Crafty Friends with Distress Oxide Inks

I've seen some amazing stuff done with Ranger's new Distress Oxide inks, so I decided to take the plunge myself and see how I like them.

My first order of business was to do my best Tim Holtz impersonation (although some things, like Tim, just can't be reproduced!) by smooshing some ink on my craft mat, spritzing it with water, and dipping a piece of distress watercolor paper into the puddles. I dipped and dried with my heat tool, dipped to layer on some more ink, and dried again. Since the Distress Oxide inks do not muddy, I was able to keep adding layers of color until I was happy with the results.

I did six rounds of experimenting, then decided I wanted to make some cards using the results. I recently gave in to my longing for the Crafty Friends stamp set from My Favorite Things, and it seemed like the perfect set to work with for this project.

Card 1 - This background is a combination of Worn Lipstick and Faded Jeans. I expected some purples to appear, but as promised the colors layered rather than blended. Pretty cool, eh?

Card 2 - features Faded Jeans and Fired Brick. There *might* be some Orange Marmalade near the top, but I really can't remember. I made some waterspots on this background.

Card 3 - I "never" use Stampin' Up!'s Cajun Craze because I don't usually care for the color, but the Distress Oxide background of Fossilized Amber, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, and Fired Brick screamed for me to use it as a card base. The picture doesn't show it well, but I embossed the distressed panel with SU's 3-D Hexagon embossing folder.

Card 4 - Wilted Violet, Fossilized Amber, and Worn Lipstick went into this background. Oh, I forgot to mention that the Distress Oxide inks stamp beautifully, more so than their non-Distress Oxide counterparts. I used different 3-D embossing folders on this and the remaining cards. While you can't see the texture very well in the pictures, it adds a lot when you see the cards in real life.

Card 5 - Fired Brick and Faded Jeans layered nicely onto SU's Dapper Denim cardstock. I think you can see some of the textured background in this photo.

Card 6 - This is my favorite of the six experimental panels and includes Cracked Pistachio, Wilted Violet, Fossilized Amber, and Worn Lipstick. Do you recognize the color of the card base? If you guessed SU's retired Lavender Lace, you would be right.

To be honest, I wasn't too thrilled right after I made the six Distress Oxide panels, but they've really grown on me and I'm thinking of making some more -- especially now that I have Broken China and Peeled Paint added to my arsenal. (I've purchased nine of the twelve colors, opting away from the two browns and Iced Spruce.) 

So, what think you? Have you seen others' Distress Oxide projects, and if so, are you digging them? I was waffling until I remembered that the technique of dipping and drying to create layers is just one of several techniques that can be done with these inks. Even though today's technique turned out well, I think I'm going to enjoy blending the Distress Oxides even more, and especially on dark cardstock.

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Coming up next: a birthday card with another My Favorite Things set. Be there or be square!

Crafty Smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce