Product Review : Distress Inks

Good morning

Its Isha here with a product review on our very favourite Ranger Distress inks I hope to share with you the fun you can have with these gorgeous and versatile water based ink and hope this post helps beginners picking up their very own distress ink pads. 

I  enjoy creating , greeting cards, scrapbook layouts , and other paper craft projects  and I rarely 

create anything without stamping or inking at least some of the papers and embellishments used in each project. I have tried  quite a few different ink pads, but Distress Inks are somehow my favorite.

Distress Inks are acid-free water-based dye inks that are safe to use in scrapbooks. They are fade resistant, meaning that if you store and care for your projects carefully, the inks will last for a long time, as these inks are non-toxic.

Size and Storage

Distress Ink pads are easy to use and store. They don't take up much space; the entire container measures approximately 3 inches square by three-quarters of an inch high, and they can be stacked on top of each other for easy storage. The actual felt inkpad area measures approximately 2 inches square, a convenient size for both stamping and direct-to-paper applications. The ink pad is not "squishy" like some ink pads are.

Techniques and Usages

Distress inks  are versatile, and they can be used to create a variety of effects and techniques. The most obvious use for them is stamping. They can be used with both clear stamps and rubber stamps. Good part is you dont always require stamps to effectively use Distress Inks. You can ink directly on papers, fibers, ribbons, embellishments and photos. Like the name suggests, you can use these inks to create a distressed look, or to "age" your papers and create a vintage or antique look.

The colors are all outstanding, and they generally work well with each other when they are used together in projects , as TIMMY  says they are “ BLEND-ABLE” 

Choosing from over 48 colours can be overwhelming but to begin with here are few colours you can consider to begin your inky maddness -

Essential Tools

When working with distress inks there are few essential tools one requires to work with-

1. Craft sheet  - A one time investment to keep your work surface ink free. You can use this sheet practically for any kind of stamping and embossing purpose. Just use a wet wipe or paper towel to keep it clean. I have had mine for longer than i remember!

                                               

2. Ink blending tool  - You can have 2 or 3 tools and interchangeably use them with the foams. 

3. Blending foam - Its ideal to have one blending foam for each ink and if you use them correctly they go a long way.

                                                    

 What makes Distress Inks different from other inks.

STAYS WET LONGER – (allows you to blend and shade on photos and paper – also emboss) other dye inks dry too fast especially on photos so you end up with lines and marks if you go direct from the pad.

COLOR WICKS OR SPREADS OUT – (these inks will travel across the surface of your paper when spritzed with water) other dyes do not travel as much although they might bleed a little when wet, the Distress Inks actually “wick” or spread out much further creating several tone on tones.

COLOR STABILITY – (the colors of the Distress Inks will not break down when wet or heated allowing you to have more color control for the finished look) other “brown colored” dyes will break down when water is added leaving a pink & green hue.

( source - http://rangerink.com/?ranger_project=tim-holtz%E2%84%A2-distress-ink%E2%84%A2-pads

Lulupu Store is flooded with Distress inks and we have all the 48 colours along with the basic essential tools to help you get started with your inky fun! Grab your shades before they go out of stock. Hurry !!

I am leaving you with this Video Tutorial with some basic techniques and tips on Distress inks for beginners . Enjoy!

In my opinion, Distress Inks are well worth the money.  I am happy to recommend Distress Inks to all card makers and paper crafters.

I hope you found this review helpful. I welcome your comments and feedback. Happy crafting!

Love 

Isha 

Please note - reviews on Lulupu Blog are based on the Designers personal experience and we have included the experts opinions form the Industry as well.

Apron shaped recipe card holder

Hi friends,

Do you feel it yet? What?....Love is in the Air...By now you must be actually feeling it ...what with so many and such wonderful inspiration on our blog by our wonderful design team.I am here with my second inspiration for the theme.
I am a foodie and love  expressing everything with food.So it occurred to me that since my husband loves to cook why not gift him a recipe card with his favorite recipe...hence the apron shaped card with a recipe.
Supplies used are listed below.

Story Teller Chipboard Accents Stickers 12"X12" Play Time Grace Taylor Glitter Diecut Shapes Crop-a-dile eyelet& snap punch XOXO Paper Pad 6"X6" 36/Sheets SureCut Deluxe Paper Trimmer 12" 20 pack pigment ink cube set

InLinkz.com

I have made a video tutorial for the same.Please have a look.

Hope you liked my shaped card.
Thanks for passing by.

How to: S Shaped Card & Scallop circle flowers

Hi everyone. Today I will illustrate how to make beautiful flowers using a scallop circle punch. We will also see the use of these flowers on a S-Shaped card.

To make the flowers follow these steps:
1. Punch out circles from a circle punch. You may also use die cuts or draw a simple circle and cut along it using scallop scissors. I have used 2" scallop punch here. To make this flower, we need 3 scallop circles.

2. Distress the edges of the scallop circle.

3. Spritz them with water and let them dry partially.

4. Scrunch them roughly and wait for another minute.

5. Open up the scallop circles.
[Tip]: Do not allow the circles to be completely dry else they will become stiff and you will not be able to shape them well.

6. Apply some glue in the center of two circles and place the three circles on top of the other.

7. Start scrunching the innermost circle and then scrunch the second and third one inwards. Voila, the flowers are ready! Aren't they so easy to make.

Now onto the card.... I have made a S-Shaped card as below:
1. Take a 6" by 8" piece of card stock. Score it at 2" and 4".

2. Mountain fold the 2" score line and valley fold the 4" line.

3. You may wish to keep the card plain. To add some more design, I have punched the outer fold using MS Lace punch. [I love this punch so much that I am practically using it on most of my cards nowadays :)]

4. Add a die cut shape on the fold line such that its center coincides with the fold.

5. Decorate the die-cut as desired. I have made some filler flowers also in addition to the scallop punch flowers for this card. I used this particular punch to make the fillers.

6. Cut a pollen into half and insert through the center of the punch out. Add some glue and scrunch the edges towards the top. 

7. Here is the finished card.

Product Review: Watermark Stamp Pad - Top Boss vs Versamark vs Micia

Watermark ink pads are one of the essentials products you need when you sit down to craft. But which one to go for?!
There are not a lot of Watermark Stamp Pads to choose from out there in the market. Earlier, before the Versamark era, there was only one brand available: Top Boss. I remember buying it.. as it was my first watermark stamp pad and was really excited to use it.. then followed Versamark and I have never looked back to Top Boss after that.. but currently my top favorite is Micia Watermark Stamp pad.. Why?!

Read further..

Please note: The card stock I've used for this post is slightly textured, so that you get to see the result of each product on a textured card stock.

Top Boss: 

Here is an example of an image stamped and heat embossed using Top Boss Embossing Stamp Pad.

You can see it does not give a very clear and a crisp image. Infact, while using Top Boss, you gotta make sure you use your embossing powder quickly as it dries very quick. Thus, it is not the best product to try the Watermark technique with. It is also not as sticky as it is supposed to be which is why the powder does to stay on to the paper very well.

Top Boss was the only Watermark Pad available in the store I bought from 4 years ago.. and I was pretty happy with it as a beginner at crafting. This was the first watermark pad I ever owned before I got a Versamark.

It is also very economical but you do have to reink the pad regularly as it gets over quick.

One of the pros about this product is that since it does not have a very sticky texture it does not leave a lot of sticky residue back on to the stamp

Conclusion: Not highly recommended. Can give it a miss.

Versamark

Versamark stays wet longer and is also stickier thus you get finer and a detailed image.

Its the best for watermarked effect as it leaves a permanent watermark. *caution* If you try this technique on scrapbooks, (which you'd want to preserve for a longer time) then its suggested you use clear embossing powder on it as it is said to fade off over years.

It leaves a sticky residue on the stamp which takes a while to clean.

Its a very versatile product and there are so many different techniques you can try out with this pad. Watermark, heat emboss, use it with dry pearl powder, Brayer Resist.. to name a few. I once used it to stamp on a glass container and it work perfect!

You also get to buy a refill for it. (available at Lulupu)

Conclusion: Highly Recommended

Micia Watermark Pad

Its not a very well known brand as Top Boss or Versamark but I must say it is my current favorite especially for heat embossing.

Since it has a stickier texture than Versamark you tend to get as crisper an image as Versamark.. infact at times even better. Its way too under-priced when compared to its usefulness.

I would not highly recommend it for Watermark technique as it is not a very wet stamp pad as Versamark.

I am still exploring this product so have not really tried out a lot of techniques with this stamp pad but I have a very good feeling about this one.

I strongly recommend everybody to try this product out once to see what I mean.. Since its also cheap, I bet you wont regret your decision. :)

Conclusion: Highly Recommended for heat Embossing

Hope you find this post helpful! :)

Have a great day!

- Shruti

Please Note - All the above information is based on my humble opinion.

How to: Make a Accordion Fold Card

Good morning ..

Hope you all are enjoying some of  the mind boggling inspirations from our DT's . Its me Isha here with my second post, I really had a pretty hard time coming up with something after seeing the awesome creations from my fellow designers, I have made an Accordion fold card with a cute bag to carry the card and a pictorial on how to make this. Hope you all like it !

Warining: Its a  picture heavy post. Enjoy!!

Accordion card and bag 

Front view 

I have made these pink flowers. Don't you think so they are cute?

centre 

and the back view of the card 

The best part I like about this card was doing the cover page , I have used designer pattern paper from Tigerlilly paper pad  .It has such beautiful designs and colors , which are just perfect to work with . All the supplies used are linked at the end of the post. 

HOW TO MAKE ACCORDION FOLD CARD 

Step- 1 ,2,&3 

Step - 4 & 5

and your ACCORDIAN CARD is ready to decorate .... 

wasn't that easy peasy ... go ahead embellish the card with your favourite supplies and gift it to your loved one. 

I hope you like the idea and are inspired to make one for your loved one this Valentine. Do share with us what you make for your Valentine and don't forget to link your projects at

 Lulupu challenge#8 Love is in the air.

Supplies used : 

from Lulupu.com

 Other supplies -

Card stock , Cheery lynn heart die , spell binders scallop ovals, organza ribbon , pink and silver pollens , pine punch and eyelets , sentiments we are memory keepers .

XOXO

Isha 

How to: make a Napkin Fold Card!

Have you entered your project for this month's challenge here at Lulupu yet?
I am having a blast with the theme - "Love is in the air" this month. There are just so many ideas out there and I want to try them all :D But since I had to pick one for this post, I zeroed in on a special fold card.

I don't know about you but I love special fold cards, they are just so much fun to make and gift :)

Here's my napkin-fold card for you (all supplies are linked at the bottom of this post)

I {Heart} Studio Calico Wood Veener shapes.
I used Wood Veener Birds on this card, but there are so many other shapes available at the Lulupu store. My favorites are these butterflies and these super cute tiny people :)

Cool, ain't it? And even though it looks complicated, it is pretty simple to make.
Follow the tutorial below to make your own :)

Napkin Fold Card Tutorial

Start with a 12X12 sheet of pattern paper.

Score at 3" and 9" from left

Turn the paper and score again at 3" and 9" from left.

Now mark at 6" on all sides and score diagonally in diamond shape from each of the 6" mark 
And then score diagonally at each of the 3" mark on all sides.

Here is a little scoring guide of how to go about it.

and this is how it will look

Once you have scored and folded, open the paper back to 12X12 and decorate all the sides with your favorite edge punch, It is not a mandatory step but it adds a lot to the whole view of the card.

 

Then all you need is some pretty pattern paper to decorate it. I am using the MME - Bright Side 6X6 paper pad {Love it :)}

You could also ink up the edges of all the pieces of pattern paper with walnut distress ink for symmetry and  to add that vintage-y touch.

 

At the end, I just made a little band to keep the card together.

Note :I started with a 12X12 sheet of pattern paper, but you can actually make this with any square (6X6, 8X8), you will just have to do a little math to figure out the scoring part :)

I hope you try out this fun fold and enjoying making a card for your loved one in this season of love.

Edited: Entering this for the "Fancy folds with love theme" challenge at For the love of crafting challenge#11
{ Love }