Playing with Distress Oxide inks, Part I

OK, I know my blogging has been sporadic for the past month or so. October was crazy busy, and I kept waiting for things to quiet down a bit. I told myself that November would be better. Well, it has been a little quieter in terms of commitments and activities, but now I've got loads of crafting to do to get ready for the holidays. Soooo ... maybe it will be quieter in January? At any rate, I have a mess of projects to share, so I just need to start cranking out some blog posts. They may be shorter than usual, but at least they'll be out there. And if you ever have questions about something I don't explain, just leave me a comment.

Now, in my post about my Second Official October Craft Weekend, I mentioned that I had cards to share from my first play session with Tim Holtz's Distress Oxide inks. I didn't specify that said session was back in July. July, people. It's almost the middle of November, and I'm finally getting to these cards. Sigh. But I digress. I actually ended up with seven cards, so I'm going to share three today and four in my next post.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Whole Lotta' Happy (WPlus9 Design Studio)
Paper: Ballet Blue card stock, white 110-lb card stock (Recollections)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Distress Oxide: Fired Brick, Fossilized Amber, Faded Jeans (Ranger)
Accessories: Streamers embossing folder (Taylored Expressions), Balloon punch, clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen, white crochet thread (DMC), Dimensionals

Since this was my first time playing with Distress Oxide inks, I used scraps of cheaper white card stock for my experimentation. I'm not going to attempt to explain what exactly I did -- it's a combination of ink, water and a heat gun -- but I found some helpful videos online. My results were mixed: Some of the pieces I really liked, and some were pretty ugly. But even with some of the pieces I didn't really care for, I was able to punch and die cut various shapes. That's what I did for this card to make the balloons. Then I just added strings and a sentiment banner and adhered everything to an embossed card base.

I applied Wink of Stella clear glitter to some of the embossed streamers to add a little sparkle. An easy peasy -- but still fun and festive -- birthday card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Tempting Turquoise, Ballet Blue card stock; 110-lb white card stock (Recollections)
Ink: Distress Oxide: Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans, Broken China (Ranger); white gel pen
Accessories: Balloon punch, Arrows embossing folder, white crochet thread (DMC), Go Green sequins (Craft Medley), Dimensionals, Glue Dots

Here's another balloon card, but with the "fancy" piece as the background. I did a little blue color blocking with the Distress Oxide inks, so I used similar card stock colors for the balloons but with opposite shades (light balloons on the darker background and dark balloon on the lighter background). I layered the panel on blue card stock, added a bow and a few sequins and used Dimensionals to attach the piece to an embossed card base.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Birthday Balloons (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper: Poppy Parade, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight card stock; 110-lb white card stock (Recollections)
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Poppy Parade; Distress Oxide: Fired Brick, Fossilized Amber, Broken China (Ranger)
Accessories: Stars, Banner Framelits dies; Merry Minis punch pack; clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen; Mini Dimensionals; Mono Multi liquid glue

I think this is my favorite card of this bunch. I love all the stars and the bright colors. (Tempting Turquoise is a hard color for me to use, but I think it's perfect here with Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight.) I was also really pleased with how the background piece turned out for this card.

The stars did need a little twinkle, so I broke out my trusty Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.

I painted all the die-cut and punched stars with a few coats of glitter to give them some good sparkle. I love a little sparkle!

Funny side story: For my birthday, one of my good friends gave me a dishtowel that says, "Dip it in glitter. It will be fine." I love it! I don't use loose glitter too often, because it can get messy, especially with two cats around, but controlled glitter, like glitter glue or pens, is fab.

That's it for Part I of my first experimentation with Distress Oxide inks. Stayed tuned for the next four cards. Thanks for stopping by!