Thinking Inking

I'm participating in the Retake on Thinking Inking challenge over at 2peas and have enjoyed rewatching the videos each week and creating tags using what I learned. Wow...What fun it is to get to stamp and use products that haven't been used in quite a while in my craft room! You know when my Copic bug hit, I think I dropped everything just to try to become adept at using them...Well, I can say now that I really need to do different things and practice letting my muse have a little bit more freedom...I have learned she's been confined to coloring for too long and needs to be able to get out more (Yeah, I'm sure my older sister is saying the same thing about ME right now! LOL). Anyway, I thought I would post the tags I've been creating for the past few weeks.

Week 1 was all about using distress inks. After watching the videos, I was reminded that I can spritz them with water to create awesome splotchy effects and I can also water stamp on them. Yes, I already knew all about this but time and COPICS took over and well, everything else took the back seat.

So here are the two tags I created:

I pulled out some stamps that I've had for years and haven't been using lately. What fun it is to not go out to buy more stuff but to use the stuff I have...That's another thing I'm challenging myself to do for the Thinking Inking challenges...I'm not buying anything and am using what I have!!!

I didn't follow the "swap" directions very well in week one (the size was not right and they were not identical) and I loved both tags a lot so I decided not to swap the first week.

This week I planned on making two very similar tags at the correct specified measurement and swap with another participant in the challenge.

This week is week 2 and the videos reminded me of things I could do with my embossing powders. Yes, as you read, you can see that these videos have been reminders for me. I don't think I've learned anything new yet, just have been reminded of things I have not done in so long. It's nice to get back to doing some things that got me hooked on stamping in the first place.

So here are the two tags I created for week 2. You can see that the tags are almost identical except for the placement of the flowers and the little gold dots on the brads. I added those first and then decided I shouldn't go overboard and try to stick with the techniques in the videos...You know me...Ms OVERBOARD, OVER DO IT and REINVENT IT! Hee hee...

I'm loving how the embossing powder on the brads looked after they were heat set. They are kinda metallic teal looking. It only happened when I embossed with one layer. After adding two layers of the cobalt powder, the embossing powder had almost a black color.

I'm awaiting a special shipment from Canada any day now and once it arrives, I'll be posting some new things and announcing something exciting...Keep your eyes peeled!

Kerry