A 'Landmark' Studio Challenge

I had so much fun with this week's challenge at The Studio:

Hopefully this will encourage you to go out with fresh eyes to take in your surroundings. Even if you can't get out and about at the moment, you can search online for a picture :) Scrap about a local landmark, and what it signifies to you. Maybe it's the first thing you see when you step out of the house, maybe it's a monument in the centre of town. It doesn't have to be something that other people would consider significant. Enjoy!

The town of Middletown, New Jersey is huge. 42 square miles huge. It borders the Raritan Bay, the Navesink River and then stretches into farmland and forest to the west. There are lots of landmarks here, historical (this was a significant pass-through during the Revolutionary War) and otherwise. Here's the 'otherwise':

The 'Scary Clown' of Middletown, aka 'The Food Circus Clown', aka 'The Evil Clown'. His prominent location on a main artery that runs through our town has propelled him to stardom. He's been there since 1956 when he was  installed for a Food Circus Supermarket and he used to rotate! He has a a wikipedia entry and has even been featured in the movies. How could I not make a layout about this guy? He's haunted me since I moved to New Jersey back in 1974. So here's what I made:

materials: cardstock: Bazzill, patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras Lass, Studio Calico; stamps: Studio Calico (starburst, label), Close To My Heart (flower); letters: Cosmo Cricket, Making Memories; punch: Stampin Up; spray ink: Tattered Angels, buttons

I decided to keep this layout fairly simple. I stamped the starburst around some of the circles on the background paper, then added small punched circles from the striped paper used for the flowers to add a little fun & depth. The kraft backing page is actually misted with an opaque white spray in, just to give it a little extra detail.  As you can see, the Scary Clown is now employed by a large liquor store, which occupies the space of the former Food Circus. Even though he's a little unnerving, I'm glad he has maintained his spot in parking lot all these years!

The Studio design team did an amazing job on this fun challenge. It was so great to see everyone's local landmarks. Go have a look for yourself and join in - I'd love to see what you come up with! Also, have a look at DT member Tessa's blog Precious Paper. She makes gorgeous flower embellishments and is putting together her first design team. What fun it would be work on that team!

Family party obligations today & the start of another heatwave here in the NE. Glad the kids will get one last week of fun in the sun before school starts. Now I need to go and put the finishing touches on a few projects for submission. See you during the week!