So, This is a Little Distressing...

...on so many levels! This project began as an experiment inspired by a technique I saw on Tim Holtz's blog, using "Distress"Inks by Ranger. (Distress Inks/distressing - get it)? But even more distressing was looking at the pictures of my husband, Brian and I "then and now!" Twenty-four years of living leaves a few marks!

But seriously, I really love how this layout turned out. Believe it or not, it started out as two pieces of smooth white Bazzil cardstock. I created the background in layers. First, I used Tim Holtz's alpha masks to right on the white cardstock to spell out my title, then I inked the background using a really cool technique. I smeared some Broken China Distress Ink on a non-stick craft mat, then diluted it by spraying liberally with water. Then I rolled my rubber brayer gently through the puddles and applied it to the paper. When I had filled the two pages, I let it dry and did it again using Faded Jeans Distress Ink.

After removing the letter masks, I applied Peeled Paint Distress Ink to the edges of the paper and over the title using a Foam Blending Tool. I made the letters "pop" more by outlining with my Signo White Gel Pen. Finally, I added more texture and depth to my background by stamping the same Hero Arts swirl repeatedly in creamy brown and white inks and mounted the whole shebang on kraft cardstock.

The embellishments for this layout were cut out using my favourite Sizzix dies from Grungeboard. I coloured most of them using various Distress Inks and a blending tool, then highlighting a few of them with Distress Stickles. Except the bird. Again, I wanted to try a technique from Tim. This one involved painting the grungeboard with Pewter Distress Crackle Paint (after all, I didn't want to be the only one on the layout showing some wear and tear)! When dry, I was able to add colour by dabbing alcohol inks right over the crackle paint. In real life, it is very shiny and cool looking!

The layout was finished by adding the aforementioned distressing pictures, and some velvet scalloped ribbon from American Craft. Whew!

What I really love about this project is that I finally feel like I have successfully combined my two passions - stamping and scrapbooking -in a way that does justice to both.