Wrinkle-free Distress Ink technique

Digital stuff is a delight, but don't you just love the
pure fun of getting inky with rubber stamps?



"let the wind take you away!"

You might not be able to tell from the usual style of cards around this joint that I am obsessed with Distress Inks. I just finished making 44 custom spray inks with Distress Ink refills that I can't wait to show you, in detail.

(Not to mention all kinds of obsessive organizing
that just makes my heart sing with happy):

card

The sky background: This card is my real first try at the wrinkle free Distress Ink technique invented by Tim Holtz. I tried it way back when, with other inks, but it is much more vibrant and textural with Distress inks. I used these inks: Pine Needles, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Iced Spruce.

To make the clouds...

- I doodled some cloud shapes & cut out them out.
- Swiped over them with white acrylic paint & let it dry.
- Adhered them to the Distress Ink background.
- Pierced & stitched the outline with white thread.

To add the balloon...

- I stamped the Purple Onion Designs balloon on patterned paper (Crate paper Paper Heart 6x6).
- Then to make a quick template for stitching the string out of black thread, I cut a scrap of clear plastic from some packaging and stamped the balloon again (in stazon so it would be permanent) pierced holes in the plastic:

- Then I laid it over my card, and pierced holes where the string would be... and hand stitched the balloon string with a needle and black thread.
- Finally, the balloon itself is covered in clear lacquer glue to make it shiny & popped up on foam dots for dimension.

To add the sentiment...

- I stamped the sentiment in silver on tracing paper.
- Then heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.
- Finally I cut it out & adhered the tracing paper to the bottom of the clouds with gluestick and added a couple of hand stitches at either side to anchor each word visually.

(white Distress Stain edging)

Ever feel like the edges of the card need something
to tie all the elements together visually?

Sometimes white paint is just the thing, but sometimes pure paint is too bold.
The one Distress Stain I've tried out (the white one Picket Fence) is perfect...

If you swipe it around the edges once you get a soft white look
& you can go around a couple more times, layering it for bolder white.

If you have white Distress Stain, you might be interested
in this Painted Distress Ink tutorial:

The balloon stamp & Sentiment are from Purple
Onion Designs' The Sweetest Day collection:


&

The Purple Onion Designs blog is filled with
lots of gorgeous stuff, if you want some inspiration:

• Stazon ink & clear plastic packaging for piercing template
• Paper piercer, needle & black and white thread
• Patterned paper: Crate paper Paper Heart 6x6
• White cardstock, white acrylic paint, and Tracing paper
• Silver pigment ink, silver embossing powder, a heat gun
  
• Distress Inks: Pine Needles, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Iced Spruce.
• Scor-Pal Stay Put Craft Mat
  
• Distress Stain (white) Picket Fence
  

Here's hoping your day is delightful one,


P.S. If you're curious about the wrinkle free Distress Ink technique you can see Tim's video for it here. And he has many more videos on his new site here.

P.S. Downloading excitement!!! Thank you all so much for liking the overlays. You all made my week with your kind words! Sorry about the downloading troubles in Chrome or Explorer. If you check that overlay and other freebie posts, you'll find that downloading from any browser just got a lot simpler. Thanks again, Suruha You're the best!