Nelson Loves Millie

This is the story of Nelson and Millie, who are on their honeymoon in Paris in 1946.  

They met while he was serving in the second World War, stationed in England. 

She was a refugee

 from France, where she had been a cabaret singer prior to the occupation by Nazi Germany June 14, 1940. 

 I cannot imagine what this must have felt like.....just as I cannot imagine now the suffering of the thousands of political refugees still trying to escape Syria and other notorious homelands. 

But back to Nelson and Millie..... this is my tag for Tim's February challenge.  

I started by staining a #10 manila tag with Tumbled Glass stain, and drying.  Then I used the stencil technique described by Mr. Holtz, using Peacock Feathers and his fabulous Flourish stencil.  I do not yet have the mini version, but I did use the larger version thrice horizontally as he describes to cover my tag.

I love, love, love the watercolor effects of this technique!!  Even though this stencil has large areas of stencil material, it still registers beautifully as a watercolor.  I chose this because I envision Nelson and Millie ensconced in a lovely Paris hotel, with gorgeous wallpaper!  

I distressed the edges with Frayed Burlap DI, and then I sponged on some Pumice Stone DI through the Harlequin stencil....I don't have a picture because I moved right onto my image.

I had thought to use a very sweet image from the Passport Photos collection, but I did not like how the left side of the image cut off the potential Millie's face....even though I adore the couple.  So I went online, and located the image I used.... printing it on regular copy paper at 90% of the original.  This size cut off the gorgeous velvet brocade curtains on the right of Millie, and the fact that she is actually sitting on a faux Roman pedestal... but I wanted the detail for their faces, and also to eliminate the evidence of Nelson's lit cigarette!

Now to the frame.  I made this by using two nested dies, and one of my mop-up tags from this.  I also cut a small heart lock from a Sizzix lock and key collection from the same tag, as well as the little Movers and Shapers Eiffel Tower.   Not the right color, I know - but trying to keep to the color schematic here, lol!  The heart lock represents the now discontinued Love Bridge...imagine 45 tons!!! 

I used some left-over letters from the same previous piece, using the coppered-colored card, and as "N" and "M" were there.... well, you can see where this went with the names!

Next, I applied Ranger texture paste with the small Valentine sentiment stencil, and added some detailed copper embossing powder - got a little messy on the "adore", but better on the "you and me".

Last, I made a bow from seam binding spritzed with Tumbled Glass Spray Stain, and then aged with a new Prima powder specifically designed for this purpose.

And here is the finished piece.

Thank you so much for visiting.... and if you've time, please do leave a comment!  I love hearing your thoughts! And PS - I am reluctant to put on the new craft sheet from Santa, since this one still works even though it is a bit scrungy.  I did get some oven liners per Lisa's suggestion... now I just need to clear everything off to put them in place, lol!! 

xxx Lynn