this technique is brilliant!

When I saw the card sample for the latest StampTV episode, I literally could not imagine how on earth the background paper had been made. Turns out it's super easy! I was so psyched to try it. Check out my card...

I only have a handful of distress inks, so I couldn't necessarily do exactly what I wanted. I chose Dried Marigold and Peeled Paint because I thought they would give a similar contrast to the combination in the video, as well as blend into a nice dried leaves orange-brown color.

And here's the video, so you can try it too! :)


Distressed Stripes from StampTV on Vimeo.


A couple tips I picked up while doing this technique for the first time:
- Do use heavy-weight cardstock like Gina says in the video. If you use a light weight cardstock, it will get soggy from all the ink. I used 80 lb. Pure Luxury cardstock, and it worked just fine, but I had to be really careful when I was scoring because the cardstock was pretty saturated.
- It's really easy for your stripes to get lost in too many layers of ink. Try to only go over the last stripe or two each time, and start really slow. I pounced off a lot of the ink onto scratch paper before I inked my cardstock. You can always add more! :)
- I only have one Ranger ink blending tool and two foam pads, and they both have other colors on them. So I used some large sponge daubers. They worked well, but you really have to be sure to start off the paper or you'll get round splotches of darker color.

Oh, and did I mention how much I love that new StampTV episodes are posted on Wednesdays? Now I have something awesome to look forward to that can tide me over between Kristina's Make a Card Monday and Finally Friday videos! :)