Challenge 158 from Let's Scrap and..

of course Linky Party with the adorable Karli for the Kraaft Shaak!

Val's challenge at Let's Scrap was
"to create a layout using only one piece of white cardstock and black ink and black pen. Well you can use another colour but the whole exercise of the challenge is for you to create a background on the white cardstock for your photo which you may mat in another colour if you like but it must be plain"
To say the least, I was instantly inspired by the challenge! At first I thought it would be perfect for a wedding layout, since they are all b/w. The more I thought about it, I wanted to try to "color" the background a bit.
Then the same day I read the challenge, I received a package from Heather at The Kraaft Shaak with my new CTMH stamp of the month "Floral Happiness". Happiness indeed, as I have been waiting very patiently for these to arrive. I just so happens that Heather had used the set on her live show today (which can be viewed here)
So now I am super inspired! I started going thru my engagement photos, and one caught my fancy because of the brick red train car that we were standing on. The creative juices started flowing as I thought I could use some Fired Brick distress ink for the background!! I am very jazzed at this point because it has been so long since I scrapped.
Now to find a sketch. I jumped out of my comfort zone and looked thru the card sketches at Let's Scrap since I was using a single photo.
 

So now I was ready to rock. As I looked at my single, white sheet of 12x12 and at the photo, it struck me that my dress pattern is almost identical to the stamps I would be working with! Then I was off with a blaze! I used Distress crackle paint with Fired Brick distress ink on the smaller corners. Then I smooshed (technical terms here folks) my Gathered Twigs and Vintage Photo distress inks on my craft mat, spritzed them with water and painted the two larger squares. I really enjoy the canvas look it has because of the textured cardstock. I used gold distress stain and a coarse bristled paint brush and went over the edges of the colors to make it appear to have "seams" or be piece together. Then I got to play with my new stamps!!! I used black Versacolor to stamp the flower images. I used my Sizzix to cut the photo and mat. I also used it to cut my title piece and inked some white stock with the Fired Brick before I heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. The saying is also from the same stamp set. I found some fun yarn to add, a few red rhinestones and VIOLA!! A messy masterpiece!

Thanks for looking! Off to cook dinner!
Cheers!
~Mindi