Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year (almost)!! I have a few resolutions / intentions this year: get off my phone screen (has anyone see that average screen time thingy – eep!), use up my craft stash more, and put out more video tutorials.
Well I had so much fun creating the Be Brave Distress Oxide with colored cardstock card yesterday, I wanted to try out the technique again, this time with more masculine colors. I’ve created another video of the process and I hope you’ll give it a try! You can find it over on my YouTube channel or here:
To start I took a 6 x 6 inch panel of Jellybean cardstock by Simon Says Stamp and stamped the amazing SSS Nature Mandala (by Stephanie Low, one of my favorite designers) in Simon Embossing ink and heat embossed it with Brutus Monroe Icicle embossing powder which is clear. The trick to this technique is to pick a contrasting color of cardstock – so as I’m using pretty dark inks on this card, I chose a bright cardstock. You could of course do a dark cardstock and light inks.
I then used Distress Oxides to completely cover the cardstock. I’m using cheap makeup blender brushes to do this, but Picket Fence Studios does similar blenders. You could also use your Distress mini ink blending tools. The first color I used was Cracked Pistachio and completely coated the cardstock.
I then blended Lucky Clover which is a darker green, around a third of the way in from the edges and then finally Ground Espresso just around the edge (I tried Stormy Sky but the color wasn’t dark enough for me). I also added a little spritz of water which I lifted off with a paper towel. The oxides react with water and leave speckles.
I then buffed off the embossing to remove any residue Oxide. The buffing really brightens the cardstock trapped beneath the clear embossing powder. It’s almost like you had used colored embossing powder!
I used an ink dauber to accent a few areas including the centre with Ground Espresso, and some of the mushrooms in the image with Lucky Clover. I also used a Wink of Stella Clear brush maker to highlight some of the florals round the edge for a subtle bit of sparkle.
I had created the image initially as 6×6 inches as I didn’t know how i was going to trim it down. I trimmed it down to 4″ x 5.25″ with a rectangle die by Hero Arts, with the mandala image off to the side. You could even use the piece left behind on another card. I then matted this onto a panel of the Jellybean cardstock cut to A2 (4.2.5″ x 5.5″).
I used the new Thankful 2 die by CZ Designs from SSS and die cut it from the Jellybean again, and also from some woodgrain translucent paper and adhered the two together, and popped up on foam tape. The sentiment is from the CZ Designs Simple Sentiments 2. I was initially going to add it to a strip of black cardstock, but to tie in with the other colors, I swiped Ground Espresso along some of the scrap cardstock, dried it thoroughly with my heat tool (and used a powder tool) then heat embossed one of the sentiments from the set in white embossing powder. I added a double layer of foam and adhered it underneath the main sentiment.
To finish the card, I adhered it to a white card base with green craft foam, and adhered some Pearls Confetti sequins by Honey Bee Stamps.
I hope you like this technique – I know a few of you have been asking for more masculine cards – hopefully this fits the bill a little bit. Do let me know what you think and tag me on IG if you use this technique!
Have a wonderful New Year!
Jenny x
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