GM #36:A Holtzian Valentine!

Lets face it: One of the best reasons to Love Tim Holtz is because he doesn't do "cute!" Good, strong, suitable for a guy images....great for guy birthdays and guy valentine's day cards. And this week's Grungy Monday Challenge with Linda at Studio L3 is to use any Tim product or technique and have at it...for Valentines Day! And as an added bonus, this week the challenge is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp, with a chance to win a gift certificate to that wonderful store!!

So, while the construction happened at the last minute (really! with a great dinner starting in the oven for my Honey-planned just to allow stamping time while cooking; time management at it's best!) the mental planning had been going on since Monday morning. I started with Tim's hearts dies and grungepaper. (again; perfect for a guy; not too frilly) I painted them with the Picket Fence Stain, then ran them through his swirl texture fade, with his technique of putting Fired Brick ink on the fade so the red would imbed into the impression...came out totally cool!! The label (again, his alteration line) was cut, and stamped with the saying. Then the problems kinda crept in: assembly...it was missing something; so I cut a layer from his Seasonal paper stack, but it was too dark, so I hit it with the Picket Fence Distress Stain; a few times... Still needed something, so I cut out the Be Mine from the same stack, then edged the top heart with Black Soot DI to try to give it some contrast, which didn't really work, hit it with some more Stain, and once dry, did look pretty good.
Now, as the picture just loaded; it does look like one hot mess; but take my word, in person, it was much better! LOL! But now the baked potatoes were done, ready for stuffing and twice baking; and along with the grilled rib-eye steaks, ceasar salad, sherried mushrooms and green beans, my Honey seemed very happy with it all! And on a week night, on Valentine's day, he had better not said otherwise! Oh, and I haven't confirmed it yet, but he sorta indicated that my Valentine's gift was sorta on pre-order....Distress Markers maybe??? I'll keep you all posted! So have a great weekend everyone! And I know you all made some sort of Valentine's project- so don't be shy....hop to Linda's and share with us all!