Life is a Journey! By Alison Hall

That's certainly true! Hi! Alison here! Thank you Jennie & Hels for giving me my first ever guest designer opportunity! And what fabulous stamps I've had to play with! For my first piece, I chose to use Jennie's wonderful new Inspiration Light Bulbs. I thought they'd make great hot air balloons. And, to carry on the steampunk theme, I used the Cogs Background, and also the Calligraphic mat and the Punk Plaid Background.




Here are the instructions for my frame

1. Paint a Shadowbox with Gesso, then spread Ferro all around the frame of it. Stamp into the wet Ferro with the Cogs Background & the Caligraphic Mat. Make sure you wet your stamps when you do this, and clean them thoroughly straight afterwards.

2. While the box is drying, make the metal inlay. This is a piece of Ten Seconds Studio silver sheet metal, embossed with the TSS Kabuka Mould 7. Age it with Pitch Black Dabber, use Ultramarine Stazon to colour it, then add highlights with Orange Inka Gold.

3. Back to the Shadowbox. Once it is dry, sponge Azure Precious Metal Paint all over it, including the cavity. Add highlights to the stamped areas with Silver PM Paint and Orange Inka Gold. Once the paint is dry,adhere the metal inlay into the cavity, using red line tape.



4. To make the 'balloons' and sentiment embellishments, make a 'tape sandwich' with silver metal, humungo tape & black card. Stamp two of the Blank Lightbulbs, the Punk Plaid Background, & the phrase 'All of Life is a Journey' onto the metal, with Black Stazon.

5. Cut out the two Lightbulbs, then stamp one with the Cogs Background, & the other with the Caligraphic Mat. Use a TSS embossing tool to highlight the detail, then the TSS Micro Diagonal wheel around the edges.



6. Cut two basket shapes from the Punk Plaid Background, then emboss them with the TSS tools. Attach the baskets to the 'balloons' with short lengths of silver wire.

7. Cut out the phrase and emboss the edges of this with the TSS wheel tool. Rub a little of the Orange Inka Gold onto all of the metal embellishments, then curve them all slightly before gluing them to the frame with silicone glue.

8. To finish the frame, add a few pieces of Tim Holtz Ideaology.

I hope you like this piece - and thank you for looking!

Alison