Faux Tea Roses

I hope you're all having fun following and, hopefully, playing along with us for the Compendium of Curiosities III challenges (CC3C). If you haven't entered yet, this is a great challenge to jump in. Tim's Faux Tea Roses can be found on page 65 of Compendium of Curiosities III. Just make up a few and begin creating! All the guidelines for the challenge can be found here. Make up your project, enter it on Linda Ledbetter's blog, comment on the host blogs and you've got a shot. TWO shots, actually. One winner is chosen by vote of the Curiosity Crew and will find a boat load of prizes (generously donated by Tim and Mario) raining down on their head. Another winner will be selected at random and will receive a $50 gift certificate from Inspiration Emporium.

This challenge was a blast!! I love LOVE these pretty roses, made with Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Pinecone die. We've had the pinecones made with this die in our shop (Rocky Mountain Memories) for some time. I knew you could also do roses with it, but had never done it. Oh my gosh, its really easy and gorgeous result!!

I created my roses with Sticky Back Canvas adhered to a piece of scrapbook papers. I colored one of them with Mustard Seed Distress Stain and the other two with Mustard Seed Distress Paint. I wanted to use both mediums to get an idea of the difference in texture & color. They both worked really well, but the stain seemed to be a little brighter.

 I picked up a bit of Mustard Seed Distress Stain and touched up the roses in places where you could see the white core of the paper.  I touched up the edges of the petals with some Vintage Photo Distress Stain. I had so much fun making this little mini book with a Maya Road linen 4x6 book. I covered the pages with tissue paper from an old dress pattern, adhering with Ranger Matte Medium. I'll give you a look at the inner pages, just for fun.....

My theme came from the yellow roses, which always makes me sing a little tune, being a good Texan. The theme started there and carried through.

 The letters on the cover are painted with Chipped Sapphire Distress Paint which, it turns out, is just the color of the Texas state flower, bluebonnets. The white dots are done with Liquid Pearls and are a nod to the touches of white in these pretty flowers. Mustard Seed and Chipped Sapphire are a fabulous color theme, I'm sure I'll be using those two a lot!

 My bestie came to visit me this month with her husband and took this shot of a longhorn in the bluebonnets on the way. How do you get more iconic Texan than that? Well, maybe Bluebell ice cream as a bluebonnet container. Yummmmm, best ice cream ever. Just a few of my favorite things. ;-)

 The center spread has a foundation of Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste through a Dyan Reavely stencil. I layered on Tim's Flying Bird from Stamper's Anonymous on the left, symbolizing the Texas state bird, the mockingbird. Tim's "life is good" stamp, a silhouette of the state and a sway of yellow roses completes it!

 I rode horses as a girl growing up in Texas so I included a shot of me barrel racing. Tim's Picture Wheel die by Sizzix is the perfect frame for letters, numbers, small pictures or any small pieces.
My favorite thing about this picture is how my legs weren't long enough to reach the stirrups. I shared the saddle with my daddy that night and his legs were a lot longer than mine!!

Well, that's enough of my little indulgence. It sure was fun for me and I hope it was fun for you, too.

Location:Rocky Mountain Memories, Estes Park, CO