7" flat canvas as my substrate. A piece of hoarded clock-patterned cardstock by Imaginisce was painted with Snowflake Fresco Finish Acrylic paint by Paper Artsy because I wanted to neutralize the background yet keep the clocks. Claudine Helmuth Studio Multi-Medium was used to adhere the painted patterned cardstock to the canvas. SCACD's Contempo Compass Statement Corner and Alice's Clock Statement Corner dies were used to die-cut cardstock. These die-cuts were adhered to the upper left and lower right corners of the canvas.

Now it was time to paint! I had selected three different shades of blue Fresco Finish paints, but the shades that I had chosen were opaque. I wanted the clocks to show, so the paints were watered down a bit and then sponged randomly over the canvas and heat-set after each layer. When I was happy with the coverage, Chipped Sapphire and Salty Ocean Distress inks were sponged over a Clocks stencil by Prima and the Gears stencil by The Crafter's Workshop.

The next step was to brush Pewter and Rose Quartz Treasure Gold by Paper Artsy over the raised, painted corner die-cuts to make 'em pop. The canvas still needed something, so I searched through all my rub-ons and added the words "time" and "love" as well as some hearts.

Here's a photo of the painted, die-cut, guilded, and rubbed-on canvas. The eagle-eyed among you will find a mistake and a discrepancy between this photo and the finished piece.

To create the heart, I applied Flashing Tape to black cardstock, but you could just as easily use Inkssentials Silver Foil tape. Heart and Scalloped Heart Nestabilities dies by Spellbinders dies were used to die-cut the cardstock, then the plain heart took a ride through my Big Kick inside of an Alterations embossing folder. When it came out,  I painted it with Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany Distress paints, let the paint set for a minute, then wiped it off. The paint stayed in the debossed areas.

Since I love me some Steampunk, I collect watch parts, gears, and keys as well as a motherlode of Idea-ology Findings and Fasteners. Some of the colors were altered using Copic markers and/or paint. These bits and bobs were adhered to the heart using mini-brads and/or dimensional foam squares. The final step was to perch Special Delivery, the Steampunk parrot, upon the heart using foam tape.

Here are two close-ups so you can see the details.

*I neglected to mention that Special Delivery, SCACD's Steampunk parrot, is also available as a digital stamp! Here's a direct LINK to it, but while you're there, you should take a peek at all of SCACD's Digital stamps!

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this project in the following challenges!
• SanDee and amelie's Steampunk Challenges: Time Machine 
• The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Challenges: Use Distress
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges: Have a Heart