A New Tag, A New Record

Hello all! Killing three birds with one stone again today, or rather, three challenges with one tag. =) So, let's see, first we have Grungy Monday, which this week features Rock Candy Crackle Paint and Stickles, created by the marvelous King of Crackle, Tim Holtz. (And special thanks to Hels Sheridan for bringing this new title of his to my attention. =P ) Here's the link to Tim's great video explaining how to use this stuff. Challenge number two is over at the Inspiration Emporium, where we've been challenged to use any kind of embossing. (I also entered the ATC from my last post, since it featured some dry embossing.) And last but definitely not least is the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, which is "anything goes"! Easy enough. =) So here's the tag:

I apologize for the huge photos. I haven't quite figured out this photo sizing thing and it seems my choices today are too small or ridiculously huge. =P Anywho, here's the supplies I used:

Ranger manila tag; Distress ink: Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Vintage Photo, Embossing Ink; Grungeboard; Tattered Florals die; Sketchbook tissue tape; Rock Candy Distress Stickles; K & Company butterfly embellies (not sure which collection these are from); ribbon; Pink Paislee flair; clear embossing powder; all stamped images by Inkadinkadoo except for "Listen to your Heart", which is a Tim Holtz mini.

The first thing I did was stamp the background image with the Distress embossing ink and then embossed with the clear embossing powder to create a resist image. This is the only point where I wish I would have done something differently, as I realized too late that what would show through was the manila color of the tag (obviously =P ). I wish I would have used a light colored ink, maybe Antique Linen Distress or something. Oh well. Then I colored the background using the Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Faded Jeans. Note to self: Tumbled Glass and Broken China are so close in color as to be nearly indistinguishable, especially on manila paper. =/ The party really didn't start on this background until I brought in the Faded Jeans. Then I stamped the other images with black Archival Ink. The flower was cut out of Grungeboard with the die, colored, and then the Rock Candy Distress Stickles were used on the "leaves". I love the way this turned out and the photos really don't do it justice. Here's an attempt at a close-up:

Not sure if you can tell in the photos, but the butterflies are also glittery, but that's not Rock Candy. They came pre-glittered. =) I added the tissue tape ruffle before gluing down the flower, aged my butterflies a little with some Vintage Photo and stuck those down, added the ribbon and...voila! Tag finished.

Before I sign off I just wanted to point out that this is my FIFTH post this month, making July the month with the highest number of posts since I started this blog! Hooray! You've got to celebrate the little things. =P

Thanks for looking!

*~M~*