When I first started my project, I didn't save my file on illustrator (I know) so of course the program crashed causing me to lose everything. BUT! Since it was technically my second attempt, it was much easier & I am still very happy with the results! 

I actually used an old photo of a gold foil carving I did at the end of last year! Inverted and played with the levels and created multiple level adjusted layers to make sure the accent lines were the same color throughout since they are have a gold gradient.