Try It On Tuesday

The  new theme at Try It On Tuesday is 'Crowning Glory'. You can find the details of the challenge here and also see the fabulous samples the Design team have created! 
One of my heroines is Eleanor of Aquitaine. We are off to Poitiers  to see my (ex)sister-in-law and her husband! Eleanor  was married to Henry II in beautiful Poitiers Cathedral. She was placed into a tomb at Fauntrevaud Abbey and we were taken there last time we visited.

I started my journal page by coating it with black gesso - scary!!!
Once I started to use my stencils with an old Adirondack Copper paint and white pearly ink it began to look better.

I used a Sheena Douglas crackle stamp in the parts around the edges.
I wanted to include a picture of the abbey but decided to use another Sheena Douglas stamp. The Abbey was one of the biggest in France and was unique in that it was run by women! Eleanor gave a lot of financial support.

I stamped the door onto tissue and added it to my page using Multi Media Matte gel.
The image of Eleanor is from the internet and is from an original mediaeval painting.

I added some hinges using the bronze paint. The words(from TH idea-ology small talk) were edged with the same paint. 
The words seemed so appropriate as she was a very determined woman -  she married a French King but failed to produce an heir so the marriage was annulled and she married Henry but sadly ended up being imprisoned by him at Winchester castle(we visited the castle but could find no reference of her)and several others around the country. Two of her sons, Richard I and John became Kings of England and Eleanor returned to France and spent the rest of her life at the abbey. 
For Eleanor's name I used the French version - around the Poitiers area there are plenty of mentions of her as this was where the royal court was held.

I edged the whole page with Copper too!

I hope you will join us this time, as you will see if you pop over! My teamies have made a real variety of projects!

Thanks for looking , Chris