A to Z Techniques W for Walnut Distress

For the  W I found a technique using walnut inks and decided to try it. Not sure where I found it  and not sure what is was called so I have given it my own name.

I started with watercolour paper sprayed with water and applied Tsukineko Walnut ink Spray over the surface. Then I dabbed clear embossing ink over the top and sprinkled on Distress embossing powder.

The instructions said to add Sparkle Pro Copper but I have no idea what it is so I used an artist grade copper mica powder and sprinkled it randomly over the surface and spritzed the ATC with water. I heat set it then removed some of the embossing powder to let the walnut ink show through.

I added a picture of a woman (moonlightjourney.com) on each one layered on a glittered punched circle. and then attached some words on each corner. Each one is a bit different as I am out of ink in my printer and used what I had printed previously.

Creative Chemistry Day 7

Day seven is about Embossing Basics. Tim covered techniques on embossing with Distress Inks and Powders and discussed various embossable inks and powders.
Although I am familiar with the types of inks used for this purpose, I still learned a number of things about the different properties of the supplies.

Again, some of my colour choices in the supplies are limited but it did not stop me from being able to try the techniques.

I used stamps by All Night Media, Magenta and Hero Arts,

The techniques we were to try are: Nostalgic Batik, Rusted Enamel and Distress Powder Resist. Great fun revisiting the first technique which I have done numerous times, and enjoyed the other two which I have not done before.

Ezee Pzee Design for March

This month's Ezee Pzee project was planter. I started by sealing the pieces and painted the inside of the box. I then attached some Mariposa Scrapbook paper to the outside of the pieces and glued it together.

I coloured some of the flowers with acrylic paint then embossed them and added washers and stickles. The large daisy type flower was coloured with smooch ink and H2O's. The centers of the flowers are some little embellishments I found at my local stamp store and others are washers that I coloured with alcohol inks, and some are some coloured reinforcements for 3 ring binder pages.

I stamped the Pedlars Pack butterfly on cardstock that I coloured with various shades  of green, two in black & two in gold. I added some of the strings of beading to the centres. All of them were attached to the box with double sided tape after bending the wings a bit.

The large flower from Ezee Pzee is done with pigment ink, fantasy film, clear Utee and Opal embossing powders then stamped into with a turquoise pigment ink while hot. I glued one of the embellishments to the centre and added a leaf that fell off one of the other flowers.

For the opposite side I found a saying that I liked and printed it off. I then took a chipboard label holder and covered it with green acrylic paint, embossed it with two colours of distress embossing powder then with Perfect Pearls. I placed the saying behind it and put two screw brads through the ends; attached it with double- sided foam tape.

Inside the planter I scrunched up a plastic bag and then cut a piece of corrugated cardboard to size and put it on top. I decided to place the flowers in little flower pots that I had on hand and to make them stay in place I glued some sea glass to the bottom of the stems, put some foil wrap around them and place them in the pots. i added some Indian Moss over the top to cover the foil.

The pots stood up quite well and I added a little butterfly, some ladybugs and a wee frog.

Altered Sardine Can

Another swap that I joined is to alter a sardine can. I actually had no idea what I was going to do for this swap until I came across a free vintage picture of a lifeguard on Robin's blog while surfing for something else. I decided to resize the image and use it for my project.

I started by painting the outside of the can, then added some K & company paper to the bottom inside. I have a booklet of travel images from Hot off the Press so I cut them out the compass and signs, stamped a little sandcastle and added Judikins Diamond Glaze over them.

While these were drying I put Antique distress powder and embossed it around the inside edge of the can to look like sand. I attached shells at the bottom of the can, coloured a toothpick and attached it to the water sign; added the other images.

I coloured the lifeguard with distress inks and a paintbrush, then added multiple layers of double-sided foam tape to the back to make him raised enough to stand on top of the shells.

I found the beach sign in my stash and coloured it with alcohol inks, placed some tiny screw brads in the holes and attached it to the top with hot glue. Unfortunately this is not the best picture as the scanner has a picked up a glare on the signs that were covered with the diamond glaze.

Tim Holtz style

Sweetpea has just recently started a monthly swap where we use a style of various artists. Last month was Misty Mawn and this month is Tim Holtz. Luckily, I have a lot of the mediums he uses, and I signed up 3 times.

The first piece is AI (alcohol inks) on glossy cardstock, stamped with an archival black inkpad.

The colours of AI's I used were Wild Plum, Butterscotch and Stream.

The second technique was the Wrinkle Free Distress Inks on a tag. I used Worn Lipstick and Mustard Seed Distress Inks. I stamped the images from Stampington and Inkadinkadoo in Versafine Onyx Black, and added the little washer to one of the flourishes. The grungeboard key was painted with Old Patina Perfect Pearls.

The third technique is using Distress Embossing Powder. I stamped the image with Fired Brick Distress ink and embossed it with Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder. The Distress EP is totally different from others, and it only changes colour a bit when embossed and has a "sandpaper" feel to it.

I then coloured it with Old Paper, Tea Dye, Fired Brick and Old Burlap Distress inks. Finished it off by colouring the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink.

The Grungeboard embellishments were coloured with Peeled Paint and Fired Brick Distres inks. I attached the vintage buttons (courtesy of Annie Mackay) with some thin wire.