Getting Messy with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks!

 Some days you just need to get messy and see what happens! I was super lucky and scored an awesome {Huge} lot of 24 retired Brutus Monroe Embossing powders, stencils from {the crafters workshop, Altenew, MFT, and Hero Arts}, various Tim Holtz supplies, and more for only $45 from Facebook marketplace. If you are a crafter...you know that was a drool worthy lot. It was actually overwhelming to decide what to play with first. So, with my goodies, I sat down and created this:

I really love the way Distress Oxide inks can be manipulated with water and heat. I started out ink smooshing Salvaged Patina, Mermaid Lagoon, and Twisted Citron Oxides on a piece of Canson watercolor paper. This background is NOT what I cam up with....this background is the result of cleaning up the left over ink on my glass mat.

Next, I blended Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide over the Mini Gears stencil from The Crafters Workshop that I pretreated with Pixie Spray Repositionable Spray Adhesive to keep the stencil in place.

Before I removed the stencil, I smooshed Mermaid Lagoon Oxide ink on my acrylic block, sprayed it with water and flicked it over the panel using a paint brush.

I removed the stencil and heat set it so I could blend Black Distress Oxide over the Cubist 6x6 Stencil from The Crafters Workshop. Then, I die cut gears from Spellbinders D-Lites Gears Etched Dies using the original ink smooshed background.

Next, I blended Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide ink over the gears. Then, I embossed the edges of the gears using the Tim Holtz distress embossing ink dabber and Brutus Monroe Golden Honey Embossing powder.

 I flicked some Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide over the gears and the card front for more splatters. 

To finish the card, I stamped a sentiment from Unity Stamp Company "Things Will Work Out December 2017 sentiment Kit" and adhered the gears. I adhered the finished panel to a black card base that I distressed because it had a white core. 

Sometimes you really just need to get messy and make a fun background that only requires a sentiment to finish it off. I do love how this turned out! Thanks for stopping by!

Kimberly