Tiny Houses, Made of Grungeboard.....

I've had to steal a moment here and there, and it took me three days, but I do have a piece that fits the themes of both Grungy Monday (grungeboard/grungepaper) and Simon Says Stamp and Show (embossing). 

Using plenty of goodliness from Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi, I created a nameplate for my desk.  Not that I work any more (retired) and need to identify myself to anyone, but I thought it was cool and wanted one. 

First I cut up some grungeboard using Tim's Artful Dwellings die, then added a few of Wendy's Art Parts from her Residences set.  Let me tell you, the Dwellings and Residences play very nicely together.

Allow me to take you on a little guided tour of this grungy village.....

First of all, I wanted you to see that all the buildings are arranged and glued (Claudine Hellmuth's matte multi medium rocks!) onto an old Scrabble tray,  colored with peeled paint distress stain.

The first artful dwelling was embossed with Tim's burlap folder and inked with scattered straw and forest moss distress inks.  The opening was cut with a keyhole mover and shaper die, and I stuck Mona Lisa in that window, covered by a bit of mica.....just because.  The roof is topped with Tim's wings and some foliage.  Now, on to the next structure:

This one was embossed with Tim's bricked folder, and colored with fired brick and aged mahogany distress inks.  A bit of scrap paper from one of Tim's paper collections tops the roof.  As for the number......well, I love Tim's plaquettes and in fact have them, but you know, sometimes you just may want a number that is not in the set.  80 is my house number, and that's what I wanted.  So, I covered a plain metal disc with clear embossing ink and white embossing powder and heat set it until the surface was nice and smooth like porcelain.  BTW, I needed two coats to achieve that.  When cooled, I distressed the edges with some black archival ink and used it to stamp the numbers as well. Archival ink dries quickly and is permanent.

This house was embossed with Tim's checkerboard folder and inked with tea dye and vintage photo distress inks.  The large keyhole opening is also a mover and shaper die and behind it, a bit of text from the scrap pile.  Defining the roof is an Art Part....painted with snowcap, then colored with peeled paint distress stain, which gives it a softer more pastel look.  Over top, some random dots from an old SU! stamp, inked with sepia archival ink.  You can't see it in this picture, but if you look again at the shot of the full village, you'll see I used a hitch fastener as the doorknob of this building.  I love the versatality of the idea-ology line.

This little house is an Art Part, colored with monarch orange archival ink, then stamped with one of Wendy's background stamps with coffee archival ink.  The opening was covered with one of Tim's keyhole idea-ology pieces.  A teeny light bulb I had in my stash fit perfectly in the opening.

Lastly, this tall skinny Artful Dwelling had the three squares cut into it with a Sizzix mover and shaper die.  Behind the openings, some leftover paper from the dryer sheet background I showed you the other day.  Held in place with staples and Tim's tiny attacher. The grungeboard was inked with saffron archival ink and stamped with another of Wendy's background stamps with sepia.  Yet another idea-ology keyhole decorates the peak of the roof.

As for my name.....I used a variety of letters from my stash.