We Can't All Be Saints

When I first saw the Nun Licking Gun stamp I giggled a lot, and then immediately thought of a way to incorporate this stamp into a silly project, using a lot of up-cycled materials and ephemera I have hanging around my studio.  

   I started with a large shipping tag, and used some old book pages from a religious text, that had been thrown into a bin outside the library that I work at. I tore the pages into strips, and added them to the tag horizontally, adhering with a craft and hobby glue. When the glue had dried, I added splashes and flicks of aqua and Caribbean blue paint, and dried it with my craft dryer. I took Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Teal, and sprayed it twice onto my craft mat. I then used a paintbrush to paint the ink onto the edges of the tag, and to add a few splashes cross the tag.

   

  Before adding my ephemera, I stamped with Momento ink in Tuxedo Black , using the cracked background and Stars 2 x 2 1/4 stamps, to add a little pizazz. 

 

                                            

When the stamping was finished, I cut the beautiful saint ephemera from a book, and layered it along the right side of the tag, embellishing with wing, upcycled jewelry piece, and feathers on top of a strip of text that has been pleated and sprayed with color shine in teal.

Finally, I added the image that changed the whole tone of the project, the nun with a gun, which was stamped using black ink, and embossed, using ultra high gloss embossing powder. To draw attention to the image, I elevated it using foam adhesive, and added a strip of trim, and a stamped and cut star pin image, along with a hanging coin.

In the end, I have a project that's not meant to offend, but certainly has a lot of sass, to counter the lovely and saintly ephemera art.  

Thanks for having a look today, and grab your tag, and get to stamping! 

~Amy

www.sparklinggnome.com

Supply List:
Viva Las VegaStamps! Stamps:
Nun Licking Gun, Star Pin, Cracked Background,  Stars 2 x 2 1/4
Ink and Embossing Powder, found in the Viva Las VegaStamps! store: Momento Ink in Tuxedo Black, High Gloss Embossing Powder
Tag: Uline
Metal Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology, Bead Landing, vintage
Lace Trim: Gauche Alchemy
Ribbon, Gold Cord, feathers: from my stash