Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, 

 that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, 

 that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The title for this project obviously comes from this portion of the Declaration of Independence because I felt the things on this tag represented these three named unalienable Rights.  Patriotic decor stays up in my house all summer and only comes down after Patriot's Day on September 11th, so just because Independence Day is over, my patriotic decorating isn't. Sometimes I add to it here and there all summer as I get inspired. 

I started this project last year and never finished it after we got back from our vacation to Oregon. So I decided to finish it this week after Tim Holtz and Sizzix released the 3-D Star Trim.  It is one of my favorites!

Let's start out by discussing the gold stars and the gold specks in the background. I put transparent texture paste through the Star Layering Stencil THS008, then covered it with gold embossing powder, let it dry and then heat embossed it.

I then sprayed the tag with Distress Resist Spray and while it was still wet, I covered it with gold embossing powder and heated it. That's what made the little speckles of gold in the background.
The Quote Token I painted with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint and then wiped on and off some Black Soot Distress Paint and Picket Fence Distress Paint. I also painted the Ideaology Deco Frame the same way.

 I love these embossed Ideaology Lace Baseboard Frames. I painted it the same way I did all the metal Ideaology pieces. I painted the with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint and then wiped on and off some Black Soot Distress Paint. In the frame I put one of the new Ideaology Found Relatives. Aren't these ladies so happy and patriotic? I love them! I inked the photo, colored the flag and distressed it a little with some water spritzes.

 I started this Collage Frame last year. as well.

 I stamped the Stampers Anonymous Patchwork CMS256 stamp onto some plain Collage Paper with Archival Ink. I wanted to stamp it onto the Collage Frame, but it was too thick to be sure I could get it to stamp perfectly onto the surface. That's why I stamped it onto the collage paper instead.

 I also wanted to be sure I didn't mess up when I watercolored the image, so that is why I stamped it onto the Collage Paper several times.

 I watercolored them with Distress Markers and picked the one I liked the best to adhere to the Collage Frame.

I adhered it by putting a layer of Collage Medium onto the Collage Frame and then pressed the stamped collage paper onto it and allowed it to dry.

The frame was meant to go on to the tag, but before I did that, I covered the gold stars and gold specks with a layer of Picket Fence Distress Paint, then wiped it off.

This is where I had to stop last year and picked it up this year. I sealed the tag with Distress Collage Medium and then colored the tag with Fired Brick, Faded Jeans, and Walnut Stain Distress Oxide Spray. I love the soft color the oxides gave to the background on the tag. I added a little more color on top of it in a few places with some Distress Crayons.

I also Sprayed the entire Collage Frame with Distress Resist Spray and then sprayed it with Distress Oxide Spray in Antique Linen and tapped it off to soften the bright colors a bit.

 One of my favorite reasons I'm glad it took me a year to get this finished is because the 3-D Star Trim is available!! I LOVE this trim!  I added a few pieces to the Collage Frame and across the bottom of the Etcetera Tag. I cut the trim from Gold Metallic Kraftstock and then once it was embossed in the 3-D Impresslit, I rubbed a few drops of Black Soot Distress Paint onto it and then wiped it off so it gave it an aged metallic look.

 The Typography letters and the Ideaology Quote Chips I sprayed with Distress Resist Spray just like the Collage Frame and then I put Black Soot Distress paint on the top and wiped it off. I just wanted al l the white accents to have the same old, distressed look.

 I love all the different bits of aged gold accents in this piece! 

This will probably be the last of my patriotic projects for this year since I have several Halloween and Christmas projects to post this month. But it sure was great to get to finish this project that I'd had on hold  for a year, with some of the newest released Sizzix products!

Wishing you Life, Liberty, and Happiness,
Tami

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