Distress Ink Watercolor: Practice

Ok bloggers...

I am absolutely even more in love with my Tim Holtz Distress Inks...now that I've invested in a Zig Brush2O!

Because the Distress Inks are specially formulated to react with water, they make for amazing water colors, especially for coloring in stamps! Simply press your ink pad onto a non stick surface, such as your craft sheet or an acrylic block, and use the water brush to pick up small amounts at a time. To clean of the brush after each color, simply swirl it around on your non stick surface or on a scratch piece of paper until its clear again! So easy!

Here's what I did...

This was my first attempt. I was using super cheap plain white paper and it warped like crazy due to all of the moisture. I couldn't believe how well I could detail with the water brush and Distress Inks. Notice the shading under the car - that was done by adding a small amount of Walnut Stain on top of the Tea Dye base. I also layered different blue Distress Inks to create the sky. This stamp is from Artistic Outpost.

This was the same thing. Just practice on regular ol' paper. I wanted to try my hand at coloring her hair and dress. I love the softness to this one, but I might give it another go :)

Today, I bought a package of watercolor paper after work, and cut a few pieces to 2.5"x3.5" (which is the correct size for ATCs). This particular image was actually a mistake. I was stamping...playing around, and really didn't like what I came up with, but I didn't want to waste my new paper, so I colored it in anyway. I at least like how the sky came out :) The water color paper is SO much better than regular cardstock, and didn't warp at all. It help the color better, and really helped the inks act more like watercolors!

This...this is my absolute favorite image so far. The stamp is, of course, a Tim Holtz stamp. Again, I used the water color ATCs that I cut, and was super pleased with the results! I was able to blend three different colors on tree alone, as well as color in the itty bitty leaves. To make the image pop a little more, I went over the lines (very carefully and painstakingly) with black Zig Millennium Markers in size 01 and 05.

Let me know what you think. I'm super excited about this!

Just Me

Hey there! This layout, Just Me, was so much fun to make! I'm applying to work for an amazing company/magazine, and this was part of the application process! Wish me luck :)

First, I paired a strip of My Mind's Eye Lost and Found paper with a larger piece of orange patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye Simply Delightful stack.

I really wanted to portray a LOT about myself in this layout, so I put a lot of thought into the design. There's the black and cream damask print, pretty ribbon with ruffles and pleats, and butterfly stamps to represent my feminine and girly side. I chose the bright orange accent color, wooden game piece, Grungeboard wings and the distressed stamping to represent my tomboy, distressed and bold personality.

Those Tim fans out there probably already noticed the stamped background. I used all of my favorite sayings stamps (mostly from Mr. Tim) to create a background. By stamping with Wild Honey Distress Ink on the orange paper, I was able to achieve a neat, and bold, watermark effect.

I think this layout really says a lot about me....Just Me.

You Make My World Happy

I'm not sure why I made this card, or who I'll end up giving it to, but I think it's super cute! 

I use my Cricut and the Give a Hoot cartridge to make the adorable squirrels, my Tim Holtz Wood Grain Texture Fade with Walnut Stain Distress Ink to create the background, and a few of my favorite Hero Arts stamps from the Woodland Creatures set to make the accents.

Oh yea...it's a little hard to notice in the photo, but the eyes of the little squirrels are shiny and raised. I used one of my new favorite products, Inkssentials Enamel Accents from Ranger, to give them a more realistic look.

Above Rubies Cricut Cutting Guide

Hey there bloggers!

I've been telling so many people about the Cricut Cutting Guide from Megan at Above Rubies Studio, so I thought I'd post a link to the guide for those of you who are having trouble finding it :)

Go here, and follow the directions to get the Cricut Cutting Guide. It won't disappoint!

My Man - First LO of the Year!

For Christmas, I was given 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner from my amazing boyfriend, and I absolutely LOVE it! When I first laid eyes on that book, I didn't pay it much attention because I assumed that it wouldn't really be geared towards my style, but after flipping through it a few times during my break at work, I knew it would be useful.


As many of you know, I don't make a lot of scrapbook pages, so I combined a few of the challenges to help me with this layout. I don't want to reveal too much from the book, so as to not spoil it for any one expecting to get it. I'll just say this - I combined black and white with color, made a list, and used some of my old supplies that were collecting dust!


At work tomorrow, I'll be demoing the Cricut and Gypsy once again, and I like to have samples with me to show off how amazing the Cricut can be. I think I'll take this layout with me :) I used the city border on the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to create the 11" border on the bottom, and then used clear embossing powder to emboss the entire surface.


Of course, no layout is complete without a touch of Tim, so I used Grungeboard elements, and a few of his stamps. The Grungeboard letters and accents were covered in either black or white Enamel Accents from Ranger. Love how they turned out...


I hope you like it! I must say this is my favorite layout so far this year, hehe :)

New Year and a New Look!

With the new year here, I thought it would be the perfect time to finally take the time to redo my blog. I've been wanting a new look for a while now - something clean and crisp - and I think I achieved just that!

I drew a lot of my inspiration from Nancy's blog is at Loves to Create - I love how bright and classy her blog is!

I'm sure that all of you Tim fans out there recognize the images in my header. With his permission, I used a few of the images from Tim's line of stamps. They're a few of my favorites :)

I hope you all like the changes! I'm sure that I'll be expanding the pages and features further, so keep an eye out!

Until next time!

One Little Word...

The past few years I've noticed so many of the bloggers that I follow taking part in One Little Word - if you aren't sure what OLW is, check it out here.

I've decided that I want to try my hand at it this year, and I've chosen my word very carefully. 

My One Little Word for 2011 is:

CHERISH

Things in my life have been changing so rapidly. I want to cherish every moment, every day, every event...every smile and every hug. I am making it my goal for 2011 to take absolutely nothing for granted.

Wish me luck and here's to a wonderful, happiness filled 2011!