Faith, Trust, & Pixie Dust ~ New Distress Ink Colors on Unity Stamps

It has been a busy weekend of crafting in my world and I seem to have developed an obsession with pixies!  I don't know about the rest of you but I am super excited about the monthly release of a new Distress Ink color this year and I finally got my hands on the January and February colors on Friday.  I couldn't wait to try them out so I decided to ink up this gorgeous pixie from Unity Stamp Co. that has been calling my name for awhile now and give them a whirl!

I really wanted this image to be soft and whimsical so I opted to go for a no-line watercolor technique.  To do this, I first stamped the image in Antique Linen Distress Ink so that the lines are light and fade out as you add color.  I have tried this using both a first and a second generation stamped image and I find that I like the look of the pale lines to help create the shape of my image so I use the first generation stamped image.  If you wanted to not be able to see the outline at all you could stamp it off first and use the second generation image as well.

I started out using my Distress Markers directly on the watercolor paper but this is not a brand of paper I had used before (it came in a Simon Says Stamp card kit and I am not sure what brand it was) and I found that coloring directly on the paper did not allow the ink to blend when I added water as much as I would have liked.  So instead, I added ink directly onto my glass work surface (I use a We R Memory Keepers glass cutting mat and I love it!) and picked up the ink with my paint brush to apply to the paper.  This seemed to work much better and get the soft look I was aiming for. 

Needless to say, the new Distress Ink colors are to die for!  I used Abandoned Coral for her shirt and Cracked Pistachio for her shirt and accents.  These two colors are very hot right now and I loved the way they came out.  Once my image was all painted I used my Signo Uniball white gel pen to add some details and a silver Gelly Roll pen to add little specks of pixie dust all over the image.  For her wings I wanted some sparkle and shimmer so I used a make-up applicator sponge to dab on some Ranger Perfect Medium at the base of her wings and then lightly brushed on some Ranger Perfect Pearls.  It gave those wings just the right amount of magic!  

 

I used the largest Stitched Rectangle die by Lawn Fawn along with a Scalloped Border die, also by Lawn Fawn to create the panel behind my image.  I found some leftover chocolate cardstock to frame everything and mounted it on a kraft card base.  

This card is going to a co-worker and I'm so pleased with how it came out!  I hope you enjoyed this card and thanks for stopping by!