A viewer wanted to see me use oxide inks, and as much as I like playing with them, I still don’t feel comfortable using the oxidation, or I don’t get results that I really like when I try it.
The first tip I gave was from Tim Holtz. He recommends that you use hand sanitizer to clean acrylic blocks, your MISTI, or to take ink off of stamps. I do like the way it cleans the MISTI and my hands, so definitely think it was worth sharing.
The second tip was when using an acrylic block that has no lines on it and how to help you line sentiments so they are straight. You can use a black Sharpie and a t-ruler that will allow you to draw a straight line..On a clean acrylic block, draw a couple of vertical and horizontal lines near the center of the block…Then when you use it, put your stamp on the reverse side of the block from your lines, so you won’t wipe your lines off when you clean the block.
To make the card, I used a couple of layered dies from Aliexpress.
I used foam marshmallows that I had bought at a stamp show a couple of years ago in the plastic box I show them in. The booth was from Gary Burlin & Co. from Cleveland. I went to their website but couldn’t find a product listing. I found something similar at Joann.com for $3.49 and here’s a link to them. http://tinyurl.com/y94t3pnq   I used a different color ink with each marshmallow.

I used cream colored Recollections heavy weight card stock and cut the two pieces of paper to 4 x 5 1/4″ and colored them with Distress Oxides in Fossilized Amber, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans and used the same colors on both pieces.
I made a second card with Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Candied Apple and Fired Brick and rubbed the ink pads directly on the card stock. I used a piece of scrap paper when going from yellow to orange ink so that I didn’t contaminate the orange ink pad. I put the scrap paper over the yellow ink then ran the orange ink over the card stock and tried to keep it off the scrap paper. I heat set the inks, then went to the candy apple color and then finally fired brick.
I used some Dollar Tree washi tape to tape the colored image to the back of my dies so they would not move.
I used a pokey tool from Tim Holtz to remove the insides of the die cut.
I wanted my card base to be Twisted Citron colored, so I cut the cream colored card base to 11″ x 4 1/4″ and scored the 11″ side at 5 1/2″ to make a top fold card. I used two pieces of scrap paper, putting one inside the folded card and one under it, and then rubbed the ink pad over the front of the card base to make it Twisted Citron colored.
I used Fossilized Amber ink on a white scrap of card stock and cut out a bunch of Smile die cuts from it. I cut four yellow and two plain white, then ran them through my Xyron to make them sticky.
I finished the red card by turning one of my die cuts with the yellow side toward the bottom and the other with the yellow toward the top, and put an orange banner across it with three layers of Smile on it. I stamped the back of the card with my “Made for you by Sandy Parker” stamp.
To make the blue/green card, I used the base of Twisted Citron, and then glued the two different die cuts on top of each other onto the card. I took the Smile sentiment and once they came out of the Xyron machine, I removed them from their backing and laid them on a light yellow piece of scrap card stock. I used an eraser to try to remove the extra adhesive left from the Xyron, but had better luck with using scissors and scratching between the letters once it is laid on the card stock. I laid three layers of the “smile” on the yellow card stock, then cut it out with my Fiskars guillotine trimmer.
I used Tombow mono adhesive to glue the yellow piece to the front of the card after I snipped a “v” on the end to make it look more like a flag. I used the same adhesive to glue the die cuts to the front of the card. I had bought some small nail embellishments at the Dollar Tree from Sassy & Chic that were flowers, and glued them around the “Smile”. I used a sentiment from Stampin’ Up’s set called Love & Affection for the inside of both cards.
I used some green shiny washi tape for the envelope and also for the top and bottom of the Smile on the front of the card.

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