Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Perfectly Distressed

This week's Grungy Monday challenge takes us to a cool video Tim did some time ago on what he calls perfect distress......the wonderful pairing of distress inks and perfect pearls.....click HERE to check it out; it's an oldie but goodie, and well worth re-visiting.  I think this technique will add great sparkle to your holiday projects.  Speaking of which, I'm still meeting my own personal challenge, and my entry for GM is also a Christmas card.



I originally thought I'd just use the technique as an accent, but got totally carried away, and used it EVERYWHERE.  I know that the sparkle of mica powders does not show up well in (my) photographs, so I also took some angle shots.


You can see the effect of the perfect pearls a little better there.  And here's a closeup of Santa.




I stamped Santa (from Tim's Letter to Santa set) on white cardstock with black soot distress ink, and then used several perfect pearls on him:  green patina on the holly, perfect pearl on the hair, biscotti on the face, and raspberry sparkle on the hat and coat.

The Happy Holidays stamp is from Tim's Holiday Wishes set, and I used pine needles distress ink and green patina perfect pearls.  

The last thing I did with this technique was to add both peeled paint and forest moss distress inks all around the card, using a blending tool.  This too, got the perfect pearls treatment; this time I used heirloom gold.

The piece was mounted on a red card base, and at the last minute I decided to add a bit more bling, covering the holly with forest moss distress stickles and adding some barn door distress stickles berries.

So, here it is, still October, and I've already gotten three holiday cards under my belt.  Bring on the next challenge!




12 comments:

Sherry Goodloe said...

Great start for card-making for the holidays my friend! Nice card indeed. xo

Anonymous said...

Very nice looking santa!!!!! I really like this card!!!

Vic said...

I love your santa card! One of my favorite Tim stamps and your coloring with PP and Stickles is fabulous.

teri said...

I love this image of Santa and absolutely adore what you've done for the old soul. I want to try that technique, and I actually have the right ingredients for a change! Thanks for sharing this.

Patricia said...

Very Beautifull card!!!
Greetz Patricia

Mary said...

Love the card and thanks for the reminder of the TH technique using Perfect Pearls. Off to use it on some cards I'm making.

Linda Ledbetter said...

I love this Santa image, and you've done him proud, Eileen! He looks particularly splendid with all that shimmer, and his holly crown is beautiful. I knew you'd rock the Perfect Distress, but then, you rock everything you create!

Alison said...

Fab card Eileen! x

Lori said...

Love perfect pearls, and I know it's very hard to photograph, but it looks wonderful here! That is my favorite Santa image, too!

Diann said...

Great Santa with the perfect pearls...I have this stamp and will give this a try! Diann

Maggie said...

Gorgeous Santa great card!

Marjie Kemper said...

Great Sparkly Santa! And color me very impressed you've already started holiday cards!