Distressed Frilly Card - STAMPlorations June Challenge

Ok, I am going to share my new favorite card with you crafters. Every once in awhile I get done with a card and I just sit back and say, "wow! I'm glad my brain still has some beauty left in it after all those terrible puns it has to make room for!"

I was over-the-moon elated about the July challenge happening over at STAMPlorations. 

Hulllloooooo?! Damsel of Distressed anyone? Hooray! Sometimes I go through phases where I keep things pretty clean, and I feel like I've been in one of those moods lately, so this card really helped to spur the distress comeback. 

I started by smooshing Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks onto my craft mat and then I spritzed it with water. 

This technique is called Distress Dipping (at least in my brain). It's a really easy way to create a gorgeous watercolor-esque background. 

Lay your card stock into the inky mixture and press down and move it left to right, trying to get all of the white area inked. 

Lift up and dry (air dry or heat dry works). I usually repeat this step 3-4 times to add lots of pretty layers and depth to the background. 

Next, I sprayed the background with Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain to add a little white. Please note that you should not just do this anywhere, as you will wind up with white splatters all over your ink pads. *Ahem*


Next, I added a layer of Mixed Media Grunge stamping and applied a layer of white gesso through the Gridlocked ARTplorations stencil. 

 

Before that layer dried, I added some rock glitter to it. Then I die cut a frame (coated with perfect pearls) and added some flowers, an embossed gold butterfly from the Trendy Butterflies and a sentiment piece from Hashtag Authentic. 

I really enjoyed getting back to my Distressing roots! 

I have to give  BIG shoutout to {PIN}spirational challenges for giving me this awesome inspiration image to work with:

I'm also going to join the fun at:
Frilly and Funkie - Sentiment as the focal piece
613 Ave Create - Use Roses or pearls 
In the Pink - Shabby Chic/Vintage
Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It - Take a Stamp

Thank you for popping by and I totally think you should try distressing. If you need any tips or pointers, I'd be happy to help you out and there are several tutorials you can find on my blog! 

Once you're done, make sure you link it up to STAMPlorations for your chance to win some awesome prizes! You can use ANY product or ANY brand of stamps.