Distress Stains

I admit it - I was quite enamoured of the Distress Stains from Ranger. Tim Holtz demonstrated their uses at CHA, which was filmed. I did not want to like them, but I did, So, I found the Stains at a great price and had them shipped. I decided to try a few different techniques.

 I picked 4 colors and just applied them to card and 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of card stock. There was nothing special about the card stock, I just scribbled/swirled them on. They soaked right into the paper, so blending was out of the questions. I did soften some edges with matching Distress Inks and a sponge applicator. The parent sheet was the cut up and used a card backgrounds.

This card was made with part of the sheet. The colors are much more vibrant in person. I wanted to keep the card fairly simple since there was so much color going on in the background. Below is another card made from the same parent sheet:

Once again, I kept the card fairly simple, adding a punched border on which I sponged Distress Ink. In my next post, I will show another way in which I used the Stains. I must say that they are very fun. You really do not "need" all 12 colors - but they sure are nice!