Designer Showcase: Gritty, Grungy

Welcome back for another Wednesday of Designer Showcase.  Last week we really made things sparkle.  This week we are going to get grungy, gritty, and rustic.  We've got some edgy designs, but using new products and techniques. You just might even see some

Let's get this showcase started with some great examples from Pam. Ok - what's not to love on this page?  Sure it's grungy and gritty, but Pam used bright and light colors that are really popular right now.  She did a great job of inking things up and using a krafty colored gridded background that really pulls together the fresh  new colors with the aged grungy look.  Her choice of shapes is also a neat design. The patterned papers are cut in a shape like old style admission tickets, and then they are stitched down - oh so cute!!  And that little flag on the toothpick is just so chic!

This page, also by Pam, is another great example of how to blend the rustic old look, with updated techniques and products.  She uses darker colors for the background and lighter, fresher colors in the foreground.  Pam adds some really trendy flair with the scattered stars, cut pendant banner and tabbed journal spot. Yet the selection of patterns and colors keeps the page looking rugged enough to tell the story of these handsome cowboys!

Cindy shares a couple of rough and tumble pages with us. On this one about a trip to a petting zoo, she picked a great background paper to set the tone for the page. The scruffy spots on the brown paper add texture and the feel of grit and dirt.  Just perfect for this page.  The large strip of animal skin pattern paper adds some interest and is in keeping with the theme of the page.  I know this is not a grungy thing, but I also like the way she right aligned the journaling strips. Great little design tip.

Talk about rough and tumble - check out the great action photos on this page by Cindy.  So great to capture that energy. To help her page reflect the vim and zip, she used a combination of dotted papers. The small pattern in the background with the larger dots in the foreground gets your eyes hopping.  The colors in the larger dots also play off the balls in the one photo.  For some additional grittiness, Cindy tore the edges of the papers and inked them up.  A simple technique that adds a lot of detail and texture to your pages.

Grungy and gritty is not just for guy pages.  Anupama shares this page that she created with a photo of her children on it. She has worked in some great rustic feel with some mixed media techniques. Anupama has done a bit of misting and masking and painting to build up her background and create a frame of sorts for her photo.  she's added metal with the little chicken wire which really gives a nice dimension and feel to the page. I love the spot where she poked the paper through to the front. Keep that in mind for the next time you accidentally tear a paper, all is not lost, look how great it looks!

Speaking of using mixed media techniques, Gael has shared this page and has done some really cool mixed media work as well.  See that awesome pattern below the bridge picture on the left, and again under the "Prague" title?  Gael created that using gesso. Yep, gesso on a scrap page!  She also sprayed the paper with glimmer mist allowing some of the ink to run. She also did some stamping on the background too.  Now check out the stack of circles.  She layered circles with differing patterns and colors and added some texture with pleating, die cuts and gems.  Then she snuck in some string that wanders it's way around the circles. A beautiful page with lots of rustic charm and gritty edginess.

These pages have so many great ideas and techniques on them, I really need to make notes in my inspiration book. I hope you've been inspired too!