A Painterlady's View: Men in Black ~ by Tracey Sabella

It's Tracey here to share my second July Guest Designer project. I enjoy getting inky and inventive with Donna's amazing products. I had so much fun coming up with some new techniques to share with you today including a tutorial for my Grungy Corrugated Leaves.

Andrew and his groomsmen posed for this shot looking quite serious and dare I say intimidating? To capture that feel, I decided to go dark and grungy with this non-traditional wedding layout. One of the things I so appreciate about Donna's paper is the versatility within each collection. The papers featured on this page are from her GCD Natural Beauty Collection, the same collection used for "The Kiss", a sweeter and more elegant page posted here earlier this month.

I would like to dedicate this page to the memory of Earl Hennis, who's vintage gears and machined pieces are tucked in among the Sprightly Sprockets.

"Men in Black"

I used Donna's Sprightly Sprockets die set by Spellbinders to create these realistic metallic gears using black cardstock and Viva Inka Gold. I made lots to tuck in all around this page. If you have guys in your life, these dies are a must have.

Here's a close-up of the other side of the photo.

Now for these grungy guy flowers. Can you guess what dies I used to cut these flowers? If you picked Sprightly Sprockets, you are correct! I placed a vintage gear and hex nut in each for my flower centers. Scroll down to find my tutorial for the Grungy Corrugated Leaves.

I used mixed media and Donna's Want2Scrap Stencils to build a grungy background on this wonderful wood grain paper. I started by spreading ceramic stucco across the page leaving the edges clear to see the gorgeous wood grain on the edges. I then misted with Donna's Clearsnap Smooch Spritz in Wood Stain and touches of Pralines and Cream. Once dry, I splattered with black gesso. I mixed black and red paint into more of the ceramic stucco and used it with Donna's 8" x 10" Small Bricks stencil. Such a perfect accent to reflect the bricks behind the guys in the photo.

These gears are perfect to tuck into layers and well, just everywhere on my page.

Oh did I have fun grunging up Donna's GCD Studio's Natural Beauty Chipboard Alpha letters for my title. I used my heat tool to melt black tulle onto the letters and inked the edges with Midnight Mix'd Media CHOX Inx by Clearsnap. I used Donna's Want2Scrap Alphabet Stencil and blended fiber medium to create the smaller letters. Another of her Want2Scrap stencils, Small Arrows, was used along the top and bottom of the page with ceramic stucco. I rubbed on just a bit of Midnight CHOX Inx to add grungy texture to the arrows. The distressed edges were achieved with my go to DSD Zutter Distrezz-It-All.

This charm and wrapped cord are jewelry findings from my stash. I dabbed them with Midnight CHOX Inx and Grecian Gold Rub'n Buff to distress. Behind the cord, I rubbed Sparrow CHOX Inx into the background and behind the charm, dripped Donna's Wood Stain and Pralines and Cream Smooch.

Grungy Corrugated Leaf Tutorial

I have to say, Donna's Corrugated Board is one of my favorite products. What a treat not to spend time peeling the top off of cardboard, and it can be used for so many embellishments.

Supplies:

Supply List:

DSD Want2Scrap 8" x 10" Corrugated Board

DSD Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms Dies

DSD Clearsnap Mix'd Media Inx CHOX - Midnight

Rub'n Buff - Grecian Gold

Die Cut Machine (not pictured)

Optional - misting bottle (not pictured)

Step 1. Cut a piece of corrugated board to size for your leaf die with the lines running the length of the leaf.

Step 2. Mist the piece of corrugated board with water front and back. Push on the dampened cardboard to scrunch and distress.

Step 3. Use a Bitty Blossoms leaf die and your die cutting machine to cut out your leaf. You may need to run the die through your die cutting machine several times to cut cleanly through the corrugated board. Remove from die and set aside to dry. Although I only show one leaf here in the tutorial, I used all four leaf dies from this set to cut leaves for my page. You could also use leaf dies from Donna's Grand Peony or Rose Creations die sets.

Step 4. Rub with Midnight CHOX Inx, leaving some of the corrugated board color showing. Set aside to dry.

Step 5. Using a light touch, rub Grecian Gold Rub'n Buff onto the raised areas of your leaf.

Now your Grungy Corrugated Leaf is ready to use on your page. You can curl the edges or leave flat.

Variation:

Instead of inking with black, I used Jasmine Mix'd Media Inx for the leaves I created for "The Kiss", then rubbed Pewter Inx onto the raised edges. You could use any combination of colors to create lovely, grungy leaves for your projects.

Thanks for dropping by today to view my layout and tutorial. I hope you'll stop by later this month for my final July GDT project.

Product List:

Paper:

GCD Studios: Donna Salazar Designs ~ Natural Beauty - Flying Free

GCD Studios: Donna Salazar Designs ~ Natural Beauty - Casual Elegance

Want2Scrap: Donna Salazar Designs - 8" x 10" Corrugated Board

Chipboard:

GCD Studios: Donna Salazar Designs ~ Natural Beauty - Chipboard Alphas

Stamps:

Art Gone Wild: Donna Salazar Designs ~ Ruler

Color/Inks:

Clearsnap: Donna Salazar Designs - Mix'd Media Inx - Pewter, Black

Clearsnap: Donna Salazar Designs - Mix'd Media Inx CHOX - Midnight, Sparrow

Clearsnap: Donna Salazar Designs - Smooch Spritz - Wood Stain, Pralines & Cream

American Art Clay Co: Rub'n Buff - Grecian Gold

Viva Decor: Inka Gold - Gold

DecoArt: Crafter's Acrylic - black, Christmas Red

Stencils:

Want2Scrap: Donna Salazar Designs - 8" x 10" - Small Bricks, Small Arrows

Want2Scrap: Donna Salazar Designs - Alphabet Stencil

Dies:

Spellbinders: Donna Salazar Designs - Sprightly Sprockets

Spellbinders: Donna Salazar Designs - Bitty Blossoms

Embellishments:

Vintage gears and machined pieces from Mandy Hennis

Tori Spelling: Styled - Multi Style Chain Hematite

Darice: Add on Pendant Knotted Nylon Necklace

Jill Mackay: Sterling Plated Earrings

DMC: Floss #310

Black Tulle

Mixed Media:

Liquitex: Ceramic Stucco
Liquitex: Gesso - black

Adhesives:

Art Glitter: Designer Dries Clear Adhesive

Helmar: 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

Beacon: 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue

Mod Podge - Matte

Darice: Foam Dots

Tools:

Zutter: Donna Salazar Designs - Distrezz-It-All

Darice: Heat Tool

EK Success: Cutter Bee - Bugs

5 Comments

Totally amazing beautiful guy page!! Love love the title!!! So very cool!!! You definitively took Grunge to the next level!!!

Posted by: LisaGregory | July 18, 2013 at 02:06 PM

I am blown away by your creativity, Tracey. It is really cool and something unusual for your style, but You have rocked it. and I have to try to make the same leaves too

Posted by: Elena Olinevich | July 18, 2013 at 08:48 AM

Amazing page Tracey! This grungy wedding layout is fabulous! I love that you were able to make your die-cuts look like real metal. I love the flowers and the fun jewelry piece along the bottom of the page. Thanks for the inspiration! =)

Posted by: Dana Tatar | July 18, 2013 at 07:09 AM