Grunge It Up!

Hello Again!

So this is my first attempt at actual distressing, despite having a lot of Distress Inks and Tim Holtz products. I was never really too fond of this type of grunge art but after viewing the ones posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog, I realized you can still keep a kind of feminine, vintage look. So here it goes...

I was actually thinking of a blue and brown background that kind of looks like alcohol inks in my mind. I don’t have alcohol inks in my stash yet so I chose to blend my distress inks. I used Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch to create a vibrant undertone, and then used Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire to create darker tones. I filled in some areas with Walnut Stain to add some brown. I then finished it off by crumpling my card stock up a bit, creating a few creases and going over the creases in the center and edges with Ground Espresso. This was my take on creating the grunge look.

Once I was satisfied, I decided that I wanted to activate the distress aspect of the ink but was bored of making the usual droplet effect. So I grabbed my SSS Kaleidiscope background stamp (which I haven’t used yet) and sprayed it with some water and applied it to my newly blended card piece. I then used a paper towel to dab off the pools of water to reveal the white areas of the stamp imprint. I was left with this really cool vintage looking print.

I then added some die cut elements. All of the dies I used were from Ali Express. The two lattice type cut outs were heat embossed with Lindy’s Stamp Gang embossing powders. I love these powders because they are two-toned and create such a nice effect. I’m not sure if SSS carries these embossing powders but I got mine through Amazon. Just try one set and I guarantee you’ll fall in love with them. I did some random stamping and embossing on the two other die cuts and chose to leave my sentiment white to help it stand out. For the sentiment, I used Altenew’s Inline Alpha Die set. I then for interest, I added some pearl and crystal stickers and the flower at the bottom.

So there’s my first attempt and I’m actually very happy with it! I will be entering it in the  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge called “Grunge It Up!”

Thanks for viewing!