City Blending

I couldn't wait to open the newest colours in the Distress Oxide range - and my favourite way to use them is for ink blending as they really make is SOOOOOOO easy!   So I decided to create a simple city scene using the AlteNew stencil and inks and pretty much nothing else....

If you've never given ink blending a go, or have tried it with poor results (as I often did in the past!) then trust me, distress oxides are your friend!  There is NO smoother, more blendable ink on the market that I've tried and it works for me every time.

I started by masking off the back edge of my card with post-it tape and then blending tumbled glass from the new colours (set 4) to the top.

Then I added the stencil over the top of the blue and did my first layer of city with hickory smoke (set 3)

For the next layer I used Dusty Concorde (set 4 again), moving the stencil over slightly to get different buildings on show, and as it was a darker shade I didn't even bother to clean the stencil in between colours.

Finally I went in with black soot (set 2) for the final layer as it is the foreground so you want a bolder colour.  This time I flipped the stencil around and used the other city skyline for a different look.

I went with a sentiment from Reverse Confetti's birthday wishes stamp set as the city made me think of New York and the "big" in the sentiment lead me to the "big apple" so I thought it fit.  I stamped and embossed it using Hero Art's Detail White embossing powder.  Again - if you've ever had trouble getting a crisp finish to your embossing then do try Hero Arts detail powders (currently in black or white) as I have found them to give me a brilliant finish even on the finest of details and outlines.  I added a little balloon (Waffle Flower Limo set but you will find a balloon on tonnes of your stamps I'm sure!) wafting over the city for a little bit of detail.

So if you are unsure if blending is for you - I do hope this encourages you to give it a try.  It opens up a whole world of techniques!

NEWS FROM THE STORE

It will be a quieter week for stock this week - the only confirmed delivery is a VERY LARGE restock delivery from AlteNew which should be here on Monday but may not be in store until late Monday or early Tuesday depending on what time the driver arrives - we're finding they are all coming late as they are covering holidays for each other and don't know the routes.

We have the latest Waffle Flower release in transit but not sure when that will arrive as yet.

As we're heading towards the first week of the month however, all our regular monthly brands will start to send us our previews next week so we'll be busy ordering them all for you.

We already have Avery Elle and Lawn Fawn's HUGE Fall releases on order and they will be in store for release day on 9th and 23rd August respectively.   WE DO NOT DO PRE-ORDERS so check the store on those dates to grab your stock as soon as it arrives to avoid sell outs.

Hope the weather isn't too stormy or too hot depending on where you are this weekend.

Happy Crafting!
Tara