Ink Blending With My Favorite Things

Taking classes, learning about new tools and techniques, and then practicing those new skills is one of my favorite things to do.  I spent my afternoon just stamping and blending inks.  It was so relaxing!

I was browsing the My Favorite Things stamping site and found a new sketch challenge that just went up this morning.  It of course got me thinking about some of the stamp and die bundles that I’ve purchased from them recently and I was thinking about a recent class that I had taken in ink blending using some new tools that I had not tried before.  Needless to say, I could not resist creating a card for the challenge and trying some ink blending.

Here is the card that I created for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge-Sketch #365:

 

Here is the sketch:

 

My first thought was to use the some of the new dies that I just got from the MFTstamps store when they had their die-namics sales.  It was a great sale and they sent free stuff!!!  Who doesn’t love getting free dies?! (You receive a free die with a purchase of $60 in die-namics, plus you get free shipping on orders over $75 and if you spend over $100, you save even more. Phew!) Their selection of stamps and dies is irresistible as well. I’ll be honest, I did not limit myself to just stamps and dies.  You know what it’s like browsing a craft store.  You always leave with more than you went looking for.

Let me tell you about my card…

I did some ink blending using Soft Sky, Pool Party, Marina Mist, Dapper Denim, and Night of Navy.  Then I spritzed it with my new Distress Sprayer from Ranger.  That thing is amazing.  You can do a full spritz to get small drops over a larger area, or you can depress the lever for a half-spritz and get larger drops.  It makes for a fun effect on your blended ink.  If you look closely at the picture, you will see that it has a splotchy look.  I like it for an ocean scene.

I did an emboss resist technique that is often referred to as emerging color.  I stamped the fish in Versa Mark Ink, covered them with white embossing powder and then heated it with my heating tool to bake it on.  THEN I did the ink blending with the Ranger ink blending foam tools.  I needed to get them for the class that I took and I quite liked them.  It was a cleaner way to sponge on ink and it really blended nicely using this tool.  For sore hands, it was easier to sponge on ink with this tool.

Once you blend on the inks, you wipe off the embossed areas with a soft towel and the embossed images pop right out.  They resist taking the ink colors thanks to the shiny, smooth embossing powder.

I added an extra sentiment from an older Catherine Pooler stamp set and the Keep Swimming sentiment from Ocean Fun stamp set from My Favorite Things.  This is an adorable stamp set.  The creatures all have eye stamps that coordinate with them.

Of course I also added some of the Glitter Enamel Dots that I love so much from Stampin’ Up!

You will notice that there are two stamp sets there and a coordinating die set.  One card led to another until I had 4 cards in all.

 

 

I had that strip of ink blended paper left over and the MFT Ocean Pals stamp set…I just had to use up the scrap and play with the other set!  This octopus is so CUTE!

You will notice that the circle is smaller than the octopus so he hangs off it in several places.  This is a new design trend that is going on.  I like it.  It adds an interesting dimension to cards.

That ribbon is a sneak peek from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog that will be live on January 3.  Tell me that is not fabulous!  It’s like an Ombre ribbon of Island Indigo.  It’s even prettier in person.

The Octopus is stamped in Memento Ink so that I could give him a light slate gray shadow using my Stampin’ Blend marker.  It’s amazing the dimension that little bit of color adds.  I’ve used Night of Navy ink and card stock for the 2″ Circle below the little guy.  Again there are more Glitter enamel dots.  (Did I mention how much I love these?)

Clean and simple card using up some paper scraps!  The sentiment is from the same Ocean Pals stamp set from MFT.

My original card plan involved using the Stitched Mod Square dies that I had gotten a few weeks ago from MFT.  I love them so much that I got the rectangle version also.  The card did not work out as I expected.  My husband likes this card because it’s covered in sea creatures.  It’s not my favorite.

What this does show is the variety of stamps in the set…this is just a few of them.  Isn’t the background on the white fun?  There are several small stamps that really lend themselves to fun background image possibilities.  They would also be great for tags and scrapbooks.

I love that each of the creatures comes with a stamp of eyes to add to the images.  I added a dot of white gel pen to each just for fun.  I love the little wave border stamp also.  It’s a nice touch.  These are both fun set for kids cards. (And, apparently, husbands.)

These are the MFT Stitched Mod STAX dies that I love!  The shape is is fun and I love the stitched detail. Your die collection needs to have the shapes dies that come in these giant sets that are perfect for layering.  These shapes were just too fabulous not to purchase.  It just adds a little extra to your project.  These dies came on the magnet sheets.  Nicely done MFT!!!

The 4th card I will share with you tomorrow.  Can I say that it is my favorite?!  Just wait until you see it!

A few more tools that I played with today.  I’m actually researching tools and techniques of paper crafting.  How else does one become an expert?

I made a video to show you the Octopus card and the ink blending technique.  I have not decided whether it is worthy of publishing.  I will see if I want to remake that tomorrow or use this one.  I’m a bit out of practice making crafting videos.  I’ve been concentrating on physics videos for my students.  It’s a whole different skill set!

 

Here are the supplies you can buy at mystampingstore.com:

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock [100730] $9.00	Soft Sky Classic Stampin’ Pad [131181] $6.50	Pool Party Classic Stampin’ Pad [126982] $6.50	Marina Mist Classic Stampin’ Pad [126962] $6.50
Dapper Denim Classic Stampin’ Pad [141394] $6.50	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin’ Pad [126970] $6.50	Night Of Navy 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock [100867] $8.00	Glitter Enamel Dots [144200] $7.00
Versamark Pad [102283] $8.50	White Stampin’ Emboss Powder [109132] $5.00	Embossing Buddy [103083] $6.00	Heat Tool [129053] $30.00
Smoky Slate Light Stampin’ Blends Marker [145054] $4.50	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $4.00	Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] $4.00	Glue Dots [103683] $5.25
2″ Circle Punch [133782] $18.00

 

All in all I have to say that it has been fun trying out new products that I can’t get through Stampin’ Up!  It’s a big crafting world out there and it’s nice to compare products.

I love the goodies that I have gotten from My Favorite Things.  The stamp sets are quirky and fun and the die selection is great.  Plus they have other tools that are essential to any craft stash.

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you are enjoying the last few days of 2017!  Happy New Year!!