Happy March everyone!!! Time is flying, isn’t it? Each month I get to create an Art Journal page to inspire you to try new techniques and layouts. As promised from the beginning I’m starting off slowly and building up difficulty as we go.

Todays page uses stamping and embossing using black, grey and white cardstocks. The papers come from the Salvage District from Prima. All the beautiful stamps used are from Darkroom Door.

I’ve done some sewing on this page, just felt I needed that look and it helps to create a vellum pocket for my journaling card. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can still make a pocket by hiding your glues under a strip of paper on the edges. I created the layout with all my papers and once I did my sewing, I added it to my art journal.

Adding touches of white on corrugated really brings out the texture and adds additional pattern to the layout. These colors are easy for me to work with. I encourage you to find a color palette that you really love, it makes creating much easier.

I’ve filmed a full process video which you can view below or on our YouTube channel HERE. I hope you enjoy!

Here are my Art Journal pages so far this year. You can click on the photo to go to the blog posts.

January

February

Hi Friends! Thanks for stopping by today! Happy last day of February! We asked our Wednesday challenge teamie Jenn Shurkus to whip up some cards using the new Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Oxide inks, and boy oh boy did she deliver! Be sure to read on and enjoy!

Hello Everyone! It’s Jenn Shurkus here and I am wicked exited to be sharing with you a fun technique you can do with the new Distress Oxide Ink Pads!

I had so much fun exploring and playing before I knew it I had 4 different cards to share with you. I hope this will inspire you to get a little inky and create something amazing with the new ink pads.

I think the big question is what is the difference between the Distress Ink Pads and the Distress Oxide Ink Pads. Some noticeable differences I learned right away are:

1. It is a dye & pigment ink fusion. You will still have all of the properties you get with Distress Ink Pads where they react with water but they are opaque like a pigment ink so the layering of colors will act differently then with Distress Ink Pads
2. The case the inkpads come in is gray, so you will be able to tell the difference right away of which ink pad you are grabbing
3. The material of the actual inkpad is still a felt pad, usually with pigment type inks you will see a more spongy pad, that is not the case here
4. There are 12 colors right now, that match the rest of the Distress line
5. You will still be able to stamp with them, blend, stencil, watercolor and emboss with them
6. Because they are more opaque they will work well on darker surfaces too
7. Because they are a dye/pigment fusion you will get a beautifully detailed stamped image
8. Because they have pigment properties when you layer the colors they will stay true to their colors unlike when you layer with regular Distress ink you will get some mixing. For example when you layer Blue and Yellow regular Distress you will get a lot of green, but that doesn’t happen with the Oxide Distress

I was in awe of how beautiful they layering of the colors were so that is what I focused on to share with you today

I pulled out a rainbow of colors: Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Peeled Paint, Broken China and Wilted Violet. Working on the Ranger/Tim Holtz Mixed Media Cardstock as I knew I would be using a lot of water and I find this paper stands up really well to that.

1. Press, wipe and “smooch” the Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide Pad directly onto your craft sheet.
2. Spritz with water until the ink beads up.
3. The taking the Mixed Media Cardstock wipe and “plop” it into the ink.
4. While you heat it with a heat tool, gently spritz some water droplets onto the ink. The distress sprayer is great for this to get good droplets.

Note: At this time you can wipe the Mixed Media Cardstock back into the ink to build up layers of just one color, but I knew I wanted to do a whole rainbow of colors so I cleaned up my craft mat and moved on.

5. Press, wipe and “smooch” the Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide Pad directly onto your craft sheet. Spritz with water. Wipe and plop the layer of cardstock into the ink. Heating it the same way, spritzing water droplets as you go.
6. Next I did the same steps with Fossilized Amber, Peeled Paint and Broken China. You can’t really over think too much where the ink is going to go, but I knew because I was working with a lot of different colors that I just wanted a little bit of each so I carefully wiped the cardstock onto the craft sheet being aware of only some of it actually touching the surface.
7. Lastly I finished up with Wilted Violet with the same steps.

Once I made a few backgrounds this way I also made some with just one color. As I mentioned above you can use just one color but still build up layers, heating the ink in between and adding water droplets. That is how I got my single colors used on the hearts and stars.

I think I could play with these inks all day just to experience the different outcomes and color combos you can play with. Next I want to play with the Oxide Inks and Distress Inks together I think that will be beautiful too! I hope this has inspired you to play and try out the new Distress Oxide Ink Pads! Have an inky day!

SUPPLIES:

Thanks for reading today, and thanks to Jenn for being our special guest!

Blog Candy Alert!! Follow our blog via email and comment on this post for a chance to win a special blog candy!

CONGRATS! Blog Candy Winners!

From: Studio Monday with Nina-Marie: Sticker Slider Card + Hopping Along Card Kit: Sabrina Radican!
From: 10 Crafty Must-Haves!: Nicki McStay!
From: Anything Goes on the Wednesday Challenge: Becca Yahrling!
From: Amore Laura Fadora Feature: YOU Make Me Smile: Holly Klingensmith!
From: NEW Lawn Fawn! Elphie Selfie in Scalloped Box Card Pop Up!: Miriam Prantner!
From: Hopping Along Limited Edition Kit Is Available Now: Valerie DeWitt!
From: What Would Kelly Make: 5th in the series!: Gail Hislop!
From: Yippee for Yana: Quick Stamp Wreath Cards: Mary Holshouser!

Please email [email protected] with your mailing address (if applicable), the name of the blog you won from, and the prize you won to claim your prize!

Hello everyone and Happy Monday! As most of you know, we released our latest, Special Edition Card Kit called Hopping Along last Thursday. I thought this would be a perfect thing to feature this week for Studio Monday; so I am going to use the kit and show you how to make a sticker slider card!

As a note, the Card Kit has sold out but most of the items are available for individual purchase. You’ll find them all listed at the bottom of this post.

There are a bunch of fun stickers included in this Special Edition Kit from Doodlebug; I used the Easter Express stickers and Bunny Shape Sprinkles today. I paired them with the Train Track slider die, which is the CUTEST slider die ever! The slider die is actually shorter than it appears in my card; in the video I will be showing how I used the partial die cutting technique to lengthen it for this card!

Because I love creating scenes, I wanted to do that with the elements I was using in my card. And all of the items in the kit make it even easier to do just that! This is one of my favorite aspects about every Simon Card Kit; all of the items are hand selected with the intent that they can be used interchangeably with one another. You can also get creative with the uses of the items in the kit… let me show you how!

I was able to use the pattern papers (from Doodlebug) to make my grass and the Sea Glass metallic envelope for the clouds. The subtle, metallic shimmer of the Sea Glass envelope adds the perfect amount of interest to the sky. I also tinted the grass a matching green color to make it a bit more subtle. The dies I used were the Grassy Hills from My Favorite Things and our Simon Says Stamp Happy Days dies.

The Easter Express stickers were easily turned into “faux die cuts” by attaching them to transparency sheets. You could also have used white cardstock instead. Aren’t those bunnies adorable???

I also used the Bunny Sprinkles Shapes stickers to add flowers and carrots to my scene! The carrots were turned into “faux die cuts” too, which added some additional dimension and separation from other elements in the scene.

For the simple sentiment, I used the mini Easter Greetings stamp set and heat embossed it onto some yellow Simon Says Stamp cardstock. The card base was created with some of the Sea Glass cardstock included in the kit.

I hope this video provides inspiration to you for creating some fun cards with our Hopping Along Card Kit! Be sure to check out the video below to see how this card came together.

WATCH THE VIDEO

SHARE YOUR CARDS IN OUR GALLERY!

In the video, I mentioned we have galleries for each of our monthly and special edition card kits! You can find the link to the Hopping Along Gallery HERE. In the gallery you will find inspiration from fellow crafters using items from the kit. We also would love if you shared YOUR projects that you create with any of our kits in the galleries too! It is so much fun to see what everyone is creating!

SUPPLIES

InLinkz.com

HOPPING ALONG CARD KIT CONTENTS

InLinkz.com

Blog Candy Alert!! Follow our blog via email and comment on this post for a chance to win grab bags and blog candy! Remember to tag your awesome projects with #simonsaysstamp on social media so we can see what you are creating!