Ring in the New

Hello and a very Happy New Year to you all... I hope 2013 brings you all you hope for!  I'm delighted to have you stop by today - especially since, according to tradition, anything you do on New Year's Day, you'll have to do every day of the year... Only kidding, though I'd love it of course!  And no, this doesn't mean I'll be posting every day of the year either... this was prepared in advance.  I wish I could, but realistically, it ain't gonna happen!!

But what a great day to start a brand new challenge over at Fun With ATCs, where we'd like to see Something New.


It can be a new technique you're trying for the first time, or the first use of some of your new Christmas stash (I hope that applies to pretty much everyone)...  

Just show us your ATC and let us know what it is that's new about it.  And do hop over and see what my fellow DT members have been creating - there's inspiration galore!

Almost everything on mine is new, or at least new to me...  The first thing regulars will probably notice are the colours!  

I've been stuck in neutral for a while... not that I haven't enjoyed it, and I do really love many of the pieces, but I was finding it hard to break away.  There was a gentle move into some very whitewashed, shabby colour with my New Year Manifesto, but this is a bit more full-on.   



And it's mainly thanks to some of the new Distress Stains I got from my brother for Christmas: I've used Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn here, together with the Peacock Feathers DI that I actually got way before Christmas, but hadn't yet used.  



I also used a spritz or two of one of my new Cosmic Shimmer mists, courtesy of my sister-in-law, Laura of Laurart.

The background tissue wrap is also new - to me - it was what the lovely Trace of inkypinkycraft used to wrap some little crafty bundles in when we did our Christmas tag swap, so of course I carefully preserved it all to add to the stash, and this is the first time I've used it - love it!  




I stuck it down nice and wrinklily (?!), so that there would be lots of texture.... much needed for the next gift to be put into use: some Treasure Gold in Aquamarine.

This was a gift from another friend who's been bitten by the blogging bug - Andrea shares random thoughts and fabulous music over at eclectic meandering.  

Treasure Gold is such gorgeous stuff: smeared on with the fingertips it gives an antiqued golden highlight to whatever it touches - great smell too!  I've used the White Fire on a couple of projects, but this Aquamarine is perfect with my new blues and greens.









I also used the Treasure Gold on the mulberry paper roses - you can really see the greeny gold on them.. and added some of the fabulous rusty wire that Trace sent me, and which is such an inkypinkycraft signature - very cool!

The flourish is from Crafty Emblies, and I also smeared a bit of Treasure Gold onto it in places (can you tell I'm hooked?!) to highlight the dark wood.







The Tim Holtz ChitChat stickers have also been sitting in my stash for a while, waiting to come out and play.  

They got a little touch of Old Paper DI, and an edging of Vintage Photo.  And as a sentiment, they will serve as my Crafting Manifesto for the New Year!




The final element was Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder added to the edges for texture and to tie the rustiness together.  

Once it was in place, it also got a little sweep of Treasure Gold - I love the effect of the two together!





I had an absolute ball making this... and there's lots more to come with these new colours.  They've really hooked me, so watch this space for more turquoise in the next few days.  

And get ready for my crafting manifesto in action: lots more imagination, discoveries and sharing in 2013. 

Looking forward to seeing what's new everywhere else in Craftyblogland too... Why not come and share your Something New with us at Fun With ATCs?  (In a 2.5 x 3.5 format, of course!)  It would be great to have you play along.

Think left and think right and think low and think high.  
Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!
Dr. Seuss

I'm entering this in the following:
Try It On Tuesday would like to see our New Stash in action... new Distress Stain and Ink colours, Cosmic Shimmer spray, Tissue Wrap, Aquamarine Treasure Gold, rusty wire
At Out of a Hat Creations they are playing with Birthstone Colours... it's not my own birthstone, but I couldn't resist the Aquamarine