Jennifer McGuire is one of the best teachers of papercrafting techniques.  She always makes everything look so easy and doable.

She’s done a couple of video series’ called Thinking Inking.  This link will bring you to a list of 27 videos.   Awesome.  Happy watching. 🙂

Anyhow I decided I needed to work on my stash of on-hand cards, so just started playing with the techniques, then made the results into cards.

(Click on the photos to see larger images. Clicking on the little box with an arrow will enlarge it even more.)

This one was done by covering a piece of heavy cardstock with Broken China Crackle Paint.  Putting the paint on thicker will result in larger crackles. I like to make some areas thin and some thicker.

Once the paint is dry, work a contrasting distress ink into the crackles, (I used Vintage Photo) then spritz with water and buff  with a cloth.  This will leave the ink only in the cracks.

Stamp an image with Staz-On or archival ink.  I used Coffee Archival Ink with the Hero Arts Silhouette Grass stamp.

The label was cut with the Spellbinders Nestabilities Mega Dies, Labels 8 and my Sizzix Big Shot.

Add some ribbon and mount onto a kraft note card for a simple, yet elegant card.

This next one was fun.

First, ink your entire surface with distress ink.  I used Broken China. Then cover your stamp with Clear Embossing Ink and spray with water.  Stamp this onto your inked background.  I love the ghosted image  you get doing it this way.  (The stamp I used was the Designblock Tree by Hero Arts.)

The butterflies are done by covering cardstock with text paper.  (I used sheets from a dictionary I got for 5o¢ at Job Lot.) Make sure all the edges are glued down well, but don’t get adhesive on the paper.

Now, heavily ink  the paper with a variety of distress inks.  Some of the colors I used are Broken China, Peeled Paint. Dusty Concord, Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick. Coat the whole thing with a thick layer of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.

Once the rock candy paint is dry, punch or die cut shapes of your choice.

I have to admit, I thought my sheet as a whole was quite ugly, but once I started punching out individual butterflies with the Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly Punch I was amazed at how lovely they looked.

The butterflies are mounted on a strip of patterned paper cut with the Scallop Sentiment Border Punch.

I like making “Thinking of You” cards because I can customize them for any occasion by adding  a sentiment on the inside.  The top card has already been sent off as a birthday card, but it could just as easily have been for sympathy, get well or thank you.

Hope you are having a creative weekend!

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