Cryptogee Photomash Particle Challenge: Disintegrating

This is my entry to @Cryptogee's Photomash Challenge

my edited image can be found here;  original image from imgur

Kinda cool, eh? Haha. But it's not that complex to do. Check out @cryptogee's Particle Effect Tutorial.

He has got tons of interesting tutorial photo editing videos like how to do a Fire Effect - Hunger Games style, or how to do particles like in the image above. I'm not quite sure how he comes up with these cool photo hacks, but it's magic!

At first, the final photo seems it's a tad difficult to achieve, but he demoes the processes really well - so it becomes easy. I only know basic editing so I learn a lot of new tricks from his vids.

For my entry, I followed his tutorial steps but changed it up a bit:

• I used a background image instead of white. To make this work, I used @cryptogee's magic wand tutorial to cut out the subject and put it in a different layer. 
• Because of the background image, I needed to put the layer with the mask on top.
• Instead of splatter brush for the effect, I used orb-particle thingies for a "disintegrating" feel. And because my choice of software - GIMP - has no splatter-type brushes

Updated (forgot about including the layer screenshot):

Kudos to @cryptogee for hosting contests like this one. He also creates fun Easter Egg Hunts for SBDs.  Go follow him if you haven't yet :)