Peace on earth

I got so much enjoyment out of creating this altered globe; it was a project I'd been planning to do for years, and the globe I'd bought at a thrift store for it almost didn't survive my great craft room clean-out this summer!  At the last minute I grabbed it back from the discard pile, and now I'm happy I did.

As I told you in my last post, I started by covering the entire globe with vintage dictionary pages.  Over those, I glued strips of sheet music here and there; then I added pieces of vintage French ledger pages and some of my favorite wallpapers.

I worked on this over several evenings, after dinner.  In between, I searched my craft room for ephemera to add; I didn't want to use clip art or pictures that would become a focal point on the globe, but instead bits and pieces to create one collaged background -- neutral, but with pops of color.

I made a point to put on some inspiring words.

And I used some of my favorite scraps -- some of which I've held on to for years!  Like this bird motif...

Blue Chip stamps that my mother used to save...

canceled German stamps...

part of a bookplate...

pages from several editions one of my favorite books...

and motifs I love, like feathers and keys.

I also added fancy cigar and cologne labels -- all vintage -- and anything else made of paper that struck my fancy.

As I added layers, the paper crinkled and wrinkled, which didn't bother me at all.  I didn't even try to get it completely smooth.

Over all of the paper I did some stamping in black and brown inks, and dabbed on shiny gold paint.

Just before covering it all with gel medium, I added the word PEACE twice.

I looked high and low for these letters, literally spending at least 20 minutes combing the aisles at Hobby Lobby to find just what I'd envisioned.  They were hiding, but I finally found them:

Here's what the package looks like in case you're interested; I bought a load of fun craft supplies that day, and, I used a gift card that was a Christmas surprise from a dear creative soul, which made it all the more special!

Globes are hard to photograph well -- but I did my best, and, you get the idea!