Peace on Earth

Recently I was inspired by a very talented artist and a recent project she posted on Instagram.  She goes by the name of "aidaville" . If you haven't checked out her photos you should because her projects are nothing short of amazing. Such an inspiration!  She made this project below and it spoke to me in so many ways. The use of texture, colour and layers is just gorgeous. If I received something like this I would treasure it forever. Beautiful work Aidaville. 

So she inspired me to create this canvas.

I couldn't get that globe die by Tim Holtz out of my head!! It spoke to me ... Like almost literally. Today I had a moment about 3/4 of the way through creating this and I just went ... Ahhhhh. You know that moment where you are working on something and all the planets seem to align and you get that deep down, in the deepest part of your soul, feeling like this is what you were put on this earth to do? Yes that happened to me today. I was excited and just plain happy and I'll tell you what made me have that moment. 

I had completed it up until the point where all my pieces were adhered down. All I had left to do was add the bling and by bling I mean the little bird and the gem at the bottom right. I placed them where I wanted them but I felt that something was still missing. I need another darker coloured item to balance out the canvas. I searched through my metal stash and there it was. The "believe" token. That was my ah ha moment. Don't we all believe and wish that someday there will be peace across the earth? I hope for that each day. I believe that we all have the power to reach that peace if we all believe together. This world would be so much more fabulous if we just got along. The chain on the token is my hope that we will one day break that chain of despair, fighting and hate. 

So this was my "peace" so to speak. That one creation where I felt like all the classes I took (Maresa you're amazing), all the amazing crafty people that inspire me each and every day (Tim Holtz,  Aidaville, Heidi Swapp to name a few) and my mojo all came together onto this canvas. Today I am proud that I broke through my chains and was able to create this. So enough of my rambling here is how I did it.

I started out with a pre painted silver canvas. First I did some distressing around the edge of the canvas with my file. 

Then I drew on some Ground Espresso marker around the edges and smudged it in. 

I stamped some TH Snowflakes on the background using a combination of Versamark Cloud white chalk ink and Versamarked and Embossed clear silver powder.

I added some Range distress crackle paint in various places using my palette knife. 

I put that aside to dry. 

Next I used my TH Handwritten Holiday 1 stamp set to stamp the "Peace on Earth" sentiment on a piece of vellum. You will notice that the layout of the stamp is different than how it comes. I'm going to say this really quietly " I cut the words apart" Eeeeks!! First time doing that ... I blame another designer for that idea ... Not saying names!!! I laid out my newly cut stamps onto a clear block and stamped on vellum using Versamark. I added detail white embossing powder over top and applied my heat gun to set. Next I cut out my flag freehand around the sentiment.

I cut out the globe using a paper that is good for alcohol inks. Sorry I'm not sure the brand but most craft stores have this paper available. 

Next I applied a mixture Distress Stains to my craft mat. I used Brushed Pewter. Crushed Olive and Peacock Feathers. Once I tapped it on there I added water with my Mini Mister and swirled through it a bit with my palette knife to blend the colours just a little bit.

I took my globe cut out and literally put it face down onto the ink on my mat. I tapped it in the ink until my globe was all coloured. Put that aside to dry.  Once dried I applied a layer of Versamark and Clear Chunky Deep Impression Embossing powder and heat set it to dry. 

I inked the edges of the globe with Frayed Burlap distress ink and my sponge tool. 

Using my Distress Stains I again covered my craft may with colour this time adding in Iced Spruce as well. Once the colour was down I spritzed it with water using my Mini Mister. I gave it a lot of water because I wanted to place a full 9 x 12 sheet of watercolor paper on it to absorb all the ink and I wanted the whole sheet to be full of color. You end up having to lift up the sheet and place it back down to make sure the whole sheet is covered with color. 

I put the sheet aside to dry. 

From my Tim Holtz Merriment paper stash I cut out the Santa image. I put some Peack Feathers distress stain over the image to give it a blue hue. I dried it with my heat gun. Then I took a Tim

Holtz fragment and covered one side with Glossy Accents and placed it over top of the Santa image making sure I had no air bubbles between the fragment and the paper. Put aside to dry.

Taking my sheet of dried watercolored paper I cut out the foliage with my Tim

Holtz Alterations Festive Grennery die. 

Assembly time. 

My first placement was of the Peace on Earth flag. I put a piece of Sookwang tape along the left edge and applied it to my canvas (attachment nag the flag pole from below first. Next I waved the flag so it lifted near the middle. I put a pop down down where I wanted the flag to attach to the canvas. I cut out a flag pole from Tim Holtz frosted plastic sheets. I inked the edges a bit with my foam applicator and Peacock Feathers ink pad. I also did this on the flag. 

I randomly adhered my cut out foliage pieces around the flag. You will notice some funky little stars on my project. These are by My Favorite Things and are called Die-Namics Lucky Stars. This company really does have some of My Favorite Things"! I cut those out of a silver card stock. All my pieces were glued down using 3D Crystal Laquer. Glossy Accents is also a wonderful project to use.

Next I applied pop dots to my globe and set it in place. Then I glued down my fragment. I added a bit more foliage around the globe and fragment.

Lastly I took my believe token and applied white and Broken China paint to the token to get it into the grooves of the words and numbers. The excess paint on top of the token can just be wiped away leaving the paint in the recesses of the token. 

I took some seam binding ribbon and inked it up with my 3 colours of distress stain (same as above). I gave it a bit of heat with my heat gun to dry. I attached the token and chain to my ribbon. Lastly I took a hat pin from Prima and attached the ribbon piece to my canvas. I just poked it right through my canvas and put a piece of tape acros the back to secure it. I did have to bend the pin a bit so it was not sticking straight out from the canvas. 

Lastly, I applied my little gem, also from Prima to the bottom right. 

My apologies for my lack of photos this time. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. 

Well thank you for stopping by and I hope this project inspires you like Aidaville's did to me. Don't forget that each one of us has the power to do something great each and every day. Whether it's smiling at a stranger or sharing what inspires you with the world we all have a chance to bring kindness and hopefully one day peace on earth. 

Cheers,

Michelle