Distress crayons and Bird Crazy

Here's a background I created using Tim's distress crayons.  They are fun to play with but I don't see myself using them that often.

My little/only brother is turning 55 this year....not possible!!!  I still remember him running away from mom as she was called away to the phone during a re-diapering session.  He streaked out onto the wraparound porch just laughing up a storm at his freedom.

The base card is Bazzill, the next layer is kraft card stock.  The top layer is mixed media paper that's been covered with a thin layer of gesso.  This does help the distress crayons move easier with your fingertips.  I placed the mini gears stencil over it and carefully removed some color with a damp towel but it was a bit too damp because the colors ran more than I wanted.  To I let the surface dry then replaced it and used the gray distress crayon.  Nah, still not liking the look.  So I replaced the stencil again but this time drew in some of the shapes with a black Sharpie.  Now I'm liking the layered look. 

I used the mini movers & shapers gears dies to cut out multiple pieces from a sheet of mixed media card stock that had been colored with the crayons and smeared with water.  The color was too plain so I smooshed a brown distress ink pad onto my work surface, misted it with water then drew the gears through it.  After letting the ink dry I went around the edges with black Sharpie before adhering them to the card front. 

The birds were stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink onto watercolor paper and colored with distress inks and markers (my all-time favorite way to color an image).  I did the same for the party hats then cut them out with the coordinating dies.  I needed to ground the birds so I smeared the edge of the JBAI pad across the bottom then smudged the ink with my fingers. 

From gray cardstock I die cut the words using an Impression Obsession die (159-M).  I handwrote the other bit using a black Fude Ball Pen.  The eyes were colored with Glossy Accents.  Both birds have foam tape behind them to give the card dimension.