Birthday Favorite: Crafting.

I love crafting in every form. I love card making, sewing, needle work, painting, paper crafts, jewelry making, book binding, etc. I really couldn't pick a favorite. I can't. I love creating anything. Because I work in the paper-making industry in three capacities, I am more than often paper-crafting. And I have no complaints. I feel so lucky to work in an industry I love! I had great hopes to share two projects I am working on with you, but one is taking a bit longer than expected. It's an advent calendar, so I'm trying to hurry and finish it. I'll post more on that early next week.

Today, I am going to share with you a card I made for Wplus9's All Eyes On series. Dawn asked us to work with Distress Ink. I LOVE distress ink because they are so versatile. I'm going to show you one of my favorite ways to use them: watercoloring.

First, take your ink pad and stamp directly on to a work surface. I am stamping on a craft mat, but you could use a glass plate too. Spritz the inked surface with a little water. (The more water you use, the lighter the water color will be.)

Paint the darker/shadowy areas of your stamp first. (I chose to have that be the outer edges. I am using Wplus9's Classic Christmas ornaments.) Add more water to your color and work your way to the lighter parts. Once it is all painted, you can spray water directly onto the image and blend with your paint brush if it needs it. Cut out and attach to card.

I wanted my card to look like it was snowing, so I inked the edges with white ink and sprayed the entire card with a little water mixed with Perfect Pearls. I finished it off by writing a sentiment on the bottom right.

Check out the other Distress Ink projects:

• Dawn
• Elise
• Jinny
• Kerrianne
• Maile
• Savitri