Tips for Stamping with Distress Oxide Inks

Everywhere you look, people are using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks Pads to make ink blended card panels. There are lots of tutorials for spritzing them with water and making cool backgrounds for handmade cards (including this Distress Oxide Tutorial on our YouTube channel). But did you know that they are great for stamping as well?

Here's a Few Tips for Stamping with Distress Oxide Inks

Tip #1 Distress Oxide inks are a hybrid pigment ink, so they do not seep into the cardstock like traditional water based inks. Instead, the ink sits on top of the cardstock. That means colors are more vibrant and they "stack" well - you can stamp and layer inks on top of each other.

For my birthday card, I stamped one layer of the hats in Abandoned Coral (having a stamping platform is essential for good coverage) then inked the other colors through the corresponding layering stencils to make this pretty handmade birthday card.

Tip #2: Distress Oxide inks need a bit more drying time between layers because they are pigment inks. But if you let them dry, you can stamp colors on top of another color and both colors retain their original color.

Tip #3: The fact that the ink does not sink into the paper, but rather sits on top, also makes them a great choice for use on colored cardstock. I like to use Bazzill Smoothies cardstock for a nice smooth stamping surface and even blending.

You can even stamp on black cardstock and the color shows up.

As you can see, my Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pads are well loved and get used A LOT! I use them for simple stamping projects and more detailed ink blending and they work great for both!

Here's another idea for stamping on colored cardstock!