Steampunk Christmas Ornament

Hello and welcome! Have you ever had something in your possession that almost drives you to re-make it? I've had an ornament in my bin of things to 're-make someday' for years now. When I saw the Recycle challenge at Simon Says Stamp, I felt a little sad I didn't have the time to play along. But I allowed myself a couple of sinful hours to play in my Closet this afternoon, and I pulled this from the top of the bin. How it worked it's way to the top is beyond me, but I do believe it was calling to be re-cycled into steampunk decor from the moment I picked it up.

Here's the drab ornament as it started. My original thought was to give it a quick face-lift with a wreath made with die cuts and a cute Tim Holtz deer. But when I removed the existing wreath and tag, and I saw the maker's stab at RUST. From there the ornament practically re-made itself. I was just a person with the mixed media goodies and the hands to put them on it.

  I pulled out my long neglected gears box, and it chose which ones it wanted to be decorated with.

And a little baggie of mini's salvaged from God only knows what spilled out, and it chose a few items to add.

A little over an hour had passed, and it helped me magically transform this ho-hum ornament into a Steampunk stand-alone decor piece. Prima's rust pastes and some other paint in my stash provide the background for it's chosen elements. I also re-cycled a link from an already rusted length of chain to hang my altered bell with a rusty nail I found in my toolbox. The bell was altered with black crackle paint that doesn't crackle anymore, Steampunk Copper paint and antiquing cream. I used the antiquing cream throughout the design to pull all the random pieces together.

The cog die cut from Tim Holtz Gadget Gears Bigz was leftover from a project I did several years ago, and I don't remember what I used to alter it. The little brass toned instruments were removed from the broken dangly ornament in the mini's baggie and altered with black gesso and more of the copper paint. Merry was a die cut scrap of Metallic Kraft Stock I found in the Holiday Words #2 envelope. I probably used the letters for another project, and thought this might come in handy some day. I embossed it with the Foundry Folder, sanded it and used Rust Alcohol ink and Smolder Alcohol Pearl to color it.

Here's that foursome of tiny nutcrackers from the mini's bag all lined up along the bottom. You can see I backed the ornament with a scrap of Abandoned paper stash I had on my desk.

I hope you like my re-cycled project! Thanks for stopping by and have a great week ahead! Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate! Sara Emily

Challenge shares:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Recycle

SanDee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenges: Winter Special Challenge

Bleeding Art November Challenge - Anything Goes

We Love 2 Create at Polkadoodles Challenge #11 - Anything Goes Mixed Media

Scrapy Land Challenge #126 Anything Goes  I used 2 Sizzix dies.