Between being bounced in and out of the studio, an older computer and me learning new tricks, this latest video has taken a LONG time to get finalized. Just the exporting process took over 6 hours of computer time. That being said, ta da. Here it is!
The last blog has a link to the cricut design file cuts that I am using to enhance all the cards in this batch of subscription cards. Everyone that has ordered their subscription through Crafting with Amanda receives these shapes already cut with a homemade card from me. If you have ordered through another maker, that’s fine too, just click the link to the previous blog and you can still cut everything yourself!
Here is the version of the card as design by the wonderful crafty people at Close to my Heart.
These are my amanda-ized versions of Card #1
For the first two cards, I decided to do one oriented like the original card, and the other I turned 90 degrees. The point of the star not being straight up and down might bother some, but I sometimes like things kitty-wampus (technical term).
Here again is the CTMH version of card number 2
And now my versions.
I really had fun creating these. They took longer than I would have thought, and with a house filled with distractions, I am pleased with the results! How did you decide to put yours together?
Use the link above to quickly cut out the extra images I created for the CWH cards. In my set I used four 1/2 sheets of cardstock. One each of Blue Belle, Peach, Fern & White Daisy.
There will be a series of videos showing how I assembled the cards and used the extra images. Hope you enjoy!
I have long admired those paper artists that are able to pull off mixed media or the grunge look and create something incredible. I struggle to put layer upon layer and hide most of what I did previously and I think because of that I miss the mark with these art forms.
There are ladies that create amazing cards with ink blended backgrounds and I have tried and I have been able to teach others, but my own work did not soar as others did. All that being said, I think Distress Oxides just might enable me to do some creating of my own!
Learning new techniques is a passion of mine and I have been told I dive into with scientific methods. So of course the first thing I did before even opening one of the distress oxide ink pads was to do some research. I watched youTube videos, read what Tim Holtz had to say about the ink and talked to my oldest child who is an artist.
Knowledge in hand, I dug out some paper, tools and a few different mediums to learn how this hybrid die and pigment ink, that reacts with water, would act with different preparations of papers.
I had received a nice set of watercolors for Christmas along with a Watercolor Ground. So I took the ground, borrowed a jar of Gesso from my in house artist and under the recommendation of my eldest grabbed a bottle of basic white acrylic paint. Taking these three mediums, I went about applying a thin layer to 3 different types of white cardstock. The YouTube video goes into more details.
I learned a lot. First, the watercolor ground prepares cardstock to be able to withstand water-coloring and allow more playing with the colors before the paper starts to pill and gives a nice texture to the regular cardstock. It does not however create a good environment for trying to achieve smooth ink blending as the texture works against that. The Gesso and the Acrylic paint however both made blending the inks easier and I felt like if I can do it, anyone can. Plain cardstock wasn’t as easy to get a seamless blend, but I did manage it.
Now that I had played with the distress oxides ink, it was time to see what water did to it, and then find ways to apply the water in different patterns. The card at the very top of this post is my favorite. I sprayed the back of a stencil and pressed it on the inked cardstock. You can see the details and I really like it. I feel it could be a gateway to adding more textures and layers.
I even got out my crimper to add some texture behind the feature imagine. If I would have thought of it, I should have ripped the crimped cardstock to really kick it up a notch! Maybe next time.
Here’s another card I did. I pulled matting cardstock and the stripe of yellow for the background along with the black cardstock scrap to balance the stamping of the flowers. This is one of the samples that was sprayed with water and created all the faded water marks.
I’m looking forward to creating more inked backgrounds and finding new color combination. What is your favorite thing to do with distress oxides? I would love to try another new technique!
Have you received your free copy yet? Any order you make with CTMH will include the new core catalog & and September/October idea book. But in the meantime, here are some of the great things you may find once you get your book!
New Color of the Year! Blue Belle
Craft With Heart Cards Sept – Dec 2020
The subscriptions are great. You can make them just as they are designed, or modify them to be exactly what you need!
September Craft with Heart – ScrapbookOctober Craft with Heart – ScrapbookNovember Craft with Heart – ScrapbookDecember Craft with Heart – Scrapbook
How great would it be to have a year in review all done before the summer’s end? Two double-page layouts arrive at your house. Add some adhesive and photos and you have a complete album!
New ink colors!
Before I wish you happy crafting. I have to share one more new product and a card I made when I was able to play with them!
I would not win any awards with the layouts that I managed to do this month, but they definitely accomplished my goal. I had not done any scrapbooking with photos for our family albums in close to 2 years. It is my goal, as we are able to unpack our stuff out of storage, to make photo organizing and scrapbooking a priority.
I came across one small packet of photos that I could scrapbook. After looking up the dates the photos were taken, I looked through the small portion of the papers I had access to, and found some that worked great!
Normally I pick my photos, chose my papers, find a layout or inspiration item to use to create the double layout, and go from there. This time it all started well, but then I went backwards. . . .
So, where may you ask did I go backward? This is a pretty straight forward, average layout in my book. Well, if you watch the Youtube video of my process of creating this, I picked my photos, chose my papers, then started to create embellishments, normally the last step. I wonder if I had done the paper cutting and put the layout together first, if I would have added more embellishments at the end. As I remember doing it, I think I was out of the embellishments I had created and was just happy to have completed some scrapbooking.
The layout is “shinier” in person as if you look closely you can see a trail of tiny stars from the upper left trailing through both pages to the lower right, and I used glitter paper as matting behind two of the photos.
Also, again, it’s hard to see in the above photos, but I did create photo hinges and anytime a page is interactive I think that’s a great thing!
If you want to learn more about creating photo hinges, check out the youtube video. The first hinge explanation happens around the 9-minute mark on the video.
