My Lovely Surprise!

If you read my very short description at the top of this blog then you will see that for me this is primarily a diary. I am a novice papercrafter and wannabe rubber stamper. Here I simply document stuff I am making and note a litte bit about the learning experience from each project. One thing I have learned, if you want to play with rubber then you need ink, and lots of of it in all it's various colours and types. Pigment Ink, Dye Ink, Embossing pads... the list seems endless. Everytime I think, "OK, that kind of ink is best" I discover something new to do that needs a different type of ink. At this point it is probably worth mentioning quality, it does matter! Cheap ink pads will not give you the results you want and can put you of stamping for good! I have been seeing some fabulous work done by various bloggers using the Ranger Distress Inks. Ranger is a company I have been aware of for some time but only recently realised how lovely their Adirondack Dye Inks are, and now here was yet another "type" of ink to collect!

Anyway to get to the point... Roni was celebrating her Ink Stains blog's 6 month birthday with some fab blog candy give aways over a period of several days, I was lucky enough to win a Tim Holtz ink blending tool and Jan (Far North)a friend, was also lucky and won some Distress Ink pads. Yesterday my parcel containing the ink blending tool from Roni arrived but when I opened it, to my suprise some Ranger Distress inks were the first things to fall out into my lap! Jan knew I did not have any of these inks and had very kindly asked Roni to pass on her prize to me! To both those ladies a HUGE thank you from me!

Of course I hot footed it to Roni's blog where she has posted a her top ten tips for working with the Ink Blending Tool and set to making something. I knew what I wanted to make, I just needed to check up on Roni's technique tips for #4 Spritz & Flick. Well not only did I get the tips I was looking for, I got some inspiration for my card design too. There is a very cute sample card on that particulur tip and it was a thank you card.. the very kind of card I was about to make... so here is my take on on Roni's Spritz and Flick Thank You card.

The inks are Ranger Distress Inks in Pine Needles, Mustard Seed and Old Paper, the Stamping is Versafine Onyx Black using the Elusive Images "All of a Twitter" themeplate and a Thank You sentiment from the Elusive Images "Flower Spray" themplate. A little sparkle was added using a Sakura Stardust pen in yellow. My verdict on the inks..... WOW they are indeed lovely to use and blend beautifully I can see I NEEEEEED them ALL ;)