Having fun with distress inks

I don’t know about you but I do enjoy getting messy with inks. Just make sure you haven’t got a cat hovering about like mine leaving inky paw prints everywhere!!

What I like about distressing is that no two cards look the same, I like unique.

This first one is using the Elizabeth Bennett stamp by Indigoblu. I used a blank Kraft card which is a natural texture that I love and then cut a piece of white card just 1/2cm smaller for the front (I find this easier when inking otherwise you can end up with ink over the whole base card. I heat embossed the Elizabeth stamp with a clear embossing powder first and then I ran the top part of the card through a Tim Holtz embossing folder on my Bigshot. Then came the fun part using Tim Holtz Distress Inks, (the colours I used were Dried Marigold and Tumbled Glass) I blended these randomly over the whole card. To embellish I cut a strip of Tim Holtz Idiology paper and edged in Walnut stain and glued this to the right bottom corner of the card. Then I embossed two flowers (different sizes) from Indigoblu’s ‘Live Laugh love’ stamp set, and coloured these with the Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, then cut out. I made a bow with ordinary thin garden string and mounted the flowers over the top using my heat gun. The outside edge was distressed using my scissors and inked with Walnut Stain. 

For this one I had a script stamp but I didn't want to use the whole script so I masked part of it with a sticky note and inked the part that was left and then randomly stamped this over the card masking different parts of the stamp as I went, I think this turned out really well. The flower stamp I used was quite fine so I used a white embossing powder to make it stand out more. Then I blended Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Shabby Shutters and Brushed Corduroy over the whole card. The butterfly border was made by stamping a small butterfly repeatedly on a narrow piece of blank card and this I inked with Shabby Shutters. Distress the outside edges of the whole card as above. 

Handmade Embellishment

How about this embellishment idea using Polymer clay. Just stamp on it without using ink to get an impression. You could even roll out the clay between one of your embossing folders and close and then roller over the top to get the same effect as your embossing machine. 

Catching Up !

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in the last week but I popped over to the UK for my Mum’s birthday. It was great to have a look around the old card haunts at the new products currently on sale and techniques being used. You kind of fall behind the wayside living out here in the country in France and sometimes it’s a must to get back into the centre of it all.  

Needless to say I came back with a few ideas to get stuck into, so it was all go when I got back to prepare for this week’s lesson. 

I decided on making a flip card but kept it fairly easy by just heat embossing the design as there is a fair bit of cutting out to do on the Bigshot. Here's what I made. 

The Gorjuss stamp I couldn't resist whilst shopping in the UK and had to make a quick card to see what it would look like in all it's glory. 

For those who want something visual to go by to remember dimensions and all that, here's a video.

Its All About Recycling

Ever thought of re-using pages from old books to make beautiful tags. Not only can you use these on gifts but they could also be your main embellishment on that special card. Here are a few I found on Pinterest and I've added a link if you want to take a look at my board 'Hang That Tag'. See what things you have just lying around the home, about to be put in the bin that could be re-used. Think of the money you'll save and the enjoyment of making something new out of nothing.
  

http://www.pinterest.com/etvoila/hang-that-tag/