Getting Inky

I have been a participant in the latest online card class entitled, Kick Start. I have been thoroughly enjoying each day's hints, ideas and guest artists. One of the homework assignments for Day 10 was to try creating a card that is not in your usual style. Although I have frequently played with distress inks and stains, I have never completed a project using the distress style. I recently received one of the new Tim Holtz Metallic Stains in my order from Simon Says Stamp, but I had not had time to give it try, so I set out to create a distressed collage project. In addition to the Tarnished Brass metallic stain, I used White Picket Fence and Forest Moss Distress Stains to create a background on watercolour paper. After spritzing the stains with water and allowing the inks to wick out and blend, I dried the paper with my heat gun. Next, I added a row of dots and another of squares using a Magenta stencil and the metallic stain. Once again, I dried the paper before moving on to stamp on the background. I used Jet Black Archival ink to stamp images from the "Flights of Fancy" set of clear Tim Holtz stamps. I also layered more images using Russet Archival ink and also the metallic stain. I decided that I wanted the black images to stand out more than they were, so I restamped some of the images with Versamark and embossed them with Tsukinek clear embossing powder (my favourite). I was quite pleased with the result. I trimmed and mounted the finished piece on black cardstock and then popped it up with dimensional adhesive on a light green card base. I also added gold ribbon and an autumn sentiment. I finally finished my inky project. How satisfying!

Can't wait to try some more!
Until next time,