More Wrinkle Free Distress

Here are results from the Wrinkle Free Distress technique from yesterday. I used Gina K's inkpads, smooshed on the white section of my glass mat, spritzed with water and dipped watercolor paper in it multiple times. Used Canson watercolor paper, 140 lb/300 g/m2 cut into smaller pieces. At first I started with these inkpads: bubblegum pink, light orchid and wild lilac. But then I added passionate pink too. 

You can see how the ink colors move when water is spritzed on them.

You can see how the lighter weight Canson 117 lb/250 g/m2 watercolor paper really curled up. I used a full size, 5.5 x 8.5 inch piece. 

I placed a eyedropper bottle on top to flatten it a bit as it dried.

I hope to make some cards with these panels!

Thank you for visiting!

Peace and all good!

Wrinkle Free Distress April 2025

 

I was inspired to make some wrinkle free distress backgrounds recently after running across a beautiful card by Jung Ahsang from 2015! I used watercolor paper, cut to about 3-1/4 by 4-1/4 inches. I dabbed distress inks onto my glass mat-in the white section, so I could see the colors: picked raspberry, worn lipstick, scattered straw and ripe persimmon. NOTE: initially I used spun sugar, but subbed worn lipstick instead. Spritzed the inks with water. Then dragged the watercolor paper through it to pickup color. You can go back and add more color if desired. 

Allow the paper to dry. You can use a heat tool to speed up the drying time. Used Versafine onyx black to stamp the images.

Flowers from Crafters Square, a gift from Lynette! Belated birthday stamp from DeNami Design. I don't know if they are in business anymore.

Flowers from Crafters Square (again). This time I added leaves to change it up a bit.

Leaves from Pink & Main, a gift from Mona!

Happy Birthday from Gina K's Happy Hydrangea small stamp set.

For my last card, I used an old Stampin' Up! inkpad called positively pink. Used Gina K's Mandala Maker for the flowers and "leaves". 

Happy Birthday from Hero Arts A2153.

Thanks for visiting!

Peace and All Good!

Stampfest at Lynette's, May 16, 2023

Lynette and I had a great time stamping and visiting yesterday, May 16, 2023. We started with a nice walk along the river in the beautiful warm sunshine. Then Lynette served us a delicious lunch at her house: her famous mostaccioli crab salad, potato salad, tossed salad and lemon squares for desert. I should have taken a picture of the food! ...and should have asked Don take a picture of Lynette and me with our cards. Maybe next time!

You can click on any image to view a larger version.

Inspired by a card viewed online somewhere...we used Stampin' Up! Pool Party color paper. Thank you Linda B. for giving us all that cardstock!

I think we used Stampin' Up! whisper white card stock.  Also, we noticed the ink color seems more vibrant on the SU white card stock, when compared to stamping on Walmart's  white cardstock.

To get the very narrow black framing layer, 

We cut the black layers 4-3/4 x 3-1/2 inches

and cut the white layers 4-5/8 x 3-3/8 inches

I had trouble cutting at first, getting all confused, so Lynette took over the task. Thanks, Lynette!!!

Cuttlebug embossing folder: Birds and Swirls

Stamps: 

Stampin' Up! Nature Walk.

Gina K Fearless Flyers-sentiment

Inks: 

Gina K ocean mist and jelly bean green

Versafine onyx black

Colored pencils to color the fussy cut birds.

This card was stamped using Gina K's Tropical Blooms set. Thank you Mona S. for giving me this stamp and dies set along with the whole kit: the Hearts & Flowers StampTV Kit from January 2018. It's so much fun stamping these flowers!

Inks:

Gina K bubblegum pink, passionate pink, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus

Versafine onyx black

Using heavy weight white cardstock (I think from Hobby Lobby?) we stamped the butterflies with Versamark ink. Then used white embossing powder and heat set the butterflies.

We used wrinkle free distress technique by dabbing three distress inks onto a craft sheet

broken china, blueprint sketch and wilted violet.

We spritzed the inks with water. Then we placed our paper on top of the inks, lifted the paper and then dabbed the edges of the paper back into the inks a few more times to get color on the edges.  We set these layers aside to dry. When dry, Lynette placed some big acrylic blocks on top of these to try and flatten the paper. Then we used thin foam tape to adhere to our white cardstock base.

Thank you for visiting!

Wishing you Peace and all good!

Wrinkle Free Distress Panels From My Stash

 Ran across some wrinkle free distress panels and made birthday cards with them, attaching to a dry embossed panel of cardstock.

 

Cuttlebug embossing folders: Birds and Swirls, Diamonds in the Rough, Victoria

Ink:  Marvy # 1 Black. I don't have a list of the inks used for the wrinkle free distress technique because these panels were from my stash.

Stamps: Penny Black 4271L winter ledge, 3880K fantasy (tree), Hero Arts DC184 Ribbon Messages Stamp & Cut

Thanks so much for visiting! Stay healthy! Peace and all good!

And More Cards from Those Backgrounds

 

Day three of making cards using the wrinkle free distress backgrounds that I made on June 20.

Background ink: distress salty ocean, picked raspberry and abandoned coral

Circle stencil from a Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Mixed Media kit sponged in picked raspberry

Flower stencil SA152 Flower Swirls Stencil Pairs from Hero Arts sponged in abandoned coral 

Stamps: Lonely Girl D1005 by Dina Wakely, Sentiment from a large wood mounted Dawn Houser/Inkadinkado stamp labeled 95241-Y 

Ink: Versafine onyx black

Stencils:

Flower stencil SA152 Flower Swirls Stencil Pairs from Hero Arts 

Circle stencil from a Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Mixed Media kit

sponged with distress worn lipstick and broken china

Stamps and Happy die: Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cuts

Used Versafine onyx black to to stamp the "happy" stamp. I had trouble matching up the die and so some areas were white. Decided to color that with a distress broken china marker.

Used Versafine ink to stamp the anniversary stamp. Then embossed with Stamp N Stuff white embossing powder. 

Used Gina K's ribbon die from Master Layouts 4 to cut the anniversary panel. I trimmed the edges by hand to make the panel shorter.

So good of you to visit! Peace and All Good!

More Background Cards

Three more cards today using more of backgrounds I shared yesterday. 

For this card, I added stenciling with distress abandoned coral and salty ocean. Used distress hickory smoke to stamp the lady, feather and flower from Bella Blvd, distributed by Hampton Art. Happy Birthday from Stampendous is stamped in Versafine onxy black. Used colored pencils to color the images. 

Used a scalloped rectangle die from the Gina K Master Layouts 4. I'm really loving this die! And it cuts easily every time (unlike some other brands of dies-which is so discouraging!)

After adding some stenciled circles using distress picked raspberry, I tried to stamp and clear emboss two flowers using distress ink. In the past this has worked fine for me. But today, the embossing powder was not sticking well. My ink pad must need to be re-inked! So, I switched gears and tried a Gina K technique that I saw on her recent YouTube, Emboss in Any Color and a Touch of Patterned Paper - Stamp and Chat  Using my misti, first I stamped the flower with distress broken china. Cleaned the stamp and inked it with Versamark and then stamped over the blue flower then added clear embossing powder and embossed it. This worked great! I repeated this method for the picked raspberry leaves stamps. 

On this card, I am using the other lady stamp from Bella Blvd, distributed by Hampton Art. The flowers and leaves are from an Altenew set called Wildflower Garden. The Happy birthday and curvy layer was made with Hero Arts, DC184 Ribbon Messages Stamp & Cut set.

I stamped the lady in distress antique linen as a kind of a test. I read somewhere that someone liked to use antique linen ink to stamp an image before coloring it. I cannot remember who, sorry! Added color with colored pencils. I am not sure which ink color I like better, the hickory smoke in the first card or the antique linen here. What do you think? 

This anniversary card is similar in style to yesterday's yellow card. Again I'm using Gina K's Master Layouts 4 scalloped die and the same circle stencil to sponge with Stampin' UP's Lavender Lace ink. Used distress broken china  for the best wishes from Hero Arts, DC184 Ribbon Messages Stamp & Cut.

Thank you for taking time to visit! Peace and all good!

Backgrounds for Cards

 

I should have taken a picture of all the backgrounds I made before making these cards. Above you see the five cards I finished.  Below are the rest of my backgrounds that hopefully will become new cards.

Made my backgrounds using wrinkle free distress and acrylic block stamping techniques.

For this card I used an acrylic block, dabbed it with Gina K's Bubblegum pink and Sea glass ink pads. Then I spritzed with water and pressed it onto my paper. After it was dry, I stamped sewing images from a small 5 piece Stampabilities set called Sewing. The happy birthday sentiment and curvy layer is from Hero Arts Stamp & Cut.

Inks: 

distress salty ocean, weathered wood, spiced marmalade, wild honey and  brushed corduroy, which was added to just the edges of the sewing machine stamp and happy birthday sentiment after being inked with wild honey, Gina K bubblegum pink for the button

Another acrylic block stamped background using Jane Davenport's Mermaid Markers, which are like "ink filled aqua pens". Colors, starting with lower right corner: Starfish (hot pink), Jellyfish (purple), Pirate's Gold (yellow), Seaweed (green). Applied to acrylic block, "coloring it" as you would with markers, then spritzed with water then pressed onto paper.

Used Versafine onyx black ink for the stamping: 

Heart shaped script with flower in center-no stamp manufacturer listed

Happy birthday and curvy layer, from Hero Arts, DC184 Ribbon Messages Stamp & Cut.

Background inks:  distress mustard seed and twisted citron for the wrinkle free distress technique. 

Heart stamp, L1900 Poppy HeartPrint from Hero Arts

Flourishes, Love with a Flourish by Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer

Sentiment, best wishes and curvy layer from Hero Arts, DC184 Ribbon Messages Stamp & Cut

Ink: Versafine onyx black

Background inks: distress raspberry, salty ocean and abandoned coral for the for wrinkle free distress technique

Circles stencil from a Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Mixed Media kit

Bricks stencil sponged in abandoned coral. The stencil is from an old Tim Holtz Stampers 

Anonymous Mixed media stamp and stencil set labeled THMM102. Here is a photo that I've used before here.

Flower stencil SA152 Flower Swirls Stencil Pairs from Hero Arts, sponged in distress salty ocean

Stamped the happy birthday stamp from Dimensions using Versafine onxy black ink.

 

Background ink:  distress abandoned coral, picked raspberry, twisted citron for wrinkle free distress technique

Flower stencil SA152 Flower Swirls Stencil Pairs from Hero Arts, sponged in distress abandoned coral.

Stamps: Thinking of you by Dimensions and Gina K, On My Mind and In My Heart

Inks: Versafine onxy black

Thanks so much for visiting. Peace and All Good!

Halloween Cards 2020

Here are some cards I made using the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Snarky Cat Halloween set and a few other stamps. I was inspired by creative artists Keisha Charles and Tami Bastiaans who share their ideas online! Thank you very much!

Just had to try a card like Keisha Charles snarky cat cards on her The PaperMint blog. I used blending brushes to add distress inks seedless preserves and twisted citron to the panel. Then used hickory smoke with stencils from my stash. The images were stamped with black soot.

The backgrounds for these cards were made with wrinkle free distress using distress stormy sky, peeled paint inks and a bit of Dylusions Sunshine (yellow)-unscrewed the sprayer and tapped it on the craft sheet between the blue and green colors. I avoid spraying those things...I am very messy! 

Stamped the stampscapes tree trunks with distress ground espresso, the birds (Lost and Found, a Tim Holtz acrylic set) with distress black soot. The cat was stamped in black soot as well as the sentiment. Used yellow and green colored pencils for the eyes.

I was inspired by Tami Bastiaans Plays Well With Paper card for this card. My card is so simple compard with Tami's. I like how Tami positioned the cat and  used the sentiment. I fussy cut the cat and pumpkin and attached them with foam tape.

Candy corn stamp from Hero Arts.

Inks: distress carved pumpkin, black soot, gathered twigs, peeled paint.

Another card inspired by Tami Bastiaans. My card is very plain compared to Tami's. I love the way Tami created that swirly sky! I used watercolor paper for this. 

I did not have the moon stamp, so I traced a circle and added some dots and circles with fine point black PITT pen by Faber-Castell. Trees from Stampscapes and Stampin' Up!. All stamping with Versafine onyx black, letting it dry thoroughly. I used distress ink with an aqua brush/water brush to "paint" the background like Tami did. 

Distress inks: scattered straw, tumbled glass, broken china, faded jeans, peeled paint.

Used colored pencils to add color to the tree trunks, cat body and eyes.

A HUGE thank you to Keisha Charles and Tami Bastiaans for sharing their creative talent! I had a lot of fun playing with these cards. 

...and THANK YOU for visiting me here! Hope you all stay safe from Covid!

Friendship Cards on Wrinkle Free Distress Backgrounds

Here are cards made with some wrinkle free distress pieces 

from last Sunday's blog post.

I have been wanting to use my new friendship stamp called Heart of Friendship by Stampendous.

I thought a collage-y card would look nice on the background with this sentiment.

If you know me, you know how I love the collage-y look.

Here's a closer look. You can always click on the image for a larger view.

Used a "ribbon like" mesh as a stencil, sponging with mowed lawn.

Used picket fence stain on a Rays stamp from Stampers Anonymous Bitty Grunge CMS087 

in the upper left corner but this did not show up well. So, I dried it with heat tool 

and stamped over it with Frost White Color Box pigment ink.

Hard to see in the photo.

Stampendous Heart of Friendship  stamped in peacock feathers

Michael Strong's mini cloisonne heart in broken china.

Used fossiliaed amber for:

Stampin' Up's postage stamps from Travel Post

Stampin' Up's key from Antique Collectibles

Stampin' Up's ledger script from Office Ephemera.

Used distress tool on edges and sponged with broken china

Added fun fur yarn and attached to white card

in which the edges were sponged in broken china.

The distress background piece for this card was a little small

so I added a black layer underneath, trimming the border with a Fiskars border punch-Rope.

Used the "ribbon mesh" stencil sponging with mowed lawn.

Stamped Rays stamp from Stampers Anonymous Bitty Grunge CMS087

in Frost White Color Box pigment ink in center.

Stamped both the 

Stampendous Heart of Friendship

and

Michael Strong's mini cloisonne heart

in mowed lawn.

Used fossilized amber for:

Stampin' Up's cancelled postage stamp & ledger script from Office Ephemera

Stampin' Up's hotel oval from  Travel Post.

Used distress tool on edges and sponged with mowed lawn.

Added fun fur yarn and attached to green card.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Anniversary Card

Here is an anniversary card that I made using wrinkle free distress technique.

It's so easy and fun!

Since I had used a previously made background, I'm not positive about the inkpad colors.

I think they were

peacock feathers, mowed lawn and scattered straw

 tapped directly on craft sheet, next to each other. 

Spritzed with a fine mist of water till the color beaded up

then placed paper directly on top, moving the paper just a little.

You can see my wrinkle free distress tutorial here.

I learned from Tim Holtz' wrinkle free distress technique

described here and here.

I usually use Georgia Pacific 110 pound paper, 92 bright.

You can experiment on other papers.

I like to run more than 1 piece of paper through the "color" on the craft sheet.

Then I have extras for quick cards.

I usually let my paper air dry, but you can use a heat tool also.

Stamps and inks used:

Hero Arts Harelquin Pattern Block G3316 in peacock feathers

Hero Arts Woodland Grasses F3182 in wild honey

Stampabilities Happy Anniversary DC CR1148 sentiment in Versafine black onyx

Michael Strong's mini hearts in mermaid lagoon, fussy cut and attached with foam tape.

Fun fur yarn added then the layer was attached to blue card stock.

I wrote in the names of my friends, Hetty & Raymond with my new favorite pen,

Faber-Castell PITT artist pen BLACK 199*** XS .01 nib

I also stamped Michael Strong's mini hearts inside.

Since I wasn't sure exactly which colors I used on the card, I made some samples for you.

Used distress ink pads: broken china, scattered straw and mowed lawn.

Used distress ink pads: mermaid lagoon, mowed lawn and fossilized amber.

Hope you have fun with wrinkle free distress technique!

Thanks for visiting!

Wrinkle Free Distress Tutorial

 A friend of mine asked me how I make my distress ink backgrounds
so I decided to do a blog post on it.

I learned from Tim Holtz' "wrinkle free distress" technique
described here and here.

I used distress inkpads festive berries, mowed lawn, scattered straw.

Later I substituted fossilized amber for the scattered straw.
Choose colors you like!

 

Place inkpad directly craft sheet.

Smudge and squish it a little to get the color transferred to the craft sheet.

You can see green and red but it's hard to see the yellow.

Spritz with water.

I used an old hairspray bottle with a fine mist

so I had to spritz several times.

Place paper on the wet ink.
I use Georgia Pacific 110 lb. index cardstock.
I turn the paper a  bit to "collect" the colors.
This is the fun part. You can experiment however you wish.

 I wanted to add more color, so I went back to the craft sheet 

and dipped the edges into the color.

 After finishing that first piece of  paper,

I added fossilized amber distress ink to craft sheet

and spritzed with water.

My second piece of paper had more dilute green and red.

The amber is bright because it's first generation here.

 

Adding more festive berries and fossilized amber ink to the craft sheet

and spritzing with water.

Results of placing paper onto craft sheet.

Results after dipping the paper into colors a second time.
If you don't like results clean the craft sheet and start again.

Here are my 3 backgrounds waiting to dry.

You are supposed to dry between the applications of ink color

to prevent colors from getting muddy.

I'm always in a hurry and I just dab the paper back into the wet ink

when I want to add color to the white spaces.

I tend to make several 4 x 5.25 inch pieces of paper.

They are very nice to keep on hand for a quick card.

After paper is dry, I sometimes iron it to flatten it.

Before adding to a card, I sometimes sponge distress ink on the edges

and/or even on white areas in the middle.

Made this card by sponging mowed lawn then tea dye distress inks on the edges of the background.

Used a Dina Wakley Scribbly Bird with Versafine black onyx ink

to make a belated birthday card.

Thanks for visiting!