Grungy Monday 36

Happy Monday!

Today's challenge over at Linda's blog is to make a Valentine-themed project using at least one Tim Holtz product or technique. Just for participating, Simon Says Stamp will give one lucky winner a $25 shopping spree to their online store! Woo hoo!

I'm happy to have a Valentine's Day challenge, as I had a V-Day project that I had to put on hold once we learned we were moving last month. (I had a grungepaper heart, set of wings, some die cut letters, and some movers and shapers dies that I set aside for a card challenge.) For today's Grungy Monday challenge, I thought I'd keep all of those elements, but rather than produce a card with them, I thought it would be fun to do something new: a wall hanging!

I applied Picket Fence Distress Stain to the grungepaper wings and the heart. When the stain dried, I applied Crackle Paint over both elements. I then applied Fired Brick Distress Stain over the heart, then applied liquid pearls around the edge. 

The letters are from Tim's "Once Upon a Time" die. I inked them with black soot then glued over some crochet and twill ribbon. I glued a few little Prima flowers and then tore off a piece of tissue tape that matches this month's dates.

Tim's rosette is probably one of his most recognizable dies ... so of course, I had to add one!

To create my little lovebirds, all I did was cut an extra movers and shapers birdie and flip it over so that it looks like they're kissing! I used a combination of Distress Ink, Distress Stain, Alcohol Inks, and finally Crackle Paint to get their aged look. As for the birdcage, I applied a thick coat of Paint Dabber all over. I then attached my lovebirds using a little hoop earring. Since I love tulle so much, I tied a little tulle ribbon over the earring.

Well, thank you so much for stopping by! I'm sorry the photo quality on my projects lately has been sub-par. My new craft room receives a fraction of the natural light I used to get on the coast -- so I'm trying to figure out if I need to invest in a bunch of lights or certain kinds of lights or a new camera or both ... How about you, what are you doing currently to take quality photos? Any tips on how to take decent photos when you don't have much natural light? Thanks again for looking, have a LOVEly week, everyone!

Supplies:

Grungepaper elements

Grungepaper

Liquid Pearls

Distress Ink

Distress Stain

Mini Rosette die

Movers & Shapers mini bird & cage die

Once Upon a Time die

Prima flowers

Crackle Paint