I started by playing with my distress inks and once I started I could not stop. I think I may be a little addicted to “Ink smooshing”

The backgrounds really just came about as a happy accident. I pulled out my distress oxides, mini distress ink cubes, a couple of acrylic blocks , my finetech water color paints and a spray bottle of water. I used Bristol paper to do the color smooshing on as I felt it took the inks better. 

The deer cards are a 4 bar card which is  3 ½ x 4 7/8   fro​m Simon Say stamp. I loved the little deer die and wanted to make him the focal point so the 4 bar was the perfect size for this.  I die cut the deer 12 times so I could layer three on each card. The top layer was then painted with Finetech gold – I painted them with two coats to get a smoother coverage

The green backgrounds I used Crushed olive, pine needles and lucky distress oxide

For the red  backgrounds I started with  my regular distress inks Aged Mahogany, fired brick  and then added in Candied apple from the distress oxide collection. I squished some ink onto my craft matt, sprayed it with water and then picked up the ink with an acrylic block. 

I smooshed the block and ink all around the paper, going back for more color as needed. I then would stop in between colors and dry it with the heat tool.  I continued the process with each color for each background. Once I was happy with the look I would set it aside and let it dry. From there I took my finetech water color paints and sprayed enough water in gold pan to get it moving, I then applied that as well to the block and started splattering it all over the backgrounds. 

I then die cut black cardstock, glitter card stock and the inked panels using the Hero Arts Nesting Rectangle dies.The black layer is 3 ¼ x 4 5/8 ,  the glitter bases are    3 1/8  by 4 3/8  and the inked panel is 2 7/8 by 4 1/8.  I adhered the black panel flat to the card base, I popped up the glitter panel and the inked panel, deer and sentiment  with foam tape to add dimension.  The sentiment is heat embossed using Ranger Gold embossing powder and the sentiment itself is from Hero Arts

The card set below were created using the exact same colors and color smooshing techniques because once I started i just could not stop. 

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These beauties  are a standard A2 card, which 5½  x 4¼, For the main image and greeting on the card  I used the Tim Holtz Carved Christmas sets 2 and 3 which I  heat embossed with Ranges Gold embossing powder. I die cut it down to 3 7/8 x 2 5/8 and layered it on top of black card stock that was 41/8 x2 7/8 

I then die cut the color smooshed background down  to 5 x 3¾  and then inked up the edges with black soot. Once i finished that I layered it on to some glitter card stock allowing for a thin strip of glitter to show. I then mounted that on to black cardstock measured 5¼ x 4 which just added an extra something to make it all pop.   I mounted both the base of the card and focal image on to the card with foam tape. 

I just love how both sets of cards turned out. I really hope I inspired you and would love to hear from you. 

Thanks for stopping by and remember to check back as I will have a couple more blogs showcasing some Christmas cards coming soon. 

Have a wonderful week.