You have heard me say many times that I think Distress Inks are amazing. Well, here is just one more bit of proof.

Creating this flower? Easy with Distress Inks…

I simply inked the awesome Hero Arts flower stamp with my favorite Distress Ink colors (Peacock Feather and Mowed Lawn) and stamped it on watercolor paper. (I did not mist the stamp first.) The image isn’t the greatest at this point, but never fear! Just use water and a brush over it. The water reacts with the ink and it moves – instantly acting like a watercolor (but so much better). It blends so easily and perfectly. I then pressed some Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint Distress Inks onto my craft sheet and used a wet brush to pick up color and add a bit of depth to the image. After letting it dry, I used markers to add dots to the center of the flower…

It looks hand painted! But I couldn’t paint something that good to save my life. LOL. Thank goodness for Distress Inks and awesome stamps! (Maybe I should do a video showing this technique? Hmmm…)

For more info, head over to the Hero Arts Blog. Oh, and they are giving lots of peeks at the new stamps coming out soon. Be sure to check them out.

Hero Arts Painted Flower Stamp (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Tweed Background (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Celebrate Everyday Stamp Set	Peacock Feathers Distress Ink (SSS|EH)	Mowed Lawn Distress Ink (SSS|EH)
Peeled Paint Distress Ink (SSS|EH)	Faded Jeans Distress Ink (SSS|EH)	Versamark (SSS|EH)	Copic Markers (SSS|EH)	FAVORITE THING: Ranger Detailer Water Brush
FAVORITE THING: Ranger Craft Sheet	FAVORITE THING: Fiskars Microtip Scissors	FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts Milwaukee Heat Gun	FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts White Embossing Powder	FAVORITE THING: SSS Watercolor Paper
Hero Arts Pool Notecards (SSS|EH)	Tombow Stamp Runner Adhesive (SSS|EH)	Best Creation 3-D Foam Adhesive

I was excited when Tim Holtz told me about his awesome Tattered Floral Challenge. (Check it out – there are lots of prizes!) I have loved this die since the moment it came out and have used it in many of my classes. It will cut through anything.

I instantly decided to do something different and unexpected. Instead of a vintage look, I decided to go the opposite – cutesy, bright, simple and “skittles-like.” (This is a term Tim gave my work years ago. It works for me! I LOVE the vintage look, but I thought it would be fun to show the die used for something completely different.

So, I present to you my “Cutesy Floral Hair Clips,” made with the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Die…

I also present to you my sweet little model, Lila. (She is 9 months and walking like crazy, so it was hard to get a good picture of her!)

These clips are SO easy and VERY fast to make. The possibilities are endless! And if you don’t have a cutie girl to wear them, these would make excellent brooches or card accents. (OOOoooo… idea! I am going to make a pillow for my older daughter covered in a heart made of these. Yay!)

Fun, huh? I love showing the versatility of a product. And this product is a good one.

Giveaway! Tim has sent me an extra Tattered Floral Die to give to a lucky winner. Just leave a comment here by 3/23/13 at 11:59pmEST for your chance to win.

Also be sure to stop by Tim’s Tattered Floral Challenge for info on how you can play along and possibly win some big prizes. Enjoy!

Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Die	FAVORITE THING: Sizzix Vagabond Die Cut Machine	FAVORITE THING: Ranger Craft Sheet	My Favorite Thing Felt	My Mind’s Eye Enamel Dots
My Mind’s Eye Buttons

I white heat embossed the big flower image on watercolor paper and rubbed the inks directly over it with Salty Ocean (blue) in the center and Picked Raspberry (pink) around the edges. (It looked awful at this point! Not blended at all.) I then sprayed it verrrrry generously with a Perfect Pearls+ water mix and let it blend and dry on it’s own. Love the purple that resulted, too…

I did the same steps with another embossed flower and the Mowed Lawn ink and cut a few petals to create leaves. For the word “brilliant,” I covered white cardstock with the Mowed Lawn ink and die cut it with THIS great die. (That ensures it is a perfect match to the leaves!) I stamped “you are” from THIS stamp set…

Here is a closer look at the die…

… and the stamp set where I got “you are” for the greeting…

By the way, these new colors leave your hands looking colorful. (No worries – ink comes right off with THIS Scrubbie. Just wash your hands with it and soap – it easily comes off.) Gotta love the baby feet, too.

Loving these ink new colors! (Oh, and if you want a chance to win them, just go HERE.)

Recently, my friend Laurel‘s husband was deployed with the US Navy. She has started a card drive to collect cards for her husband and his fellow crew members to send home to family.

What a great way to put our crafting love to good use. Donating cards to this Heroes Card Drive is easy – you can find all the information HERE. Thanks for considering!

Summer Seasonal Distress Inks	SSS Brilliant and Strong Die	SSS Absolutely Delightful Stamp Set	Hero Arts Stencil Flower Stamp	Sizzix Wedding Embossing Folder
Vagabond Die Cutting Machine	Sizzix Thin Die Plate	Best Watercolor Paper	Mister	Neenah White Cardstock 25 Sheets
Neenah White Cardstock 250 Sheets	Grass Notecards	Corner Chomper

In fact, I did this video almost two months ago! But I didn’t want to share any love for this product until they were back in stock at stores. There was a storage on them for awhile, but now you can get your paws on them again.

I am thrilled to be able to play with them all I want now! Here is a video showing one of the many ways you can use them – to create a fun background with the Hero Arts and Studio Calico Lattice background…

I love that you can get little spots of color with the marker tip, and then can spray them like mad to get blending like watercolor…

When I showed this card to Tim awhile back, he asked me how long it took to color all those shapes. Honestly? 5 or so minutes. And that is nothing compared to what I normally spend on a card – ha. (I am slow.) So I think it is worth it.

Here you can see the pearlized look you get since I used water with Perfect Pearls mixed in. (If you don’t want that shine, you can just use regular water. Both are lovely.)

So many people have asked me if I really love these markers. The answer is yes. They take all the things I love about Distress Inks and puts them in a marker form – so I can get detailed spots of color. What could be better? And this background is just one of many ways to use them. (The best of which is for multi-color stamping – more on that another day.)

You can get the Distress Markers individually (get the colors you like best and just try them out) or go ahead and take the plunge to get the whole set…

I love new toys. Almost as I love giving them away…

And I have a set of Distress Markers to give away! YAY! (Thanks, of course, to the fabulous Heidi at Simon Says Stamp.) Just leave a comment here by Sunday at 11:59pmEST for your chance to win. Good luck – this is a great giveaway!

Distress Markers	Hero Arts Studio Calico Lattice Stamp	Hero Arts Studio Calico Wonderful World	Memory Box Heart Delights Die
Sizzix Big Shot	Perfect Pearl Pigment Powder	B&W Enamel	Versamark
Hero Arts Black Dye Ink	White Embossing Powder	Mister	Heat Gun
Hero Arts Snow Notecards	Best Watercolor Paper	Neenah White Cardstock 25 Sheets	Neenah White Cardstock 250 Sheets
Craft Sheet	Small Fiskars Trimmer	EK 1/16 Thin Foam Dots

Just popping in to share a card. This was a card I created for class, but didn’t like. But I never pitch anything – I figure every card (good or bad) will makes someone smile when they get it in the mail.

This one uses a new technique I shared over in the Clean and Simple Card Making Class. If you are in the class, you will recognize the technique. Very easy to do – just some Distress Inks and water…

Supplies are all linked below in the thumbnails.

Fun to play with color like this. Oh, and it isn’t too late to join in the class and get the discounts, prize chances, lifetime access, etc. Go HERE for more info.

I also have some fun links for you tonight. Lovely stuff:

• You MUST stop by Kelly Rasmussen’s blog this week. She is doing some amazing cards with Hero stamps. Lovely work.
• I have really enjoy Marion Vagg‘s work lately. So very classy.
• Cheiron makes the most beautiful cards. THIS makes me happy.

Finally, we have a winner of Amy’s class – SuZeQ. I emailed ya.

Thanks for stopping by!

The folks at Simon Says Stamp are having a huge event – STAMPtember – where they will be having free gifts, big sales, prizes and more all month. They asked if I could do a few things for their blog and I was honored to do so. Be sure to stop by the post HERE where Heidi shares some did-you-know-facts about me, along with a silly, embarrassing photo of me floating on the Vomit Comet. (For real.) And you can go HERE to see all the details on this video shown below. Oh! And both posts have a giveaway. If you do go post a comment, please say happy birthday to Heidi – SSS’s owner. Her big day was yesterday. (Love you, Heidi. I admire and respect you tremendously.)

So here is the video I did for Simon Says Stamp, using Metallic Rub-Ons and Alcohol Inks. I also show the new Snow Cap Alcohol Ink. I am in LOVE with this stuff. It is amazing. You can completely transfrom dark metal and other colored embellishments. I show it in action in the video, but recommend you check out Tim’s info about it HERE. He, after all, is the master.

Fun stuff, huh?

By the way, when you do alcohol ink, you need to be sure to use the felt pieces on the inking tool. And use foam pieces when you blend Distress Inks. Same tool, just different things you stick to it.

Before heading out, I wanted to remind you to check my last couple of posts for a chance to win some prizes. See you soon!

See, I tease him for always creating “dark cloud” projects and he teases me for creating “bags of Skittles” projects, often with cutesy things such as owls. It’s all in respect and fun.

So when he asked for a few years ago to create some projects for his Ideaology booth at CHA, I knew just what to create:

A colorful owl.

Yes, I was being a bit of a smart aleck, but it was so much fun to create…

So Mr. Holtz Owl was created from cut pieces of Grungeboard. And all the embellishments? They are all from Ideaology.

Paperclips for feathers. The number zero for eyes along with a few gears. The beak? That is a leaf. And the feet? Those are game spinners/clock hands.

All the coloring was done with Distress Inks. The only non-Holtz goodies are the branch (Prima) and the letter stamps (Papertrey).

So much fun to create. I did this a couple of years ago and don’t think I have shared it here yet – sorry if I did.

And there you have it: The Mr. Holtz Owl.

Have a good week.

Project Supplies: