Distress Oxide Background

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that today finds you all as well as can be expected,  the weather here seems to be getting colder, it was really damp and drizzly all day, it's always wet and miserable when you have outside things to do!  It should have been an exciting day as we were having 30 Palette Collars delivered, we are using them to make raised beds to grow vegetables in, we are very lucky that our lovely landlord has lots of top soil that we can use to fill them with so we won't have to pay for any, which will save us a lot of money.  The man turned up with the collars on a trailer just as the heavens opened, luckily he bought someone to help unload them, so between them and Paul they had them unloaded pretty quickly.  I can't wait to get them in place and start growing vegetables.

Today's card was really fun to create, I used a non stick sheet (as smooshing works better in those), I took Spiced Marmalade & Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide, smooshing into each colour separately and drying between layers, I then used Fired Brick to add a slightly darker smoosh layer, after I had dried that I made another wash this time using Gesso watered down I smooshed the card into it a couple of times, it really softened the colours and gave a different texture. 

This is the finished background before I stamped it.....

If you zoom in you can see the texture that the gesso layer gives

I stamped one of the Tim Holtz wildflower stamps, I did watercolour stamping, I inked stamp with Worn Lipstick DO then spritzed with water and stamped a couple of times, I did the same with another stamp and the Spiced Marmalade ink.  I dried the background off and added a die cut of the same Wildflower that I stamped with, I added a white drop shadow to make it stand out more.  I stamped a sentiment from Tim Holtz Tiny Text stamps, edges around it and the inked background with Fired Brick Distress ink and mounted whole piece on a white card base. 

I hope you like this background, something different for you to try, if you don't have Gesso you could try white paint.  

Have a lovely Thursday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

A stamped Background Snippet

Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

Please join me in wishing Our Lovely friend Janet the very Happiest of Birthdays 🎂 🥳❤🎉

I hope that you manage to have a lovely day despite having the vampires visiting you, sending you love & gentle hugs xxx

A bit of a dull and dreary day here yesterday, quite chilly too, we have had the log burner on the past couple of nights, no rain though which is a bonus. 

Today's Snippet has more 'muted ' tones,  Vintage Photo Distress Oxide is the only colour, the flowers and Wellies were coloured with Ecoline pens, the pop of red really lifts this Snippet.  The background was created in 2 parts, I masked off a section and stamped a border,  before removing the tape I added some vintage photo, distress oxide along the very edge of the stamped border with a blending brush.  I used the same stamp 'Bulb Gazette' Aall&Create for the background stamping,  I removed the stamp from the block and inked it with Vintage Photo DO and picked it up and used parts of it to add detail,  having it without block means you can bend and flex the stamp to pick out little bits to create interest.   I used glue gel to give some dimension to the Wellies, so that I could pop the flowers in behind them.  I added a few more elements and then gave the final touch of white paint pen splatters!  

I hope that you all manage to stay warm & Dry, 

Love and huge hugs,

Sandra xxxxxx 

Snippet with Fun Background

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

It was fine enough to dry the washing yesterday,  we cannot ask for anything more, the washing line is just outside of my craft room window so I get to watch the laundry blowing in the wind!                  We saw the birds starting to use the many Nesting boxes on the side of next doors house yesterday,  the have many different types of nest box and most of them were being prepared by the birds yesterday morning,  we are looking forward to following the progress, we have three in the garden, hopefully they will have new residents soon too. 🤞

I had great fun making today's Snippet yesterday,  the background was fun and simple to create, I took Old Paper, Cracked Pistachio & Salvaged Patina Distress oxides and just pressed the ink pads onto the background,  making sure that they overlapped,  turning the pads in different directions to create a more random look.  How simple?  Very effective though, I  spritzed the background with water after inking to get the inks to mix together a little more.  I stamped a background stamp with Grey ink .                                 I stamped the Wellington boots onto some smooth watercolour paper and coloured them with Ecoline pens, I added them to the background using Pinflair glue gel, this gave a little dimension,  I then stamped and coloured the roses and popped those inside the boots, adding Pinflair to the heads of roses, this gave me some wiggle time.  I added the bird, the added some shading and some white splats to finish, my journal arrived today, so I can get them all added into it. 😁

Janet it was so lovely to see you in yesterday,  I am sorry that you are struggling with your swollen legs and feet,  it must be so miserable, sending you lots of love and hugs xxx

Sending my love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

A pretty Emboss Resist Background card

 

Good Monday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all relaxed and ready to start another week, apart from our Janet having her birthday this week do any of you have any fun plans?

Yesterday flew by, Paul was up and out with Harley really early, we had a nice relaxed breakfast and we were getting ready to have a day in the garden, Paul had filled a load of seed trays ready for me to sit and sow seeds in to.  We didn't have the sunshine that we had yesterday, it was overcast and gloomy all day, with light rain on and off, so being outside wasn't as much of a pleasure as I hoped, Harley enjoyed it though, he explored every inch of that garden.

Today I am sharing a card that started as a 'happy accident' on Thursday afternoon, I was playing with a technique that had you create an emboss resist on shiny or coated card (like photo paper) you then added alcohol inks and then you put a piece of paper over the background and ironed over it, this lifted the embossing, (the alcohol inks cover the white embossing) as you lift the embossing with the iron it would reveal the clear white underneath the embossing) it is quite effective but I didn't love the results.  

Anyway I had another piece of embossed glossy card left so I decided to add some Distress Oxide over it,  I had forgotten that they would not set on the glossy background, I added Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed & Ripe Persimmon (all strong colours) and blended them together, I could tell it was sitting on the surface of the glossy card so I decided to just wipe over it with a piece of kitchen towel,  OMG I was totally surprised at how pretty the card turned out, those bold colours had left the most delicate, pastel shades on the card and of course the emboss resist wiped clean, so I had the lovely white french script on that lovely pastel background.  

You can see where I had added the inks initially as they left a stain in the card, I did blend out to a point though, it looked ok, you also have the added extra of that lovely glossy shine in the background.          I wanted to show as much of that lovely background as possible so I looked on Pinterest for simple designs with script background, so I simply added a die cut vellum butterfly and then placed a sentiment over the butterfly and popped a few sequins that coordinated with colours around the card.   So it does pay to just have a play and see what you get! 

I hope that you all have a great start to the week,

Sending my love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx  

Your Background challenge cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

We had a very 'sunshine & showers' kind of day yesterday,  when the sun shone it was so lovely outside, the rain didn't come until later in the afternoon so Harley had most of the day in  the garden.  Hoping for some sunshine today, Paul filled loads of seed trays for me yesterday so I want to get some seeds started today, fingers crossed.  

Looking at my cards, it would appear that I had a very 'blue and green' week !! 🤣😂

Your Challenge cards 

Karen 

Karen used an Engraving Art board for the background of this card, she ran it throw an embossing folder and then rub over slightly with a Sanding block to reveal the silver embossing.  To finish the card Karen used a Creative Expressions Stamp & Die set to cut ,'Happy', then stamped the birthday on a tag. 

Such a fantastic Man card Karen,  I love how that background turned out. Thank you so much for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hello, here is my card for this week’s challenge.

A very simple card, but I’ve not been feeling too good this week.

I used double sided sheet, used gold and silver flakes, then added indigo blue luscious powders, then blended it all together. Simple sentiment .

Hope you are all ok, Lilian

Oh Wow,  Lilian,  this is the best that I have seen the Brusho look, maybe not diluting them is the key, they make a stunning background with the gilding flakes, you have created a silky smooth blend, a totally amazing background.  Thank you so very much for supporting the challenge my lovely XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Here’s my cards lovely…

Card 1: I used one of the backgrounds from last week. I added the Inkylicious text stamp. Finished off simply with a Tim Holtz Butterfly.

Card 2: Another ink smooshed background using the little plastic bag technique. I’ve used Salviged Patina and Saltwater Taffy distress oxides. The Thanks die is Stampin Up.

Two awesome cards Sonia, your colour combinations are so lovely,  I love how you picked out the blue hues with the die cut butterfly,  it makes the background blues pop, those little touches of stamping make such an interesting detail to the background.

Your second card is a much softer colour blend, that blue coloured sentiment is the perfect embellishment.  I love both cards, thank you so much for taking part in the Challenge my lovely XXX 

Sue

Sue started this card while she was at mine on Thursday, the Mandala stamp is a Uniko stamp, stamped onto Night of Navy and embossed with white embossing powder.  Sue has then added pretty pink dots around the stamped Mandala and then used the same colour to die cut the sentiment,  having that vellum background to the sentiment makes it pop even more. 

Thanks Sue for a lovely Challenge card, the pink adds a lovely pop of colour to the navy and white background.   Thank you so much for taking part. XXX

*********************

A lovely display of cards again this week ladies, you are all so amazingly talented crafters, look how different all of the cards are!! 

I hope that you all have a lovely Sunday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

I hope that you are all having a nice relaxed weekend, I think ours will be more adventurous than relaxing with Harley dog in the house!  He's already tested us to the limit,  I just don't get it because he doesn't scavange because he is hungry, it wouldn't matter if you had just fed him.  Yesterday for example we always give the cats a bit of chopped up ham at lunchtime (a habit that started by paul giving milo a little treat while making his lunch, now they sit and wait from about 1pm Onwards) anyway we took the cats their ham upstairs ( they are banished upstairs for their safety as they do not get along with Harley,  they were our only pets until Harley arrived and chased the life out of them, they must have long memories as the hate is as strong as ever today).  So we gVe harley some ham too, so that he didn't feel excluded, so we were sat eating our lunch and Paul heard a rustling noise, he came into the office and he had had my bin out from under my desk, I had put an empty packet of salted pretzels in the bin on Wednesday and he must have been able to smell it because he emptied the whole bin out, die cut bits, inky low tack tape bits of damp kitchen roll from mopping up my watercolour mess and baby wipes were all across the floor, he was sat licking the inside if the pretzel bag!  It took ages picking all the bits up, that wasn't the worst incident but I will spare you those details!! 

Pigment Powder Comparison

I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with 4 different sets of Pigment Powders ( actually I have 3 other sorts but only a couple of colours in each).  The four types I have a good selection of are Brusho, Luscious (IndigoBlu), Honey Doo Pigment Powders and Pixie Powders. 

I will say that one big difference is that that Brusho don't have Mica in, they are pure pigment, the others say that they are highly pigmented too but we will let the comparison show us. 

I used the Powders in 2 different ways:  

1.  Sprinkling Powders onto watercolour card that has been spritzed with water.  (I used the same card and same number of 'spritzes' on each piece for fairness) 

2.  I mixed each if the powders with water to use as paint to colour flowers and a leaf.  Again all 4 were stamped on same paper and embossed the same.  

This is the powders sprinkled onto watercolour card that I had spritzed with water.

Brusho

Luscious 

HoneyDoo 

Pixie

I tried to get the same amount of powders on each piece, I will say that Brusho & Pixie powders aren't as easy to control when it comes to sprinkling them.

After adding a little more water

Brusho

Luscious 

HoneyDoo 

Pixie 

These are all well spritzed and ready to dry.

The Dry Results 

Brusho 

Luscious 

HoneyDoo 

Pixie

The results show quite a difference,  the Brusho & Pixie Powders have much stronger pigment,  the Luscious hardly look any different to the dry powder, you get a little shimmer from them but the colour is very muted.  The Brusho is the most intense and I do love how the colours in Brusho move.  HoneyDoo was stronger than Luscious but the Pixie powders beat them having both the strong pigment and shimmer. 

Using the Powders to Paint

Brusho

Luscious 

HoneyDoo 

Pixie powders 

I found similar results with using them as paint to be honest. 

The Brusho's were lovely to paint with, the colour was intense, I did find that once you had laid the colour down it wasn't 'easy' to move it on watercolour card.  I was pleased with the result though.

The Luscious powders were stronger when used as paint, I liked the interference colours too, as you can see on one of the petals once the paint has dried it was hard to shift it with water.

The HoneyDoo pigment powders were nice to paint with, the strength of colour was good and the shimmer was lovely.  

The Pixie powders were lovely to paint with,  the colours were super strong, that orange colour was lovely.  The shimmer was incredible too. 

I tried to use colours that were similar or as close as I could get it with what I had. 

Well, what do you think? 

I think my favourite was Brusho,  followed by Pixie Powders then HoneyDoo and lastly Luscious,  I may need to research more into the Luscious techniques,  I wanted to use them all in exactly the same way.  I would use these more to create backgrounds than I would to use to colour anything, which is why I chose in the order that I did.  

I hope that you find the comparison helpful, especially if you are thinking of buying some, remember you could also add shimmer to the Brushos if that was the finish you were looking for.  So I find them more versatile, I believe you can buy other things to add to Brusho to make it more versatile too.

******************

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, 

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx

Blended Background

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

This week has absolutely flown, I cannot believe its Friday already!  Not only is it Friday, this time next week we will be in March!!  That is just totally unbelievable!! 

We won't be going anywhere this weekend as we are looking after Harley again, there is no way we could leave him here unaccompanied,  he would end up in some kind of mischief, he was clever enough to work out that if he puts his nose in front of the kitchen bin the lid pops up!  And believe me that dog will eat anything!  Paul is hoping to get some garden jobs done as Harley lives being outside.  

Today's card was a Pinterest inspired card.  I masked off a strip on watercolour card, I then blended Granny Apple Green with Shaded Spruce ink (SU), I dried it with my heat tool and rubbed over with a piece of kitchen towel to make sure it was dry as I was going to stamp and emboss onto the inked area.  I took the flower and leaf brsnch from the stamp set Tasteful Touches and stamped them in Versamark,  adding white embossing powder and heat set.  I wanted the flowers to stand out a little more so I coloured over the flower petals with water to lift some of the ink (faux bleaching).  To finish the card I stamped a sentiment in Shaded Spruce ink and die cut it and added it to the bottom of the card, I coloured a card blank to match the Shaded Spruce and added a few green diamanté to finish the card. 

We decided yesterday to stick with 'Backgrounds' for another week for the challenge, it's a pretty versatile topic as every card has a background of some kind. 🤣

I hope that you all have a dry and sunny Friday,

Love & hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxxx

A Brusho Drip card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that today finds you as well as can be expected, gentle hugs to those of you that need one xxx

This weather is absolutely ridiculous we have really strong winds and constant heavy rain, I went out with Lucy to her opticians appointment and the flooding we saw along the Windrush Valley was the worst I have ever seen.  

Today I am sharing the other card that I made on Monday, this one had a lot more Brusho powders and water, I love the areas where the two colours mix together.  

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love & Hugs,

Sandra xxx

 Good Wednesday Morning Ladies, 

Well yesterday was one of those acheive nothing days!! I had a rough night because I was subconsciously worrying about Paul, he had a good night sleep though and woke to his alarm at 5am feeling 'ok', he said he felt better after having breakfast, which was a relief,  I felt relaxed then so thought I'd get another couple hours sleep,  I finished my cup of tea, went to bathroom and got back into bed, ready to snuggle down, plumped up my pillow,  laid my head down and then my phone rang,  7am ish !!  He had his electric trip off on Monday at around 7pm,  which we had discussed at length at the time, he had called an out of hours electrician,  so didn't sleep waiting for a call back, when he called me at 7am he still hadn't heard, so I told him to call them again and explain that he had been without electricity for over 12 hours.  He managed to get through and someone came out at around 11am, it turned out to be a major problem and they have to come back next week to lift carpet and floorboards in the bedroom and replace parts of the wiring!  By lunchtime I thought 'peace at last', about an hour later I was sat at my desk ready to craft and phone rang again, this time it was because his boiler wouldn't re-start 🙄!  All i can do is listen and make suggestions though!  By the time my calls had finish and Paul had come home and wanted lunch it was too late to start any crafting.  Maybe today !! 

I am sharing the other Emboss resist card that I made on Monday,  this one I used a flower stamp, I used Brushos for the background, I tried to put blues around the flowers and green around the foliage.  Here are some close ups of those lovely Brusho's reacting with the water....

I can't get over how beautiful the reaction of the pigment powders and water are. 

I mounted the peace onto a complimentary colour card base. I haven’t decided on a sentiment yet. 

I hope that you all have a lovely day,

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxxxxx 

A Brusho Drip Background

Good Morning Ladies, 

We had a mild but breezy day yesterday,  I spent about 40 minutes in the garden with the cats yesterday morning,  I didn't have a jacket on and didn't feel cold at all.  The only problem is when you spend time in the garden you find more jobs to add to the list!

I felt a bid sad yesterday,  I think it was the exhaustion of the weekend combined with feeling terrible for Paul as he had some kind of sickness bug, bless him he slept for hours. 

While Paul was sleeping I played with my Brusho's a bit more, I tried taping off a section at the top of a piece of watercolour card and sprinkling Brusho powders Prussion Blue and yellow along the taped line, I then spritzed with water and liftes the card to let the water and ink to drip down the card.  I made 2 different versions of this card, one is much darker and this one has a lot less Brusho and water.  I stamped the sentiment along the top edge of the colour and finished with the hello at the bottom.

I hope that you all have a good day, 

Love & hugs to all, 

Sandra xxx