Industrial Love

I had a recent, and rare, spate of craft space straightening up, getting stamps and dies organized, and re-organizing my now rather extensive embossing folder collection.  Along the way, I came across one of the Spellbinders 3-D embossing folders, called Roman Romance - seemed appropriate for  at least one of the challenges I had in mind.  I've also been revisiting many of the bookmarked tutorials I've noted since I began looking at all wonderful projects and artists several years ago.... it took me a year to put myself out there, and so glad I did!    

One of the tutorials I looked at is this great faux rusted metal card from Jenny Marples, aka "Buttons"... you can see it here.  Since I wanted to enter the A Vintage Journey's latest "Industrial" challenge, I thought this might be a good place to start.... So I followed Jenny's step-outs, at least initially! As you will see, I ended up riffing on her idea...

 

 I didn't like the look of the Rusted Hinge paint on my card, so I spritzed it to get some movement.... and added some Ripe Persimmon - a little bright, but I went with it.

and in successive dryings and re-smooshings through the paint, finally arrived at something I liked, even though it no longer resembled Jenny's wonderful take on rusted metal.

Once dry, I embossed with the Spellbinder's Roman Romance 3-D folder.....it is hard to see on my piece, but the folder slowly fades into nothing., as you see below... it is a very stunning effect. I wanted a dramatic effect, as I would post this as well in the current Country View Challenge "Make Your Own Background".  I thought at first I would use this in landscape, which is why these pictures all have that angle, lol!

       

 I liked the embossing well enough, but it wasn't really showing the detail, so I spritzed with Hickory Smoke and ground Expresso Distress Stains.  The Hickory Smoke has a vague purplish tone to it that I really liked on the silver - you can see that on the left and right, just below the embossing.

I really liked the rusty grunge effect I had going... but now what?

Well, I knew I wanted to also enter Anything But Cute's latest challenge, "Grungy Love", so I went about adding some grungy frill.   I sprayed some card with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Cattail Copper Brown spray, along with some Ground Expresso Distress Stain (love that stuff!!), and when dry, cut a strip using the Sizzix Vintage Lace Edging Decorative Strip die.  And while I was at it, I mopped up the luscious leftovers with a couple of manila tags....

 The lace die cut was too shiny and light with just the LSG spray, so I spritzed it again with some Gorund Expresso - just the grunge I was looking for!!   You can also see here some of the depth on the mop up tags.... fabulous!!

To get the love thing going, I cut out the letters using one of my mop-up tags and the Decorative Strip die Vintage Market Alphabet from Tim Holtz.  Then I used a word die from Heidi Swapp  - "Imagine".... it is more contemporary but I like the contrast.  And am pleased to say that using my precision plate with both of these dies in my regular Big Shot machine worked like a charm.

My words did not stand out from the background, so I traced around them with a new Micron pen that I got as part of a set - getting ready to ZenTangle for Wanderlust!  This pen is larger than what I will use for that - as a 1.0 (not 0.1).... but perfect for this, as my Black Soot Distress Pen had a little issue with its nib.  Below you can see the difference this simple outlining makes!

I thought I needed to get some hearts in for the ABC challenge - now I think not but ok, I did it anyway, lol!  So I stamped with a heart with French script and a Fleur de Lis in the upper left corner of my piece - but it really did not show up given all the other texture and depth...

So I stamped a few more times, always using StaysOn Black, as my card is pretty slick on the surface from all the paint and sprays.   And just for good measure, I stamped again with another heart from this set, which stands out a bit more as a heart....I also traced around the script hearts with my Micron pen in a dotted pattern - just to help them stand out a bit....didn't trust myself to tracing a line with such a loose pattern!

And there you have it!  Very fun and so glad to be getting into my stash....now that I can find it, lol!

As mentioned, I am entering into the following challenges:
A Vintage Journey
Country View Challenges
Anything But Cute

Thanks so much for stopping by, and if you've time, please do leave a comment.  I treasure them all, and YOU!
xxx Lynn