Floral Arrangement

Posted: March 15, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: floral arrangement | Tags: distress oxide inks, liquid metals, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 11 Comments

I have a burst of colour and some sprinklings of sparkle to share today. I am enjoying the entries in the ‘Sparkle With Us‘ challenge but I would love to see more. There are still five days left to add your sparkly project to the gallery, just click over to see all the details.

I used some new and some older distress oxide inks to create my colourful background. My paper is hot pressed watercolour and my technique was pressing the oxide pad on a craft mat, spritzing with water then swiping my paper through the ink. I did this numerous times but always dried the panel between swipes, that way I was able to build up layers and pockets of colour. After I had added my last layer of oxide ink I put some diluted liquid metal (metallic sky) on my craft mat and swiped the panel through that; the result was some blue shimmer over the blue painted area.

To create my spray of flowers I used the Penny Black ‘floral arrangement’ die to cut three flower sprays from ‘parchment’ patterned vellum, one of the designs in the grafix assorted vellum pad. I snipped the die cut flowers to create a layered arrangement of small flowers and leaves. The die does cut a larger flower, but I didn’t use it on this card. I put all my die cuts in a box and splattered gold paint from the gansai tambi starry colors set over them. After they dried I attached the leaves and flowers on my panel and I added a drop of glue to some of the flowers and sprinkled gold micro beads onto the glue. I co-ordinated the sentiment with the beads by embossing it in gold. All the supplies are listed below.

Do you think I might be able to label this one mixed media?

Supplies

Stamp: smile today

Die: floral arrangement

Inks: tattered rose, candied apple, blueprint sketch, fossilized amber distress oxide, versamark

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, parchment patterned vellum, neenah solar white

Paint: gansai tambi starry colors, metallic sky liquid metal

Also: On point glue, gold micro beads, gold embossing powder

Wildflowers

Posted: January 26, 2018 | Author: Heather | Filed under: wildflowers | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Darkroom Door stencils, distress oxide inks | 4 Comments

Happy Australia Day! What better to feature on the blog than a card made with Australia’s own Darkroom Door designs. The fact is though, by the time I get out of bed on Australia Day the festivities over there are practically over. I am currently sixteen hours behind my family on the east coast of NSW!

I’ve been pairing stencils with a few different things lately. For today’s card I sponged through the Darkroom Door stencil, wildflowers, with black soot distress oxide ink. You can see the watermarks on the stenciled flowers, a chalky white effect particularly obvious with the oxide inks. But before I did that I began by sprinkling brusho over a panel of watercolour paper. I spritzed with water and let the patterns happen. Once that was dry I sponged the black soot oxide through the stencil then splattered some droplets of water on top. I dabbed them up fairly quickly to create the watermarks.

I cut a black mat to be a very narrow frame around the panel and added a black sentiment from the Darkroom Door Happy Birthday set.

Supplies

Stamps: happy birthday
Stencil: wildflowers
Paint: brusho paints sunburst lemon, leaf green, ost blue brusho
Ink: versafine onyx black, black soot distress oxide
Paper: hot pressed watercolour, solar white, epic black
Also: clear embossing powder

Correspondence

Posted: November 30, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Correspondence, World Map | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, distress oxide inks, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint | 7 Comments

For today’s card I pulled out the Darkroom Door vintage style “Correspondence set” and the “World Map” stamp. This mosaic style card was made for the wedding anniversary of friends of mine. I chose the correspondence and map stamps because they are a couple who love books, travel and literary memorabilia.

To create my background I used a layering technique featuring distress oxide inks. I pressed fossilized amber, broken china and cracked pistachio inks onto a craft sheet. I spritzed with water and pressed my hot pressed watercolour paper onto the ink. After picking up a layer of colour I dried the panel before laying it back into the ink to pick up more colour. By drying the panel in between layers I was able to keep the colours bright and distinct. Once I had layered enough colour I splattered some gold paint lightly over a few areas then let it dry.

I chose several stamps from the Correspondence set and stamped them in versafine onyx black ink onto the distress oxide background. I also stamped the world map stamp so I could cut out a little map panel. The next step was a bit like putting a puzzle together as I trimmed and arranged my stamped and unstamped rectangles to fill a natural coloured A2 card front. Once I was happy with my layout I added black foam to the back of three rectangles to add height and visual interest. I was left with one little space which I filled with four dots of ebony black nuvo crystal drops.

Supplies used:

Stamps: Darkroom Door Correspondence set, Darkroom Door World Map
Ink: Versafine Ink Onyx Black
Distress Oxide inks: Fossilized Amber, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio
Also: gold paint, Nuvo Black ebony crystal drops, black foam sheet, craft mat
Paper: Neenah solar white, Hot pressed watercolour paper

DiOx background

Posted: November 16, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Flower sparks | Tags: distress oxide inks, Penny Black stamps | 8 Comments

I taught a class a while ago where we created distress oxide backgrounds similar to this one. I began with a piece of hot pressed watercolour paper, swiped my salty ocean and fossilized amber distress oxide inks across the panel then spritzed it generously while holding the paper upright which enabled the ink to run down towards the bottom of the panel. I held it the opposite way so the lighter colour ran back into the darker. I kept doing this until I had a fully covered, blended background.

It’s hard to see in the photo but I spritzed with pearl-ex spray which created a sparkly sheen over everything. (I create my own pearl-ex spray by adding less than ¼tsp pearl-ex powder to a small spritzer full of water) Once the panel was dry I splattered some more spray over the background and dabbed it off with a paper towel to created the patchy light and dark effect.

I stamped the Queen Anne’s lace stamps from the Penny Black Flower Sparks set in fossilized amber, salty ocean and black soot distress oxide inks. To finish I attached to a white card base and added a white on black embossed sentiment. All the supplies are listed below; some include affiliate links which give me a small commission but add nothing to your costs. Anytime you feel like browsing in The Foiled Fox online store, clicking through from the Foiled Fox promo in my side bar will send some commission my way if you make a purchase. And while we are chatting about the lovely folk at The Foiled Fox I have an inside scoop: they are starting a loyalty program where you will earn ‘foxy dollars’ every time you make a purchase there. Even though it hasn’t officially begun any November purchases will count towards your future foxy dollars!

Supplies

Stamps:Flower Sparks, Happy Snippets (made by Penny Black)
Inks: fossilized amber, salty ocean, black soot distress oxide inks (Ranger) Versamark (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah solar white cardstock, Neenah epic black cardstock
Tools: heat tool
Added extras: interference blue pearl-ex powder

A wilderness path

Posted: August 27, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Brusho, Wilderness Vol.2 | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, distress oxide inks, Ranger Alcohol Ink | 7 Comments

This peaceful wilderness path is a scenic stamp from Darkroom Door. I’ve used it in three different ways to create some seasonal backgrounds. For the card above I created an alcohol ink background on yupo in the blues and greens of summer. I stamped the path stamp over the alcohol ink panel in stazon jet black ink. I hand wrote the little sentiment with a fine micron pen.

To create my golden fall scene I used distress oxide inks on glossy photo paper. I pressed the orange and yellow inks onto a craft mat, spritzed them and swiped my photo paper panel through the ink. Most of the colour soaked into the paper immediately but I set it aside to dry for a while and found there was a chalky residue that stayed on top. I wiped that off and was left with a background to which I stamped over with stazon jet black ink.

My chilly winter scene was created using brusho powders on a craft mat. I sprinkled some blue and purple on the mat, spritzed it then swiped some photo paper through the colour. The first print is usually quite intense so I think the one below must have been a second impression.

These cards are also on the Darkroom Door blog today so pop over there for all the complete supply list.

Distress Oxide background

Posted: August 8, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Butterfly trio, Sweet Perfume | Tags: distress oxide inks, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 8 Comments

I’ve been playing with distress oxide inks again and its all because of the wonderful folk at the Foiled Fox. I loved the first 12 colours released but when I saw salty ocean, peacock feathers and seedless preserves in the second release I was pretty happy. I am guest blogging over on the Foiled Fox blog today with all the details about this card.

Our family has been enjoying a visit from my sister-in-law, Dale for a few weeks. She came from Australia via Alaska and we have had the chance to do a few little trips around Ontario and Quebec while she’s been here. One afternoon while we were home I was downstairs in my workroom trying to nail this card. I loved the soft blends in the background but deciding on features for the foreground was not happening. Dale came down to see what I was doing and we ended up collaborating to complete the card.

Supplies

Stamps:Sweet Perfume, Butterfly Trio (PB)
Die: Many Thanks (PB)
Inks: spiced marmalade, abandoned coral, wild honey distress oxide inks (Ranger) versamark (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah natural white cardstock, brick red cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder (WOW)

Beautiful tree

Posted: July 31, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Shade Canopy | Tags: distress oxide inks, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps | 6 Comments

The newest distress oxide inks are in the house (thank you Foiled Fox) so I decided to do some stamping with them along with a basic background. So far in my experiments with distress oxides and my recent class I have used distress oxides to create dramatic and rich backgrounds. In using them for stamping I had to think about what characteristics of the ink I wanted to take advantage of.

I began by making a background. I pressed the salty ocean ink on my impermeable craft mat, added water then swiped my watercolour panel through it. I dried that completely then did a similar thing with lucky clover and twisted citron inks. Next I pulled out the MISTI so I could stamp the tree colour by colour. I inked the foliage in lucky clover, stamped, peeled paint, stamped, spritzed to let it blend then inked the trunk and a few areas within the foliage with vintage photo and stamped that. To get a nice blend I kept stamping patches of colour here and there with the help of the misti. What I didn’t end up liking was how pale and ‘oxidised’ the foliage became. It got the chalky look where I wanted more bold colour. The fix for this I felt, would be to add undiluted ink over the top so I dried everything and stamped more lucky clover and peeled paint over the top of the blended colour. There is still plenty of chalky oxidised colour but also some darker areas.

Only the grass remained to be stamped so I picked ‘lucky clover’ on account of its name and stamped that across the bottom of the panel. I kept the stamp in place but moved my paper to extend the grass from one side to the other. The overall effect is more like a tree painted in acrylic over a watercolour sky. Rather than switch to my usual versafine for the sentiment I kept it all in the DiOx family and used black soot then framed the panel in black and attached it to my cream card base.

Supplies:

Stamps: Shade Canopy, Faith (PB)
Inks: salty ocean, lucky clover, peeled paint, twisted citron, vintage photo, black soot distress oxide inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper

Bliss birds

Posted: July 22, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: happy bliss, Tagged | Tags: distress oxide inks, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand lettering, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 7 Comments

I have a couple of distress oxide backgrounds to share today, topped with a whimsical line stamp from Penny Black. To create the backgrounds I applied spiced marmalade and worn lipstick diox inks to watercolour paper then spritzed them enough to make the colours blend but not so much as to flood the colour off the page.

I stamped the ‘happy bliss’ stamp in versafine onyx black ink over the coloured background and popped up the panels on white card bases. I die cut the little black banners and added a stamped sentiment on one and a handlettered phrase on the other.

Hope you are having a fabulous day.

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Bliss (PB)
Dies: Tagged, Shades (PB)
Pens: Exclusive Calligraphy nib holder (Foiled Fox)
Ink: Spiced marmalade & worn lipstick distress oxide inks (Ranger) Versafine onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Papers: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black and solar white cardstock
Ink: DrPh Martins bleedproof white for calligraphy

The distress oxide trials – Overstamping

Posted: May 8, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Feathery | Tags: distress oxide inks, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks | 7 Comments

Today’s misty muted scene is brought to you by ‘The Distress Oxide Trials’. This one was one of my early experiments involving stamping over stamping. The effect might be a bit messy for some but I like the way lighter colours over darker colours give something of a skeletal look. I used the ‘feathery’ stamp and inked it with peeled paint first, spritzed then stamped, did the same with vintage photo, and finished with broken china.

You can see the blue over the brown shows up as a x-ray type image. On the right hand side there was an area without much brown so I decided to soften it even more with water to create the look of light coming through.

To finish the card I matted with both brown and blue cardstock then added a sentiment in brown.

Supplies:

Stamps: Feathery, snippets (Penny Black)
Inks: vintage photo, peeled paint, broken china distress oxide inks (Ranger) versafine vintage sepia (Tsukineko)
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, blue cardstock, brown cardstock

Distress Oxide Trials – one or two colours

Posted: May 5, 2017 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Blips, Felicity, Shades, Triple Banner | Tags: distress oxide inks, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders | 15 Comments

As I’ve been reading your comments about distress oxide inks I have noticed some of you are not sure you want them so have held off or only bought one or two to try. I decided to see what I could do with just one or two colours. I’ve been having so much fun with about half the colours I haven’t even opened them all yet and sadly spiced marmalade is currently hiding somewhere in my ~~messy~~ busy and productive workroom. All that to say, if you only have one or two colours, do some experimenting with them anyway; you might be surprised.

This green themed card is inked with only peeled paint distress oxide ink and yet there is a light and dark teal green, and dark and light olive tones as well. I was pretty impressed. I think the key to this effect is in the layering of colour. I pressed my ink pad on my craft mat, spritzed the ink then swiped my embossed panel through the ink. Colour only partially filled the panel; I dried it then repeated the process over and over. Each layer of ink reacts with the ink already on the paper and the un-inked areas on the paper. I also did some splattering of ink and water and some dabbing of water with a paper towel to lift a bit of colour. Because my panel was embossed I had to be careful not to reheat the embossing too much so I kept the heat tool moving. I love the effect around this ‘blips’ background stamp. A friend of mine used this stamp with great results recently by sprinkling brusho over the embossed image. Seeing her lovely card reminded me I had this stamp tucked away.

My second card uses only two distress oxide inks, worn lipstick and fired brick. I was hoping to do cards in just one colour but I wasn’t getting the same variety of colours from worn lipstick. My guess is that I spoiled my chances by covering the whole panel with my first layer of diluted ink rather than just part of the panel. I did manage to build up some different pinks over the top of the first layer but the differences were not as dramatic as shown on the green above. I will try again and use the same partial inking technique over and over and see what happens.

I did still manage to get some nice colour trapped inside the embossing creating light and dark petals and leaves. To provide just a bit more contrast I swiped it through some fired brick diluted ink a few times. When I press my ink on my craft mat then spritz it lightly it forms little beads of ink. Swiping through them spreads colour across the panel but pressing the paper down on top picks up little dots of ink, another cool effect I think.

I finished both cards with embossed sentiment banners and a few embellishments.

I have a growing list of suggestions from readers to try next week. Thanks for all your encouragement, tips and questions.

Supplies

Stamps: Felicity, Blips, Amazing!, Special Thoughts (PB)
Dies: Triple Banner, Shades
Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah natural white and epic black cardstock
Inks: versamark (Tsukineko) Distress oxide peeled paint, worn lipstick, fired brick (Ranger)
Also: WOW clear embossing powder, Studio Katia sparkling crystals, Simple stories enamel dots