Not to panic .. CCC #23

Ok, so this is my first official entry to Linda's CC Challenge of Double Distress. Sounds like a panic attack to me. lol  As I made this project there were moments of distressing fun, fun distressing and panic when the distressing didn't work. Confused? So was I, all day. 
  
As usual I made it more complicated than it had to be, but that's only because I kept going until I got the look just right. And I used a few more techniques to play catch up with some of the other challenges.  Here is the thingy that I made. It's not a tag, it's not a card, it's just a thing. A pretty pinky-red-greeny thing. Are you ready for the pics ... They look totally different when scanned (the top one with black background) and photographed (on the bottom with dark pink paper.) Anyhow, I thought I'd let you see both.

 

The top third of the card is a separate piece of grungepaper glued to the lower portion. If I had to do it over I'd still make this one first to work out the kinks and make a second one better. Sorta like cooking a good dinner, but since I don't cook, well, it is what it is.

The embossed bingo board is colored with crushed olive and aged mahogany distressed inks. The red in the mahogany turned out great, even if I say so myself. The snow flurries from the On the Edge die cut off the bottom portion of the bingo board. So I covered the snow flakes' DI's with snow cap pigment ink. Instead of the ink pad I used the re-inker on a cut & dry foam pad to keep the "real" ink pad from turning green and red. (hope that makes sense) Finally I used Ranger's Enchanted Gold embossing powder to give the snowflakes a yellowy-sparkley feel. No jokes from the peanut gallery about yellow snow! rofl

Next I made an extra #25 from the bingo embossing folder and inked it with snow cap pigment ink and black soot DI, then topped it off with Tuxedo vintage glass glitter. It looks totally different, a rich, deep black. Try it sometime.

Then I turned my attention span (sometimes very short. lol) to the holiday greetings with, let's say it together, more snow cap pigment ink. Love that stuff! Used the blending tool with more aged mahogany, topped it with perfect medium & perfect pearls interference red, a quick spritz of water and...the DI ran! Panic again. forgot to heat set it. Wash it off, start again, turn off the water works, chin up and keep moving. By some magical happenstance the second time gave the effect I wanted - deep rose pearl shimmer.

Finally I used alcohol ink to color the bird, crown (lemonade) and heart (cranberry). I just love the alcohol ink pens, they make it so much easier to control the placement of the ink. The leaves and mini fleur are chipped enamel with the Enchanted Gold EP, but that didn't turn out right the first time around. Panic. Success on the second try. Phew. 

This is all a very long-winded explanation. I probably should have just listed the supplies and said, Here it is. Go at it. But I didn't, now I will ...DI aged mahogany, crushed olive, black soot; snow cap pigment ink; blending tool and cut & dry foam pads; embossing powder, glass glitter; perfect pearls & perfect medium; grungepaper; on the edge die; bingo embossing folder; and alcohol ink. 

Hope there is something in this post for you that will take the fear out of a mistake in technique. I used to tell my students that we should allow ourselves 25 mistakes per day (for teenagers this makes lots of sense) so we can learn from them and move forward. For me today's panicked moments are finished. Later I'll go make another something fun. Hope you do, too.