Gear it up

Hello everyone!

Over at Sandee and amelie's steampunk challenge the challenge this month is -

Gear it up!
 Stamped, embossed, drawn, painted, real, die cut, chipboard, stencilled,....well, gears of any sort you can think of are what we want to see with any projects you can think of - and not only two or three added in a corner here and there for further embellishment! Gears should be one of the main parts of your creations

I didn't really know what direction to go in with this - it is pretty simple isn't it? Just add Gears - to anything...

But sometimes being given a free choice to go wherever you choose can be trickier than a very direct challenge. In the end I decided it would be more fun to sit and play - see what develops and go from there...

So I got a piece of card and I grabbed a gears stencil  (get the challenge requirement in right at the start!) I dabbed over the gears stencil with Picket Fence DP.

When this was dry I blended Frayed Burlap and Pumice Stone DI over the card.

Then I began to use some stamps from the Industrial Backgrounds Artistic Outpost set over the card using Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap DI.

I then used Coffee Archival ink on other stamps from the set - this time choosing the gears and a mechanical blueprint stamp.

A script stamp from Artistic Outpost French Flight set.

My favourite script stamp was stamped with Potting Soil Archival ink

So now the background was done....where to go with it now?

It was beginning to look very mechanical (of course!) and with the faded sepia look it was needing to be vintage...I was looking for a modern twist too....I was also now bringing in clocks as well as gears....finding a clock face in my metal collection and a clock sticker in the Salvage Stickers set....now I seemed to be looking at a Time Travel creation.....

Suddenly I remembered that I hadn't used any of the Found Relatives cards that I had been given at Christmas. Hunting through them I found the perfect photo. After cutting around the person and colouring the cut white edges with Frayed Burlap DI I stuck him onto the card....

    Now all that was needed was the collection of gears.....

  .....and a few metal corners....

..... and a final addition...the words from the chit chat stickers - "Voyage through time" stuck onto the clock and outlined with Pumice Stone Distress marker...

     Please come over and see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you!

       Hope you will come along and join in the fun!

Happy Crafting

Laura xxx