The Scarlet Red Letter?!?

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you were able to sleep in! I didn't have that luxury today, but no biggie because I have thoroughly enjoyed my time getting creatively inky, or should I say stained? My fingers have been stained red for 3 days now. Every time I scrub them clean, I see that I need to touch something up in this scarlet little letter I have created for some challenges.  The wonderful people at Simon Says Stamp and Show are having an open interpretation challenge of "a red letter day". The entries so far  have wonderful views of a red letter day, which by the way is defined as any day of special significance.
Well...when I initially read the theme for this challenge I immediately revisited an old memory of having to read Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in high school. A book I loved, and that has probed my differing judgements over and over, as the years have molded me. It just so happened as well, that I had a paper mache letter "a". Coincidence? Nope! Anita...Adulterer...both begin with "A", but are NOT synonymous people!!! It's just poetic! So I had to go with it, and create my "red letter day", or shouldn't I say "scarlet"? I am also submitting this to Blogger's Challenge for "wings and things", Gingersnap Creations for the spicy supply challenge of "ribbon", and two new sites to me, the Artistic Stamper challenge for "vintage", and The Stamp Man Challenge "use red", both of which happen to be across the pond...so cool!!!

The letter was given a coat of Barn Door Distress Stain. I had to use a paint brush to get in the tight spaces.

The letter was covered with Tissue Tape.

The letter was then stained with Barn Door and Fired Brick.

A very heavy coat of Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint coated the front and back of the letter. After it dried, I used Gathered Twigs to ink the edges and some of the cracks. Finally, a layer of Gesso was added to the entire letter to seal everything in and prevent flaking. I loved the way this came out.

The top pair of wings are what the bottom pair originally looked like. I paint them with Snow Cap Acrylic Dabber then with Gold, sort of going in stripes so there would be contrast. After it dried, I gave it a heavy layer of Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint. When that dried, I coated it with Distress Embossing Ink and UTEE, and used a heat gun to emboss it. I added hinges with brads, that I distressed with Jet Black Acrylic Dabber.

Finials, ribbon, paper lace, pearl scrolls, paper roses, pearls, metal leafs, and the cameo were added, along with attached wings.

I adhered the cameo into an ornate frame to create this, as well as added the crown to the cameo.

 

Supplies:

Ranger:  Acrylic Paint Dabber in Pitch Black (distress metal), Snow Cap (wings), Gold (wings); Inkssentials- Glossy Accents; Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)

Tim Holtz:  Alterations Sizzix Dies- Vintage Lace; Idea-ology- Tissue Tape in Music Notes, Baubles, Ruler Ribbon, Ornate Frame, Brads; Distress Ink- Gathered Twigs, Embossing Ink; Distress Stain- Barn Door, Fired Brick; Distress Crackle Paint- Clear Rock Candy

Liquitex: Clear Gesso

Prima: Say It In Pearls, Paper Roses

Vintaj: Tiered Leaves Art Metal

Artchix Studio: Crown

From My Stash: Paper Mache Letter A; Cameo; Finials (from broken lamps); Hindges

For The Blogger's Challenge, this is a blog hop. Let's keep it going! Click on the next entry to move on! Thanks for viewing mine!

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!