Grungy Monday Art Journal Page

I have to admit that I wasn't that thrilled when the Grungy Monday technique challenge (posted here at Linda's Studio L3 blog) for this week was distress color blocking. Granted, it did come with a cool Tim Holtz video demonstration, which you can see here.  But, I don't know.  It just seemed so, um, well, plaid to me.  But after looking at a few other contributions, I realized that the technique could be done in a more subtle way.  Since my art journal has been sad and lonely lately, I decided to give it a go.  I started with a Club Scrap mask and spritzed some pesto and terra cotta spray ink around in.  Then, I filled the background in, using the color block technique (weathered wood, pine needles and some kind of orange ink).  I really like how it turned out. The journaling reads, "It's time to start my summer reading." The image is a picture that I took of a statue in the harbor.  Have you tried it yet? Am I only the only one allergic to plaid?