EMBOSSING FOLDER OXIDE BACKGROUNDS

Is there nothing that Distress Oxides can't do?  These are backgrounds that are made by pressing Distress Oxides onto one side of an embossing folder, placing gloss card inside and running through your die-cut machine.  The reason you use gloss card is it will spread the colour really well though you do need to buff it after to get the excess pigment off.  You need to clean your embossing folders as well straight after you've used them so you don't forget and transfer the ink to another project.  No water was used in this technique as the ink is wet enough to transfer around the card by itself.  I put the ink on the side where the design is recessed, that way the design stays white as no ink goes into the recesses.  

"Antiques"...

"Go with the flow"...

"Creep it real"...

"Too glam"...

"Without dreams"...

EMBOSSED SOOT

Soot technique has always been a favourite of mine, such a simple thing as gloss card stock, a candle and a clean stamp, some fixing spray and you have the makings of a wonderful atc or card.  To change things up a bit, we'll be embossing an image with clear embossing powder first, then maybe add a little colour (sponge on Distress Oxides), then add the soot.  At this point, you can't touch any of it as you'll just leave fingerprints so you carefully wipe away some of the soot where you want to reveal either the white (now light grey) card underneath or some of your colour you sponged on.  When you're happy with how it looks, spray with fixative and let it dry, then it's all done.  Simple but very effective.  Add your chosen embellishments to go along with your stamps and it's a quick and easy technique.

"Saltwater"...

"Find your wings"...

"Black"...

"Brightest Star"...

"Darkness"...

Finally, this is one from the last class where we used foil on top of mostly dry alcohol ink.  For that class, we used Yupo with the alcohol and foil but below is a sample that I made using black gloss card, then the alcohol inks, then the foil.  It has an amazing depth that the computer just can't capture.  I used a fine Zig pen to lightly outline the die-cut shapes, then when tacky (about 1 minute), pressed some silver foil on to them.  It really makes the shapes stand out from the background!

"Eternal"...