Playing with Oxide Inks

September 24, 2017September 27, 2017 Happy Ink Designs3 Comments

Hi friends!! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. I had a crazy weekend, but I did find a little time on Sunday to play with the few distress oxide inks that I own. I will say that after playing with these, I’ve gone ahead and ordered 7 more!! I keep hearing people say how easy they are to blend and they are NOT exaggerating!! These inks are AWESOME!!! I’ve added a process video at the end of this post so you can see for yourself.

So in case you’re wondering what the theme is this week at Always Fun Challenges, it’s “Anything Goes”. My favorite!! I had so much fun playing with these inks, that I didn’t stop at just one card. I made three!!! Which is kinda crazy considering I didn’t even have a card made yet as of Saturday, the day I’m supposed to turn my project in (like I said, it’s been a crazy busy weekend).

I watched a video by Jennifer McGuire where she used stencils and oxide inks and it looked like a lot of fun so I gave it a whirl. This is my version. I only have 6 oxide inks at the moment so I started out using Cracked Pistachio and Broken China. I spritzed some water on my stencil and placed it on top of my blended background and left it alone for a couple of minutes. When I pulled the stencil off, I ooh’d and awed for a couple of seconds and then started on another one.

Once I got the feel for how these inks blend, I added in some Faded Jeans. I absolutely LOVE how they turned out. This next one I did, I used a more delicate stencil so I was a little worried that it wouldn’t turn out as good. I made this stencil with my Silhouette Cameo awhile back and I think this was my first time using it. The top part doesn’t pop as much as the rest of it, but I’m ok with that. While less of the surface reacted to the water, I still love it. It just has a more delicate look, is all.

I saved my favorite one for last. I made this stencil with my Silhouette as well and even though I covered up a lot of the background with the vellum, you can still see the awesome reaction to water!! I am in love with distress oxide inks. Not only do they blend so seamlessly, but they have such a cool reaction to water!! All distress inks do, but this is just sooo cool. I can’t wait to get more colors now. I added some vellum behind my sentiment, added a few clear Nuvo drops and tied some twine around the bottom and voila!! Card complete.

Thanks for stopping by!! Below is a process video where you can see for yourself how smooth these inks blend. Below that is a list of all the products I used. Until next time…

Misty

Disclosure: Please note that links to merchants mentioned within this post might be using an affiliate link which means that – at zero cost to you – I might earn a commission if you buy something through that affiliate link. That said, I never recommend anything I don’t personally use and find to be a valuable asset to my business. Any time you use an affiliate link, I greatly appreciate it.

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

So Much To Be Thankful For

September 17, 2017September 19, 2017 Happy Ink Designs8 Comments

Hello crafty friends!! Thanks for stopping by to check out my project for the Always Fun Challenges blog this week. As summer passes us by once again and we head into another wonderful season, I just want to let you all know that I am extremely grateful for each and every one of you. Some of you may read this and carry on with your day and some of you may leave me a sweet comment, letting me know you’ve been by. Some may even watch my video at the end of this post. No matter who you are and which category you fall under, I appreciate you. Most of you don’t know me personally so the fact that you take even a moment of your already precious time to read this post, means so much to me. I’ve never been much of a writer so I really didn’t think this blog thing was going to be for me, but the more I write and the more people I meet along this crafty journey of mine, the more I realize how much I enjoy blogging. It’s all about the people I meet along the way, that make this so important to me. So without getting too sappy on ya, just know that I appreciate you.

Getting back to the theme for this week, which is Fall Colors, I decided to make a card of gratitude. I really enjoy this time of year, I love the change in temperature, I love the change in colors around me, I love bundling up and feeling the crispness of the air on my face. This time of year always makes me stop and think about all the wonderful blessings I have in my life. Without a doubt, I have “So Much To Be Thankful For”. This sentiment is perfect for the way I was feeling while I was making this card.

If you’d like to join us this week with some fall colors, head over to the Always Fun Challenges blog and share with us!! There’s a new theme each week that starts every Monday. You can share up to 3 projects each week, using whatever supplies you have on hand. We have a very talented design team and gorgeous entries each week. Take a peek for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge. The theme is Emboss Like a Boss. I love the title of this one. Click on the link to be taken to their flickr page where you can find the rules on how to participate.

Thank you so much for stopping by. If you’d like to see how I made this card, just click on the video below. Just below that is a list of all the products that I used.

Challenges:

Always Fun Challenges – Fall Colors

Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #80 – Emboss Like a Boss

Until next time,

Misty

Disclosure: Please note that links to merchants mentioned within this post might be using an affiliate link which means that – at zero cost to you – I might earn a commission if you buy something through that affiliate link. That said, I never recommend anything I don’t personally use and find to be a valuable asset to my business. Any time you use an affiliate link, I greatly appreciate it.

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Build a Scene with Purple Onion Designs

September 11, 2017February 21, 2018 Happy Ink Designs4 Comments

Hi guys!! Happy Monday to you all. Hope everyone had a good weekend. We had our 2nd football game out of town on Saturday and unfortunately we didn’t win… Makes for a looong trip home, that’s for sure.

For this card, I used images by Purple Onion Designs. Tell me this isn’t the cutest fox and frog you’ve ever seen!! I absolutely LOVE all of Stacey Yacula’s images. They are just so stinkin adorable. All of them! The theme this week at Always Fun Challenges is Create a Scene. This background image makes it so easy to create a scene without even trying.

All I did was mask the “free spirits” image and then stamped the background and colored it. That was it!! I used copics and my polychromos colored pencils. I’ll add which copics I used as soon as I can. I didn’t have time to upload a video for this one, but I’m not sure I even should. It really was that easy. I may still add it to my YouTube channel, who knows. I’m kind of a rebel like that…

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll head over to the Always Fun Challenges blog and join us each week for a new theme. There’s so much inspiration over there, you just gotta check it out.

Until next time,

Misty

Copics for dirt road: E41, E42, E43, E44

Cardmaking · Challenges · Handmade Greeting Cards

Happy New Year!!!

September 3, 2017September 15, 2017 Happy Ink Designs3 Comments

Hi guys!! I hope everyone is having a fabulous Labor Day weekend. I just finished a 2 day craft fair and I. am. wiped. Those craft fairs are exhausting!! On top of the fair exhausting me, it was also the hottest weekend we’ve ever had here in Fort Bragg. It was perfect for an outdoor craft fair!! But extremely hot. I won’t complain too much, because I know it’s a heck of a lot cooler here than it is in many places, but my hubby took a picture on our back deck, in the shade at 3:30 in the afternoon and it says it was 100 degrees. 100 degrees!!! The hottest temp I could find was 96 degrees back in October, 1965. Us coasties aren’t used to temps like that. Our average high in the summer months is 65 degrees.

Anyway, let me get to my project for this week at Always Fun Challenges. The theme is a shaker card! I sure do love making shaker cards. In fact, my project 2 weeks ago was a shaker card and it’s one of my all time favorite cards that I’ve made so far. You can check it out by clicking here. I love it so much, I almost didn’t want to sell it this weekend!!

I chose to do a Happy New Year shaker. No, I’m not that organized and prepared. I wish I were. I wish I could say that I’ve already started on my Christmas cards, but the sad fact is, I’ll probably put it off too long and end up not sending any out again this year. I actually made this one for a customer from my Etsy shop and it just so happened to be this week!! Two birds, one stone… I’m soooo bummed that I forgot to turn on my video camera while making these though. So unfortunately, I don’t have a video to share with you this week.

The sad part is, I made ten of them!!! But I made them in sections so it wasn’t until I had all the shaker part completed, that I realized I hadn’t filmed any of it. Darn.

I made some with a black glittery background and some with a gold glittery background.

The black background was my favorite. I’ll include a list of the products I used, but unfortunately I don’t think the letter die is available anymore. It’s called High Rise Alphabet Lower Case by MFT. I can’t find the ribbon I used anywhere online either. The brand is Offray and it looks like this:

Oh!! Before I forget, I’m SO EXCITED for Simon Says Stamp’s Stamptember!!! It’s THE best month long celebration around. I look forward to this spectacular event all year. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you definitely should. It’s Simon’s biggest release month of the year!! They always have awesome new products to release during this event and I love it!! Also happening right now is The 30 Day Coloring Challenge created by Kathy Racoosin from thedailymarker.com All you gotta do is color a little something each day (or as often as you can) and share it on social media with the hashtag thedailymarker30day. It’s also all month long. I hope you guys find time to participate. I’m going to get through this crazy weekend first and then I’ll join in.

Thanks guys for stopping by!! See you next week ~