Distress Oxide Ink Tutorial

My collection of Distress Oxides has a permanent spot on my craft table and these inkpads are a perfect addition to any crafter’s stash. Distress Oxide Ink is unlike any other. It is a special mix of dye and a pigment ink, which gives it a unique characteristic. These inkpads are perfect for stamping on a white or a coloured cardstock due to the opacity and the pigment within them, but they remain beautifully vibrant due to the dye content. Throw some water into the mix and you end up with an extra bonus of a chalky textured look that will blow your mind. These inkpads are a perfect medium for various techniques and I’d like to share a few ideas on how to use them on coloured or black cardstock.

If you are like me and the idea of combining pattern papers gives you hot flushes, then try creating your very own fun backgrounds with these inks, which will make your heart sing. I created five cards for this feature, each showing a different technique to give you some ideas and to get you started. One of these is using the coloured cardstock to contrast the colours of the ink creating a fun background. You can see me heat embossing Distress Oxide Ink with ease. Another card is simply stamped out with different shapes and colours and one with an emboss-resist. I saved the messiest and the most fun card for the step-by-step to show you how easy it is to create a colourful background even when you dilute the Oxide inks.

You don’t have to limit yourself to black or coloured cardstock either. Stamping on kraft cardstock give fabulous results too! Or maybe try a tone-on-tone stamping on a coloured cardstock with similar coloured ink for a subtler background, then add a focal point. Let your imagination and your creative juices flow and, mainly, have fun!