Playing With Distress Oxides

Okay, so Distress Oxides have been around for a while. I am the slowest person to hop on a trend, though. Keep in mind that it took me several YEARS before I broke down and bought a die cut machine...and the rest is history! ha ha ha!

I didn't want to rush in to buying the oxides for one big reason...I own a few of the regular Distress inks, and I never reach for them. The colors were never my favorites, as I feel that Tim Holtz leans to the muddier colors.

So why did I break down and buy Distress Oxides? 1.) There was a fabulous sale at Joann's over Labor Day weekend, and 2.) They seem to work the best for color blending.

And so far, I really do like them...a lot! I have blended them on mixed media papers, I have blended them on regular card stock, and in both instances they performed beautifully.

Yesterday, I blended three colors, spritzed it with Glimmer Mist, and then dribbled a little white Mister Huey on top. When it was finished, it looked like this:

And then I got busy using this paper to die cut a bunch of leaves, using Lawn Fawn's stitched leaves dies.

I really like the finished product!

I used the Tree Rings background stamp from SU, paired it with some sentiments and dies from Lawn Fawn, and voila.

The color choices were inspired by the dogwood tree in the front garden. 

 I had a few leaves leftover from this color blending project, and I used them on another card. But you will have to return to the cafe tomorrow to see that one!