Inky Dirty...a Tutorial

I love, love, love, Tim Holtz Distress Inks! So was I ever thrilled when Suzanne called to tell me they were thinking of adding Ranger Products to the Flamingo Scraps store. It really is a rare day that I do a project without something on it getting inked up. The Distress Inks can be used in so many different ways. In this layout, I used them for many different things.

I used Walnut Stain, Mustard Seed, Tumbled Glass and Spun Sugar to color a plain sheet of kraft paper. They gave the background a beautiful, suede like texture.

The key here is to layer the colors.  Start with the lightest colors and add on.  I always find I don't add near enough color at first.  One of the best things about these inks is how well they blend.  Just keep adding and blending till you get the desired look.  (I like to use the Tim Holtz blending tool with foam pads, but you can use a make up sponge, pieces of cut up foam, whatever works best for you.)

On the petals, you can see how I blended the same colors to make the rose. Remember, one of the great things about Distress Inks is that you can just keep blending and adding colors until you get the result you want.

And finally, did you know that you can use the inks to color metal and pearls? I have found that if you heat the item first, getting it really nice and hot, the ink will stick. Those pearls and flowers you see....they were the white Prima Say it in Pearls and Roses.

On this project I also used the Distress Inks. I went much more heavy handed and darker with the colors. And I inked just about everything in site. Don't worry that when you ink brown ink over brown paper or blue ink over blue paper that you won't be able to see it. You can! It gives the color much more depth.

The sheet of die cut paper was the back side of a bright, red orange. I just flipped it over to get white and then started inking away. I then inked all the other pieces of paper with the color of the paper. So the brown paper got brown ink, the blue paper got blue ink and the green photo mat....you guessed it, green ink. Lots of tearing and curling as well. Boy layouts can be such a struggle for me, I just need texture. hee hee I also inked the embossed chipboard and grungeboard to make it, more grungy.

Well, I hope I have encouraged you to get your hands dirty with some ink. I would love to see what you do with yours. Leave me a link and I will for sure come by to check it out.

Hugs.

Nancy

Paper Roses

Dang...now that Marie Osmond song is gonna be stuck in my head the rest of the afternoon...and yes, I know I have just dated myself.  For those of you unfamiliar....



A few friends have asked me how I made the paper rose on my "date nite" layout.  So, a quick tutorial....


You start with 3 six petal flowers.  These were a SCAL file I found on the internet.  You can find it here .  You don't have to use your Cricut though.  You can use a Sizzix die (which is what Tim Holtz used in his tutorial), a punch, flowers you already have, hand cut, etc.

If you are starting with 3 full six petal flowers you will need to cut them.  The first flower you will cut a slit to the middle.  On the second flower you will remove one petal.  For the third flower, remove two flowers. 

I inked them up quite a bit and then began the process of gluing.  Basically you are just going to glue the flowers back together with the missing petals.

After that, curl the ends under.  Stack the layers making sure to alternate where the petals line up.  And....done.

It may take a bit of practice, and I have found it helpful to paint the backside of my cardstock with some Mod Podge to give it some depth and flexibility.

Hope you have fun with it.

Hugs.

Nancy

Inky Dirty part 2

Lots more inky, dirty posting over on the Flamingo Scraps blog today.  Don't think I will bore you with all the details, but here is another layout I did....I am digging the inks.  lol

If you want all the dirty details, you can head over to Flamingo Scraps.

Other than that....getting ready to get my hands dirty with swim team.  I can't believe it is April.  Kids are in the water soon.  How time flies.

Hugs.

Nancy

Inky Dirty

Today I started getting my next tutorial ready for the Flamingo Scraps blog.  In the end, my simple tutorial became an entire lesson in Tim Holtz distress inks.  I hope to have it done later this week, but until then....here is the layout I came up with.

This is based on the 3.25 Sketchy Thursday sketch. 

Hugs.

Nancy

Oopsies

I know, bad blogger.  But, as promised I am back today with lots to share.

Life has been getting pretty crazy around here.  State mandated standardized testing is rapidly approaching, and with us now enrolled in a charter school we must participate.  And of course, the charter school is making us do test prep.  ugggggh.  This was one of the reasons I didn't put the children in school in the first place.  Dang those silly colleges for being so competitive.  I swear, some days I think I will just graduate the children and let them do a few years at JC.

Cabana Swim season is rapidly approaching and with it, all the loveliness that goes with being the president of the team.  Walk in Registration, Swim Suits, and the every popular.....Mama Drama!  lol  So far so good, but it is keeping me busy.

We have been having lots of fun stuff keeping us busy as well.  On Sunday we went up to San Francisco to my niece's first birthday party.  She is such a cutie.....

And of course there have been scrappy projects.....

  you can see more of the mini at Flamingoscraps.blogspot.com

 And hanging with friends......

 Like I said, crazy busy....but good!

Hugs,

Nancy

Bad Blogger

I know, I am a bad blogger.  I haven't been by in a week.  I am not feeling well today, crazy bad allergies.  But I promise to be back tomorrow with some scrappy goodies and stories to share.

Hugs.

Nancy

Spring Has Sprung

Hanging out doing some scrappin. 

And lovin me some Chelsea Handler in San Francisco

Impossible to get a good photo...but so flippin funny!

 Making some new friends at the Scrapbook Expo

And celebrating 17 wonderful years with Phil.

Happy first day of spring!

Hugs.

Nancy