Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Honeybee Mermaid: Have a Fintastic Day!

Hey Everybody! I'm here today with a quick post. I finally had time to get back into my craft room last night (think VERY early this morning) and I had a little fun with this gorgeous mermaid from the Swimming By stamp set from Honeybee Stamps. I also used my new Arteza Real Brush Pens for the first time and I love them! 
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #cards, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft, #honeybeestamps, #rangerink, #arteza, #artezarealbrushpens, #art, #watercolor, #mermaid, #mermaidsong, #swimmingby, #distressoxideinks,

I started out with the Mermaid's tail and used two green markers and a blue to get some fun shading. Then I moved on to her skin and shells. For most of the card I applied color directly to the watercolor paper with my Arteza Real Brush Pens and then I used a water brush (paint brush with a water-filled barrel) to blend the colors. I did her shells a little differently as the red color that I wanted to use was a bit bolder than I wanted it to be. I colored the red ink onto a piece of acrylic. Then I used my water brush to pick up the color and paint it onto her shells. It worked perfectly to dilute the color. I wanted a little extra shading on the sides of the shells so I went back in with my brush pen, added a little color directly to the edges and then blended it with my water brush. It worked the way it was hoping I would and I love how versatile these pens are.
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #cards, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft, #honeybeestamps, #rangerink, #arteza, #artezarealbrushpens, #art, #watercolor, #mermaid, #mermaidsong, #swimmingby, #distressoxideinks,

My favorite part to color on this mermaid was her hair. I'm a little obsessed with mixing and blending odd colors right now and for her hair I picked two purples (light and dark) and a teal green color. They blended together to make some really fun shades of purples, blues and greens. I laid down the color first, then blended making sure to leave the highlighted areas with less pigment. After watercoloring I went back in and added more color where it was needed.
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #cards, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft, #honeybeestamps, #rangerink, #arteza, #artezarealbrushpens, #art, #watercolor, #mermaid, #mermaidsong, #swimmingby, #distressoxideinks,


I painted my background using both my Arteza Real Brush Pens (two blues for the water) and Distress Oxide Ink in Frayed Burlap (sand). Then I heat embossed the sentiment in black (sentiment is from Mermaid Song by Honeybee Stamps). I finished off my card by using a white gel pen to add highlights and details to the mermaid and background and glueing on some sequins from Hero Arts.
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #cards, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft, #honeybeestamps, #rangerink, #arteza, #artezarealbrushpens, #art, #watercolor, #mermaid, #mermaidsong, #swimmingby, #distressoxideinks,

That's it for today folks! Just in case you'd like to pick up a set of these amazing watercolor markers or one of the stamp sets I used for this card I will add some links for you below. If you have any questions please shoot me an email or leave me a comment below.

Have an awesome day!
Maria

mariawillis@hotmail.com









You can shop all of the Distress Oxide Inks at: Ranger Ink Industries

Monday, July 16, 2018

Hero Arts Peony with a Crazy Color Combo

Hi you guys!

I know, I've been... not here. This summer has been wild and wooly (and not in a "I've been living at the beach" kind of way) and I have not had as much time to create as I would like. Still, I am grateful for the time that I do get and this past weekend I got to do some really fun things so I can't wait to catch you up on that (amazing classes with Dina Wakley on gelli printing and creating transparent layers in the media journal-it was epic!). 

For today I've got a card to share. I colored this flower last month when I was participating in Kathy Racoosin's 30 Day Coloring Challenge. I finally had time to turn it into a card and here it is...

The flower is colored with Copic Markers in the following colors: BV00, B02, B41, BG01, V00, RV23, YR61. The leaves are colored with YG41, BG10 and BG23.
#mariawillis, #cardbomb, #cards, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #paper-garden, #papercraft, #cardmaking, #heroarts, #copics, #copicmarkers #flower, #congratulations

After coloring and die cutting my flower and leaves out I layered them on top of some gorgeous pearlescent paper from Paper Garden that I die cut with the Papel Picado Confetti die (Hero Arts). A while back Paper Garden sent me some gorgeous paper to sample and this paper is truly beautiful! After that I heat embossed my sentiment in white on black cardstock and adhered everything with foam adhesive. 
#mariawillis, #cardbomb, #cards, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #paper-garden, #papercraft, #cardmaking, #heroarts, #copics, #copicmarkers #flower, #congratulations

I added a few sequins to finish the card off and called it good. Ok, that is it for today! I'm going to take some pictures of what we did in Dina Wakley's classes this past weekend and I will be back soon to share it all.

Have an awesome day!
Maria





Wednesday, July 11, 2018

New Distress Oxides are Available Now!

Surprise, surprise!! Tim Holtz just released set number four of his amazing Distress Oxide inks! If you follow my blog at all you have definitely seen these in action but if you are new and haven't seen them before... They are truly amazing inks! They have the properties of both dye and pigment inks mixed into one ink. You can stamp or blend with them just as you would a normal ink but when you add water to these inks things start to get a little crazy (crazy amazing!). These inks oxidize when they are combined with water and you can get some really cool effects by doing this. You can also layer these inks because of their pigment ink qualities. This gives you opportunity to create in ways that you never could with regular dye inks. I'll share a couple of cards that I've made using Distress Oxide inks in the past but first let me share the link to the new set of inks as they are sure to sell out fast. 

Ranger is offering a FREE Tim Holtz bag to carry your inks in as well as FREE SHIPPING so snatch up this deal on the double! I just ordered mine and the other thing I added to my order was the new Alcohol Lift Ink which I cannot wait to get my hands on! 


#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique,     #distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique,



Ok! Here are a few examples of cards that I've made using the Distress Oxide inks in previously released colors.

This background for this seal card was made by sponging, blending and watercoloring with Distress Oxides.
#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #heroarts,  #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique,

This bright background was created by blending the Distress Oxide inks and that spritzing with water to oxidize the ink.
#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #heroarts, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique, #heroarts

Both of these octopus cards were created by blending Distress Oxide Inks, spritzing with water, spritzing with Distress Spray and repeating the process multiple times. The effect is really cool in person as the background has texture from the Distress Spray. I wish you could touch it and feel for yourself!
#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique, #heroarts

#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique, #heroarts


This background was made by using the Ink Smooshing technique with Distress Oxides.
#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique,


These two were ink blended and then both lightly misted and heavily splattered with water.
#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique, #distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique,

This last card was ink blended and then I flicked water onto the background at an angle to make the drops appear like falling rain. In this card you can really get an idea how these just blend like butter. They are so smooth and forgiving to work with and I love the chalky, matte finish they have (with no chalky residue!).
#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique,



Ok, guys! That's it for today! If you want to check out any of Ranger's other amazing products I will leave you with the link below. Enjoy and have an amazing day!

Maria

#distressoxideinks, #timholtz, #newdistressoxides, #newrelease, #ink, #rangerink, #cardbomb, #alcolholliftink, #cards, #stamp, #paper, #papercraft, #technique,






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