etsy inspired and totally tim!

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i just love Ashley's etsy inspired challenges and i am SO happy when i am able to participate in one! the etsy shop this week is Expressing You and they sell fantastic vinyl wall decor. i don't know that any ONE piece inspired me it was sort of a combination of the modern one with big flowers and the branches and leaves and nature themes in general.....anyway - i had this wooden frame that has been on my table for more than a week that i wanted to make for my dad. it was all crackle painted and i had the digi page done and printed but i just could not decide what to do on the frame and then i browsed Expressing You and here is where it led me:

it is a gift for my dad for his bday *SHHHH Paula don't tell* - and yes it has flowers which is not manly but the focus of the picture makes it ok i think :)

the pics are my grandparents and my dad as a child back in 1940s Cuba before it all came crashing down. the digi elements are from flerg's strawberry delight over at scrapbook graphics - LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

i had SO MUCH fun doing this - a total first for me - i may just have to do more *hybrid* stuff!

i started by painting the entire wood frame from Michaels with a Mushroom paint dabber. Then i covered the front with a thick layer of Crackle Paint in Old Paper.

i crocheted the flowers myself and used a few Sands of Time Bead pops *AKA skittles* for the centers.

Then came the Grungeboard - i got the letters from the plain minis set and the ferns from the Nature Set, embossed the ferns with my cuttlebug and painted them all with a Lettuce Paint Dabber. Once dry I rubbed over the embossing with Tim's sanding grip and then sponged on vintage photo distressed ink to the exposed grungeboard.

now i don't know about anyone else but i NEVER seem to have enough grungeboard swirls. so i got a Hello Kitty sizzix bigz die that has swirls and flowers the last time i was in Joanns and it worked perfectly! i painted them with the mushroom paint dabber and then covered them with worn lipstick distress stickles and the letters with scattered straw distress stickles.

this bottom corner has my Butterflies A Flutter stamped in archival black ink which looks cool over the crackle paint.

and in a last flurry of tim holtz inspired creating i FINALLY finished this bday scrapbook title for one of the girls over on scrapping friends. they have a wishing well board which is just THE most awesome idea EVER and she was looking for a birthday item for a teenage boy - boys/men can be so tough once you can't get away with cutesy!

anyway i came up with this based loosley on a 12 tags of 2008 tutorial:

i started with black textured cardstock and stamped my pezadoodle cobblestone background all over in versamark. covered that with clear embossing powder and heated to melt. once it was cool i covered the whole thing with a lettuce paint dabber. when it was dry i wiped over it with a slightly damp paper towel so the paint would come off of the embossing. i punched out various style letters from the grungeboard alpha set and covered them really well with distress stickles in faded jeans, scattered straw and peeled paint. once dry i inked the edges with tea dye distress ink. the 13 is from the Seasonal grungeboard set and run through the cuttlebug distressed stripes embossing folder then sponged with faded jeans distress ink. the party shapes are cut with the celebrations cricut cartridge - the blue is SEI velvet paper which really adds to the overall look.


so what do you think???? does it work for a BOYS 13th bday page?????