grab as I go...

Hello my wonderful friends! 

The last couple days I have been doing some re-organizing of my studio.

 (SURPRISE!)

I know, I know, I'm like the re-organizing queen! However, I'm pretty excited about this one!

All my Distress Inks (and other most reached for ink pads not shown) are on little shelves right on my table at my fingertips! And all the blending pads are in little labeled baggies on a metal ring that hangs under my table. Super convenient, and I no longer have to have all the metal and plastic tins stacked all over while I work with multiple color families! 

Thank you Silhouette for the shelves!

(look for 3d Ink Holder and you can find several sizes/shapes)

And thank you random blog search where I found the blending pad organization idea... I have no idea where I was... I was actually trying to find a link to something totally different and I got side tracked... 

(again, SURPRISE! lol!)

Now of course, I had to try out my new system to see if  I liked it! (which I do!)  And I was in the mood to randomly take photos of my creative process, so, come along for the ride!

-the beginnings of this actually started with color. It came from the color challenge over at Unity. I gathered the inks I had that matched. I then decided I wanted to throw in some mixed media, so I grabbed some clear Gesso and colored it with Tattered Rose Distress reinker. 

So with that, it was kinda a grab as I go... What can I say? That's how I roll. :)

I pounced some of my tinted gesso through a stencil onto watercolor paper. It is really light, so it is kinda hard to see in the photo... and yes, my stencils get much love. and not always as much clean... LOL!

If you use an ink blending tool to apply the gesso, remember to wash it out right away so you can reuse it!

Once dry, I grabbed my mid-range tones and randomly applied them over the whole paper with an ink blender just building the layers. The gesso will act as a resist (mostly). I say mostly because clear gesso has a lot of tooth and some of the ink will stick to it, but as you can see, the pattern and color still pop through quite nicely!  The darker you build your background, the more the stenciled design will pop.

Ok, fun way to use texture stamps is to just not mount them! If you hold them in your fingers you can stamp random portions of them and get faded edges... lots of fun! So, the darkest color and a couple texture stamps randomly hand stamped (literally!) just to add more depth. 

Because it is Distress ink, it reacts to water, so I flicked water on it... I love how not only does it form water splotches, it also smears the words on the texture stamping! 

Ok.. onto the focal image, and the bright pop of color!

I colored directly onto the stamp with Distress markers. Love those things!

I then spritzed the stamp with water. (the more water you spritz, the more watercolor effect you will get... great thing to play with!!!)

I had enough ink on the stamp to get three generation (spritzing water between each one)

I decided to go with the second one, but I'll keep the other two to use on other projects. Waste not, want not!  :)

More generation stamping to add texture to the background.. this time I didn't use any water, and I wasn't worried about saving the extras... I just stamped it once onto scrap paper before stamping right over the flowers. It gives it just a hint of an image. 

To find out which generation to use for your particular ink/color, simply ink up your stamp and stamp onto a piece of paper multiple times... choose which one you want.  Easy!

Here's a fun tip... you don't have to use an entire stamp! I wanted a really small image/sentiment to fit on a charm, so I used a marker to ink up part of "wishes" and stamped that. Never underestimate the elements that make up an image!

Here's another fun tip... 100% rayon seam binding + spray ink crinkled up, then dried makes custom colored crinkle ribbon. 

Yup. 

I just used a mini mister with Distress reinker and water as my spray ink, so it matched my card perfectly. 

And here it is all put together.

Here's the little "wish" charm. It only looks blurry because there is an epoxy dome over it, so it kinda bends the light... In real life, it is pretty, I promise. :)

 And a close up on all the layers of visual texture. Love!

Enjoy!

~Kassi

Supplies Used:

Paper: watercolor paper

Ink: Distress Ink

Stamps: Unity "Warmth & Winter Wishes",  "Moments in Bloom", "Vintage Handwritten", "Love in Return"

Dies: Quickutz "Nesting Circles"

Silhouette: Lacy Design

Other: clear gesso, crinkle ribbon, Tim Holtz charm