Background Combining Oxide Inks with Alcohol Ink

Hi Everybody,

I wanted to share a card I made using Oxide Inks.  I did something a little different this time and I think the results are really pretty for this background.  I used Ranger Glossy Paper for this.... I don't understand how these colors look the way they do and you'll know what I mean when I tell you what I used.  I used Candied Apple and Twisted Citron for the Oxide Inks and for a twist  I used the Ranger Silver Metallic Alcohol Ink.  I was in the mood to play so even though I wasn't sure if the two types of ink could be combined and what would happen when I used water with the Oxide Inks and Alcohol Blender Solution with the Alcohol Ink, I went for it!  

I know this is a weird angle but I wanted to show how the silver alcohol ink shows up. 

The colors definitely do not look like the red and green inks I used.  I originally was going to use the background for a Christmas project, that's why the red and green colors.  It looks just like the Abandoned Coral doesn't it?  

So now I have this really pretty, cool background and I can't decide what to do with it and what color to stamp, emboss, etc.  I decided to use a stamp by The Ton called, Watercolor Wreath and I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink but I think because it is on glossy paper, the ink wasn't bright and crisp like it normally is so I took a chance and put some clear embossing powder on it and I liked it much better.  

I wanted the star of the card to be the background so I used a Kirarina Wink silver metallic pen and traced over parts of the black embossing on the stamp so that it wouldn't look so dark.  I've never done this but I like the results and I really like this pen.  I added clear sequins from The Ton because I thought silver ones might be too much silver on the card.

I used Gina K Designs Black Onyx and Metallic Silver cardstocks.  I just love the weight of her papers.  

I hope I inspired you to branch out with your Oxide Inks and throw in another element into the mix. You might just love what you end up with and it's such a great feeling to play and actually like the result isn't it?  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!


Regina

Bless Your Heart Oxide Ink Card

Hi Everybody,

I got a new stencil in the mail which means I either need to play with sponging inks, putting transfer gel on it for foil, or embossing paste.... the sponging ink won this time so I used the Tim Holtz Oxide Inks.  I am so in love with the result that you get with these inks.  

I didn't really give much thought as to what color I would use because I didn't have a specific card in mind to make so I chose the colors I seem to be going to the most these days, purple, orange and pink so I used Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade colors. I used a jumbo dauber sponge and sponged in random places and used a heat gun for a few seconds after I was finished.  

Isn't this a fun stencil?  This is the Tim Holtz Mosaic Layering Stencil and I can envision lots of possibilities.  Matter of fact, I have one ready now with dried transfer gel just waiting to be foiled. I think one of the watercolor foils would look amazing on this stencil.

I used the stamp set from WPlus9 called Southern Sentiments.  The second I saw this set, I ordered it. I live in Mississippi and when I saw those Southern sayings, I could think of so many people that would love cards made with them. Aren't they fun??  I bet I could help them with a Southern Sayings 2 LOL!  

I used Versafine Onyx Black ink to stamp the sentiment after lining up with my MISTI of course.  I embossed with Stampendous Clear Embossing Powder to give it some shine.  I couldn't decide if I could see it well enough so I got brave and went over it with the NUVO Crystal Drops in Ebony Black.  It's not perfect but it helped with the dimension of course and the shine so I could see it better, which was the result I wanted.

I stamped the sentiment on black cardstock with Versamark Ink and embossed with Hero Arts White Embossing Powder.  I used a banner die for the sentiment for a change from the black strip that I've been using and just cut the end off the left side so I would only have tails on one end.  I finished it off by adding a few clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. 

That's about it for this one.  I needed lots of bright colors today so I hope I inspired you to make some fun cards.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!


Regina

Stenciled Oxide Ink Background

Hi Everybody!

I haven't been on here since end of last week!  I had out of town company, a good cardmaking friend of mine from IL and her husband came to see us for a couple of days. My friend and I could spend the day anyway we wanted and we chose to relax and color, talk, listen to smooth jazz on and drink wine.  It was really nice to not feel guilty about coloring for several hours while she was here.  We ate lots of good food cooked by my husband, who used to be on BBQ teams and we went shopping.  So when I stop crafting for several days, it is hard for me to get back in the groove.
  
Yesterday, I picked up my Oxide Inks and some stencils, started sponging and the wheels in the brain finally started turning again.  :) I don't think I will ever get tired of these oxide inks because I'm still not tired of my distress inks. Yes, I will be getting the second set of 12. 

This entire card is basically all sponged ink.  A couple months ago, I stamped and embossed lots of the flowers in the Pretty Posies set by Casual Friday Stamps and I sponged them all with pinks, oranges, yellows.  I have the matching dies so I cut them all out and put them in a bag for a later date when I needed a card fairly quickly.  It's so nice to always have colored images on hand, stamped, embossed, etc, stamps on hand. It's just as easy to do 20 as it is to do 1.  LOL!  

I have to tell you, sometimes I play with color combos that surprise me.  I really love how this background turned out.  I love how soft the gray and pink look together.  You can obviously sponge harder or do more layers and make it darker but because my flowers and leaves are so vibrant, I wanted a very soft, pretty background.  I have never even used this stencil and I really like it now that I have.  I got it at a big box store, brand is Heidi Swapp but I'm not sure of the name of the stencil itself.  It came in a set of 2 or 3 that layered together.  Back when I bought these stencils, I also bought some of her sprays and I've never used those either.  What is wrong with me??  So I'm sure I'll be playing with sprays here soon and stencils. :)

For the background I used Tim Holtz Oxide Inks in Worn Lipstick and Iced Spruce.  I used jumbo sponge daubers and lightly sponged over the stencil that was taped down over the Bristol Smooth paper.  
The flowers were embossed with Hero Arts white embossing powder, cut out with the matching dies and sponged with distress inks (this was before oxide inks  BOI) lol.  Pretty Posies stamps and dies from Cas-ual Friday Stamps.  I went over the flowers and leaves with a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen. I used pop dots to pop up the flowers and leaves on the card for the focal point part but not the other 2 flowers.  The Thanks die is from Hero Arts called Thanks Stamp and Cut and the 'for brightening my day' part of the greeting is from Right At Home called Color in Sentiments. 

I thought it would look beautiful to finish it off by placing sequins where the small circles are on the stencil.  I used some gorgeous sequins by The Ton Stamps.  They are 3mm size called Glass Slipper, the clear ones. They are really small but perfect for this. 

I made a couple other stenciled oxide backgrounds so now I have those to use for cards later on.  

By the way, did you see my LIVE FACEBOOK VIDEO on the ZIG SCRIBBLING Technique?  OMGosh, I'm not afraid to do anything anymore after doing that.  If you missed it let me know.  I actually made TWO but I deleted the first one because it somehow ended up being 38 minutes!!!  How is that possible?  The second one is about 15 minutes.  I have to warn you that I made an oops and put my phone on the stand backwards after I finished talking with the camera pointed to me.  It was my first one so I get a pass right?  :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!


Regina

Copic Colored Gerbera Daisy Getwell Card

Hi Everybody,

I needed to make someone a get well card so I made this fun background using a stencil and Tim Holtz Oxide Inks in Worn Lipstick, Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade.  I love this color combo and find myself using it a lot lately. Hopefully it will cheer her up. 

I taped the stencil down over the cardstock so it wouldn't move and used jumbo sponge daubers to go around the stencil randomly with the three colors.  They blend SO easily.  I lightly spritzed with water before taking stencil off. I used a heat gun to dry it.

The texture of the oxide inks are so unique.  It feels like it is wet even when it is not.  Strange but cool at the same time.  So the next set of 12 just came out and I know I'm getting them!

I colored these gerbera daisies with Copic Markers.  I am taking a coloring class at Kit and Clowder called Nature class.  If you love coloring flowers, trees, leaves, etc, this may be of interest to you.

I wanted to break up the background a little without covering my beautiful oxide ink stencil work :), I used vellum and I think it worked perfectly for this.  Just so happened I had a pad of colored vellum and I thought the orange color would look fabulous, Paper Accents Assorted Colored Vellum.  I used the orange vellum for the vase and the stitched part of the circle and clear for the inside of the circle.  The die I used is My Favorite Things, Wide Circle Stitched Die. I used Hero Arts white embossing powder for the vase.  The vase and sentiment are from The Ton, Anemone Bouquet. I also used white embossing powder for the sentiment and cut out a strip on black cardstock and I think it stands out really well.  The stencil I used is pictured above from Plaid.  I used a Spectrum Noir Glitter Pen to add some sparkle to the flowers.   I spritzed it lightly while I still had the mask on too by the way and used a heat gun to dry it. 

Please note:   The first time I tried using glue on the vellum, I used the Ranger Multi Matte and Stampin' Up Fine Tip Glue Pen and the vellum started wrinkling up.  What I used that worked so well was a glue called Art Glitter.  

I wanted the inside to coordinate with the front so I used a circle from the die I used on the front to use as a mask and I sponged around it with the same 3 oxide inks I used on the front.  I cut a white circle out and used a vellum circle on top and stamped the sentiment.  This is from Technique Tuesday called So Grateful.  As I was looking through my stamp sets for a getwell sentiment I discovered that I don't have very many.  Most of the new sets I'm buying now don't say get well.  I finished it off with some clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. 

I hope I inspired you to get out those oxide inks.  If you are intimidated by new products like this, the easiest way to start using them is with a stencil like I did.  It will look beautiful everytime. :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Regina

A New Day Encouragement Card

Hi Everybody,

I want to share a card I made for someone going through a difficult time.  I hope this is an appropriate card for her situation.  

I used a WPlus9 stamp called A New Day.  

I decided to stamp with my Tim Holtz Oxide Inks.  I used Fossilized Amber for the background using an Impression Obsession stamp called Canvas.  I stamped the script words with Vintage Photo using a stamp from Heartfelt Creation called Large Elegant Words.  I used the heat gun because the ink was so wet. These oxide inks stamp really good!  I embossed the bird stamp using Versamark Ink and Zing Chestnut Embossing Powder.  

I made a bunch of these just playing around using regular card stock and watercolor papers.  This happens to be regular card stock. I used Zig Real Brush Markers to color the stamp.  I was surprised that they did pretty well on regular card stock because I always had used them on watercolor paper. 

I used a Spectrum Noir Clear Glitter pen on the bird's chest and the berries.  You can also put some Glossy Accents on the berries to give them lots of shine and dimension and can probably still see the glitter pen underneath, not sure.  I'll have to try that but that would look really pretty.  

When I stamped the sentiment with Versamark, I was brushing away a few stray powders and my hand rubbed off the part that says 'is a new day' so I put it a little lower in case I still had versarmark there.  You just put tape over the part you don't want to stamp, in this case, the word Tomorrow, and stamp with Versamark and then remove the tape and stamp on your card.  

This is such a lovely stamp and it is very inexpensive, around $5.  I hope I inspired you to make something beautiful today.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!


Regina

Embossing on Photo Paper with Oxide Ink Background

Hi Everybody,


I made cards with two of the backgrounds I had made a couple days ago with the Tim Holtz Oxide Inks and a stamp from The Ton called Brushed Hello.  I love how huge the Hello stamp is!  I think these cards are great to have a bunch on hand with the Hello to send out when you need a quick card.

I embossed on these, I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink on one and used clear embossing powder from WOW and I embossed with gold on the other one.  I'm not sure that I would recommend embossing on photo/glossy papers.  You can do it, but you have to be really careful.  I used the MISTI to stamp and even though I had 4 magnets, I needed to help hold the paper down, the stamp was trying to stick to it.  When you use the heatgun to emboss, you have to be very careful not to get it too hot or too close or the paper will bubble up.  Ask me how I know lol.  You could even emboss from behind.  I have 2 heat tools... one gets super hot and the other one is a few years old and doesn't as much so I used that one and it worked so long as I didn't get too close to the paper.

My suggestion would be to use dies on the photo/glossy paper, and some embellishments of course.

Yesterday I posted a link to a YouTube video where Tim Holtz shows how to foil with stamps and I did that.  Here it is...  Here is a LINK to my blog about foiling stamps.

I wanted to emboss these to see what they would look like 

Here's a close up.... the inks are so vibrant on the photo paper. 

I hope I helped inspire you to try these Oxide Inks.  I love how you get a different effect on smooth cardstock, watercolor paper and then the glossy papers.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!


Regina

Foiling a Stamp with Oxide Ink Background

Hi Everybody,

I wanted to share a card I made with Oxide Inks for the background and foiling for the stamp.... Have you tried to foil stamps yet?  If you haven't, Tim Holtz has a great video on YouTube that shows how to do it and here is a LINK to it.

I love to experiment and sometimes my experiments turn out just like I thought they would, sometimes I get pleasantly surprised, like on the last post when I used the oxide inks with the photo paper. Here is a LINK to that blog post.  Sometimes I do not get the end result I expected, which is kind of what happened with today's card BUT I think I saved it and I like it better than before.

I used the Tim Holtz Oxide Inks in Worn Jeans, Peeled Paint and Spiced Marmalade.  It looks like I used yellow but I didn't, the orange turned lighter and darker shades.  I think the colors in this background are great for male or female, birthdays, hello, anything but sympathy.

I used an awesome stamp set from The Ton called Brushed Hello.  There is also a coordinating die for the hello stamp.  This hello is a really large size. It would be great stamped on tags, bags, boxes, etc., as well.

SO... I decided instead of embossing, I wanted to try to foil the stamp.  I used rose gold decofoil and the Range Sticky Embossing Powder.  (see video link above for this technique).  WELL... I wasn't thinking and foiled it on this watercolor paper which has the rough textured surface so the foil didn't stick in all the places very well.  In the future, do this on smooth paper unless you want this look.

I was upset because I liked this background and I thought, I just say it's distressed.  My super, awesomely talented friend, Chris Dayton, gave me the idea to draw shadows around it.  I watched a YouTube video on Calligraphy Shadows and I think it looks pretty interesting.  I just used that Sharpie in the above picture and took my time.  I probably could've gone a little thicker around the thick parts of the letters.  So what do you think??   

I made this card for a friend who always says the word, fabulous.  This stamp set has some really great words in it.  I'm going to use the one that says, it's been awhile inside.  This is the perfect way to reach out and remind her that we haven't met for lunch in awhile.

I just wanted to share what I did with you and so now I'm not looking at this as if I messed up.  It looks pretty cool to me and I learned something new in the process, how to shadow letters.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!


Regina

Oxide Inks with Glossy Photo Paper

Hi Everybody,

I can't tell you how many packs of glossy photo paper I have, 4x6 size.  For years I got a free pack when I bought ink for my printer but I never did anything with them.... until today.  If you have some, get it out and let's have some fun!  Glossy cardstock will work too.

I used the Tim Holtz Oxide Inks just like I did in my previous post and here's a LINK to it.  It shows how I put some down on my craft mat, placed my watercolor paper (which is what I was using at the time) in it and after a couple colors, heat set, and then same thing again either using same colors again but changing up the sides or using different colors.  I loved the results.  The inks blend so well, even better than the Distress Inks, which I love too.

Oxide Inks are a hybrid ink, meaning a combination so in this case, a combination of dye and pigment inks.  Tim Holtz Distress Inks (which we all know and love and now have all the minis too) are a water based dye ink and can be activated when sprayed with water.  You have to work a little bit harder to blend distress inks.  When you spritz the oxide inks that you put on your craft mat, you will immediately see the difference after it starts to oxidize.  It starts to look kind of pastel metallic and when it dries on your cardstock, it looks like a matte, chalk finish.  Dye inks are transluent and pigment inks are opaque so when you mix the two, you get that interesting chalk result.  You can stamp with these inks, use with stencils, etc, you can use them exactly how you did with the distress inks BUT you can use the oxide inks on any color cardstock.  They show up amazingly on black and kraft for example.  That's the extent of my Oxide Ink knowledge lol.  I've seen many people asking what Oxide Ink is so I wanted to go into that a little bit.

So after I got the ink on my glossy photo paper like I wanted it I let it dry completely.  I saw that even letting it dry naturally or with a heat gun, I could smear the ink a little.  Well, that's no good!  I was going to see about trying Gesso on it, etc., you will never believe what worked, the simplest thing... I used a very soft microfiber cloth and rubbed on the ink and the top layer rubbed off leaving an incredibly vibrant, shiny result.  I was doing the happy dance.  I had no idea this was supposed to be rubbed off.  Y'all might've already known this but I didn't so I was doing the new discovery dance :)

Here are 4 backgrounds I made on glossy photo paper. Each one may have taken a minute.  I'm serious, that's how fabulous this ink is.  It flows differently on this paper too.  Look at the bottom left one... It dripped down and I left a box for the sentiment ha!  

The bottom half is what it looked like after it dried.  Top half is what it looked like

 after I wiped it off with a towel.  Pretty!

This is what it looked like after I wiped off the entire piece of glossy photo paper.  

The left side is before I wiped off the ink, right side after.  See how vibrant that is!

This is a comparison between glossy photo paper (top) and watercolor/regular paper. 

 So if you want a matte, chalky result, don't use photo paper.  

I just wanted to share my experience so that you will have another option when you use your inks.  I am showing pics of mine and will make cards with them and do another blog post.

I hope I inspired you to pull out those unused packs of glossy photo paper.  I can make cards with these for years!

Watch for more blog posts in the next day or so.....

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!


Regina

Oxide Inks and Copic Markers - What A Pair!

Hi Everybody,

I have been having so much fun today!  It's about 90 degrees and humid so I'm in the house in the A/C playing with my Tim Holtz Oxide Inks.  I thought I loved the Distress Inks (and I do) but
OMGosh, these oxide inks are so easy to work with and so easy to blend that you can make a masterpiece without even trying.

I'll show one of them here today and I've got a couple others in the works.  I used 4 Oxide Inks and a few Copics....  The stamp set I used is from The Ton Stamps called Large Peony 1.  I'm in love with this large flower.  I also love the sentiments included.  They now have 5 of these Peony stamp sets.  If you love to color, check their site out.

All I did was tap out the pads on my craft mat, spritz several times with a little spray mister bottle and dabbed the watercolor paper in the ink where I wanted it.  I started with 2 colors.  I used Arches 140# cold press watercolor paper and dabbed it in 2 different colors.  I started with Worn Lipstick and Wilted Violet and I used my heat gun.  Then you can turn your paper around and put colors on opposite of where they originally started, so put the pink where you originally put the purple, etc, or you can add more colors altogether.  So then I added the other 2 colors, Broken China and Cracked Pistachio just placing the paper over the inks and lightly rubbing or dabbing and heat set it and wow, I thought it looked so cool!  You really would have to just play and try this yourself to understand what I mean.  It's very easy and I can't wait to start making videos so I can show instead of tell lol. Basically just add ink until you like the look of it.

Then I stamped the large peony with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and I masked and put another flowers and 3 leaves.  I did have to stamp the flower 3 or 4 times since I used watercolor paper.  Then I took a few Copics and did a little shading, very little because you don't want to cover up the ink.  I'll list the colors I used below.  When you use Copics over this oxide ink, they blend so easily.  For example, on the leaves, I added BG15 and BG11, but just a little.  You don't even have to do this and it will still look great. I went around the entire thing with C3 Copic Marker.  I used a Spectrum Noir Shimmer Glitter Brush Pen in Clear on some of the center petals and around the edges of a few outside petals.  *Please note, I normally do not use Copics with watercolor paper/inks and I normally do not use Memento Black ink on watercolor paper but since the watercolor part of the background was finished, I could use this ink and Copics without worrying about it.

I stamped the greeting with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed with WOW Clear Embossing Powder to make it a little shiny.  Finally, a few clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh finishes it off.

I haven't seen one of my friends in about 3 months.  She always says, Hey Girl!  We live in Mississippi, everybody says Hey Girl so I knew I had to have this set because of that in addition to the awesome flower.  Her favorite color is pink so I know she will love it.  We meet for lunch about once a month or two so I want to tell her we need to do that soon in my card.

I hope you'll try these inks, they are so much fun and use your Copics with it and see what kind of a masterpiece you can make.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!


Regina

Copics Used:  RV34, RV32 and then I went back and added R59 for a little darker shading.
V15, V01 and I used V17 for darker shading.  BG15 and BG11 on leaves