Friday Focus - Inks

Hi everyone and welcome. It's Friday Focus time, and this week it's the turn of inks to be put under the spotlight. Let's face it, very little can be done without these and if (like me) you've been building your collection slowly over time then this is definitely the week to fill those gaps; with an extra 15% off these already competitively priced items (individual in-stock ink pads and reinkers - does not apply to pre-orders) at The Funkie Junkie Boutique you'd be hard pushed to find a better deal in cyberspace!

Linda asked me to concentrate my efforts on Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks and Distress Inks - who can refuse an offer like that! Anyone who follows my blog regularly knows I've been just a little excited by the way Wendy has used Archival Reinkers to create amazing backgrounds (here is her Ranger VIDEO DEMONSTRATION from Winter 2014 CHA). So you've given it a whirl and got your background, but where do you go from there? Here's how I created this card;

Start with your inky background. Trim off the parts you are unhappy with (if there are any!)

I sit my background on a card blank to work out where to put it and layer die cuts on to figure out the basis of a design. In this case I went for white and vellum foliage pieces, but if you have a stash of die cuts now's the time to play and see what works for you.

I stick with similar colours to create other embellishments. Stamping the flowers in Archival Ink means I can play with Distress Ink and water without fear of losing the image. To finish these white gel pen dots were added to the centre before they were coated in clear embossing powder.

You can use Distress Inks or Archival Inks through your stencils and on your stamps. Make sure you dry each layer thoroughly to allow the Specialty stamping paper to 'lock in' the colours. By doing this you also prevent the ink bleeding into your white embossing paste (stencilled on top of the stamping).

Having stuck a couple of the base die cuts in place, I created another layer by stamping the dot background onto white card with the Red Geranium Archival Ink. Having cut around the edge I also cut through the middle of this background to allow it to be 'extended' as a rectangular shape behind the top layer.

To add a little extra detail I splattered on a few dots of White Linen Dylusions spray. Finally the remaining die cuts, glossy flowers, net roses, stamped sentiment strip and some of those divine pieces of dyed seam binding you get when you order embellishments from The Funkie Junkie Boutique were added.

And here's a few close ups to show you the finished card in more detail.

Combining all these different textures makes such a difference to the completed design.

Hope that has given you a few ideas for creating your own cards from these amazing Archival Ink backgrounds. The products used are listed below, and don't forget, those inks have an extra 15% discount for this coming week over at The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Enjoy!

Take care of yourselves,

Jenny xxx

Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Red Geranium	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Reinker - Orange Blossom	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Red Geranium	Ranger Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - Watering Can	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Fired Brick
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Spiced Marmalade	Dyan Reaveley′s Dylusions Ink Spray - White Linen	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Spring Greenery	Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamps - Daisy Art	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stencil - Dots & Stripes Borders
Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Reverse Dots Background Stamp	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stencil - 3 Flourishes Stencil	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - White	Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear	Rayon Seam Binding
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Simple Sayings