Happy Holidays - Distress style!

Good Morning!

This is one of the first cards I made after getting my stash of distress inks and Tim Holtz Stamps.  The stamp collection is Holiday Wishes.

I started by inking my background of the center image with browns.  I then used the sheet music stamp to enhance the background a bit.  I kept stamping and inking until I was happy.  I added some pine leaves in greens and santa in red.  All of this stamping was done with the distress inks.  Then I used black archival ink to stamp the Happy Holidays.  It was very simple and lots of fun to see what you can create with inks and a white piece of paper.

For the inside, I used the pinecone stamp and stamped it around the edges to make a border.  I stamped off the actual card to add variety and used several shades of brown.  After I stamped all of them, I spritzed it with water to mute some of the pinecones into the background.  I then stamped some more pinecones for the front.  Finished it off with the sentiment by Stampabilities.

I am sorry most of my posts lately have been with these distress inks, but I have had so much fun creating with them.  You will never get the same look twice.  I think maybe Tim himself should stop by and maybe hire me as his sidekick!  What do you think?  What a dream job that would be ;0).  I guess a girl can dream.  Try them out and they will likely become your new addiction!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I enjoyed your visit!

Blessings until next time!

Enjoy the Journey!

Good Morning!

I made this card for my dad's birthday.  I wanted it to look a bit rustic so I used the rusted enamel technique with my distress inks and embossing powders.  Tim Holtz teaches this in his Creative Chemistry 101 online class.

First you cover the background in distress ink.  I used my greens.  Then you cover the entire paper with embossing ink and then embossing powder.  Now before you heat the embossing powder, you pick up the paper and flick it with your fingers on the back side.  This causes some of the ink to fall off the paper leaving little "pits" in the embossing.  Then you go over the paper with your brown distress inks.  That leaves it to look like the paper background is a bit rusty.

So after all that, I tore off the edges and stamped this little car on there to make it a bit manly for my dad. I did use some white distress stain to lightly put the Enjoy the Journey image on the background paper.  I finished him off with the metal embellishment tied with twine.  I wrapped the twine behind the card and left it a bit loose to give it more of an old feel.

This is the inside of the card.  Very simple with another Tim Holtz embellishment.

I hope you picked up something that you can use in your crafting today.  Please stop by again, your visit is greatly appreciated!

Blessings until next time...
Athina

Summer Flower Tilda

Hello Friends!

Today I am back with a pretty little Tilda, Summer Flower Tilda.  I could not resist using the teals, oranges and yellows on this image.  The bad news is, In my coloring fun, I forgot to keep track of the colors that I used.  Please forgive me.

Anyhow, I colored her up using my copics on cryogen paper.  The ground underneath her is also done in copics and the sky around her is tim holtz distress inks.  I layered her up with teal MME paper and then put the image against some MME and Basic Gray paper.  The orange flowers were white, but I airbrushed them to match.  The teal flower has a white doily behind it and a pretty little pearl in the center.

I did not stamp a sentiment on the inside because I am not sure yet who will get this card.  Once I have that figured out, I will finish it up.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments are always appreciated.  Hopefully, I have added something positive to your day!

Blessings until next time!
Athina

Happy Birthday Prema!

Hello Blogging Friends!

Today is Prema's birthday.  She is from the PJ girls blogging group over at SCS.  Please stop by her blog and leave her some love!

Yes, I know, I used more Tim Holtz fun stuff!  I used pink and purple inks to make background and then added white stain to a damask background stamp.  It lightened the color just a little bit.  Then I stamped the butterflies in plum archival ink and added some flowers at the bottom.  All stamps are by visual artistry on the front.  I finished it off with some brushed corduroy ink around the edges and put it on some MME background paper.  I tied a crate ribbon around it along with a butterfly charm.  I did add some perfect pearls and stickles to the butterflies, but the picture did not take very well.

The inside sentiment is by Printworks.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today.  Please stop by and wish Prema a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Blessings until next time.
Athina

Nostalgic Batik Technique

Hello Friends!

I tell you, this Tim Holtz guy has me playing with all his fun toys.  His products are so fun and create so many different effects.  I never know what I will end up with once I sit down to start on something with the inks and stains.  I promise someday soon I will get back to the copics.

For this card, I took inspiration from a card made in Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 101 class by Tammy Tutterow.  I started with a white piece of card stock for the brown and blue image in the center.  I then stamped in walnut stain distressed ink the flourishes you see in brown below.  I quickly embossed the brown ink with clear embossing powder.  Then I took some brushed corduroy ink and stamped the script in the background.  I heated it up a bit to set that ink.  Then I used stormy sky and faded jeans distress ink to color in the background, leaving the center the lightest.  Once I had all that done, I tore the bottom of the image to give it a worn look and used some more walnut stain ink to go around the edges of the paper.  I mounted that image on another white piece of cardstock that had been distressed and inked.  I finished it off with crate paper ribbon and an embellishment by Bo Bunny.

This card was very easy to make!  You should give it a try.  Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope I have provided you with some inspiration for your day!

Blessings until next time...

Athina

Crafty Gals August Challenge!

Good Morning Friends,
Today I am brining you a challenge from a blogging group I am in over at SCS.  The Crafty Gals challenge hostess this month is Carolina.  Here is her challenge:


"Animal Birthdays"

Two of my son's are having birthdays this next months. Since we didn't do any b-day cards I challenge you all to do one using an animal character and four shapes of any sort somewhere in the card plus colours red and blue. Is this too much to ask???. Good luck.


Well, I had to look a little for a stamp, but I found this High Hopes stamp, Froggy Gift, and it fit the bill. The paper was an easy one for me.  I used Cosmo Cricket for the main background. The blue stripe across the page is by DCWV.  The image is colored up in copics and I used distress inks around the top edge.  For my 4 shapes, I have a square, rectangle, tag and spellbinders Labels 18.  Hopefully, those 4 shapes count.

Copics used:
Skin:  E000, E00, E11, E13
Pants:  B91, B93, B95
Shirt:  R20, R22, R24
Hat:  YR20, YR21, YR23, YR24, R20, R22, R24
Sling:  E29, E30, E25
Frog, G20, G21, G24, W0, W1, G28, 0

The inside sentiment is by Inkadinkado and it is one of my favorites to use.  I thought it fit perfectly with a little boys card.

Great challenge Carolina!  Please stop by the other Crafty Gals blogs to see what they have created with this fun challenge!

Melina ~ Crafty Scrapper 

Jackie ~ Kreate With Me 2 

Tracie ~ The Crafty Touch

Carolina ~ Cardolina Scrapolina 

Barb ~ Barb's Inkin' into Retirement 

Diane ~ Stampin Ldyglfr62 

Lela ~ Lela's Crafty Corner 

Heather ~ Lost in the Land of Stamping 

Patty ~ LaLatty's Stamp 'N Stuff

Jeanette ~ Cre8tive Play: It's Cheaper than Therapy 

Thank you for stopping by.

Blessings until next time...

Athina

Thank you!

Good Evening Friends,

It has been a very busy summer around here.  It seems we don't sit down until later in the evening any more.  Always on the go.... but I don't think we are missing anything!

Today I have a quick little Thank You card that I made for my brother.  He fixed my computer a while back and put a new hard drive in it.  So I make this for him.

I used distress inks in orange, browns and yellows to give it a manly feel.  Distressed the edges a bit, even more manly, huh?  Then I used an letter stamp by stampabilities in the background with multiple colors of brown on the back ground stamp.   I then used distress stain in picket fence to stamp the tickes along the right hand side.  Added some clock faces by Stampers Anonymous and finally the man with an umbrella in black Archival ink.  Stamped a little Thank you in the bottom and glued him down.

I am really liking using the distress inks.  It might become as big of an addiction as the copics are.  My DH just rolls his eyes each time I get more inks, stains or stamps.  I think he is jealous. lol. =-)

Thank you for stopping by today!
Have a fantastic weekend!
Until next time...
Athina