Steampunk Junkie!!

So I think it's official... I am addicted to steampunk! I love everything about it, the colors, the leather, the gears... all of it makes me smile! I started thinking of what I could make next in this style and a large tag kept coming to mind. And this is what I made... a perfect marriage of Tim Hotlz and Graphic 45.

I started with a 4.5" x 6" piece of mat board. I ran it through the cuttlebug in the patchwork folder. Whew! That was a serious workout for my arm. I thought my cuttlebug was going to break! (I am building my case for a Vagabond for my birthday!) 

I painted both sides of the tag with Lumiere "Halo blue gold" acrylic paint. If you have never used this paint you seriously need to grab some the next time you are at the craft store! It goes on like butter and is absolutely gorgeous when dry! After the paint dried I sponged on some copper and gold mixative  alcohol inks. For the front of the tags I lightly brushed my soot distress ink pad over the embossing. It gave it a nice aged patina look. I didn't use it on the back. I liked the way it looked all shiny and new on the back of the tag!

I made a corset from two pieces of paper, small gold eyelets and hemp string. I only glued down the sides and bottom of the papers so I could add a note or anything else into the "pocket" it made. I used G45 butterflies along the bottom edge of the tag and topped those with a black flowered lace trim. 

I cut a winged light bulb also from the G45 Steampunk Debutante papers and added it with pop dots. I used crackle accents on the light bulb. I added different gears along the trim and clock hands I cut out of chipboard with the TH clock face die. I inked them and embossed them with clear embossing powder.

And what's a great tag if it isn't paired with a chunky charm?! I used black, teal, brown, and cream beads along with different metal beads and gears. A timepiece charm, keys, a pen nib and a fragment charm I made with another piece of the G45 paper.

Do you have a style or technique that you can't get enough of lately?

I am entering this tag in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Tag It! 

Thanks for looking!