Night Sky Background Using Distress Oxide Inks

Hello, friends! I ordered a whole bunch of stamp sets from Paper Smooches a few weeks ago, and I am having a lot of fun making cards from them! I have been making a lot of distress ink backgrounds lately, and for today’s card, I thought I would create a nighttime scene for the cute lightning bug in Paper Smooches Giddy Bugs stamps set. Lightening bugs bring back such great childhood memories for me. I loved looking at them when I was little, and I was so fascinated with their glow at night! I still am!

How I made this card

For this card, I stamped the image onto some bristol smooth cardstock with versafine black onyx ink. Next, I covered it with clear embossing powder and heat set it. I colored it in using Zig clean color real brush pens in Pale Green (45), Light Green (41), and Yellow (50). After my image was dry, I cut it out with scissors and started working on the background.

For my background, I masked off a square on an A2 size notecard using a masking stencil and added three different distress oxide colors to the area. For the top portion I used Chipped Saphire, for the middle, I used Blueprint Sketch, and for the bottom, I used Salty Ocean.

Next, I played around with the placement of the image. Once I determined where I would be placing it, I took note of the area underneath and lightly blended Mustard Seed Distress Ink to create a bit of a glow. I wanted to create the look of stars in the sky so I mixed some gold perfect pearls powder with water. I dipped a brush into the mixture and lightly tapped it over the background. Once I was happy with how everything looked, I carefully removed the stencil and set my card panel aside to dry.

Once my card panel was dry, I stamped the sentiment on the bottom of the square and used foam tape to attach the firefly image. I added some gems and glued the panel to a A2 side folding notecard.

This card was so much fun to make! Hope you give this combo a try for a nighttime sky!

Thanks for stopping by! – Mona

Supplies I used to make this card

Paper Smooches Giddy Bugs stamp set
Distress Oxide Ink
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper
Versafine Black Onyx Ink
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder – Superfine Detail
Ranger Perfect Pearls
Pretty Pink Posh Gems – Starry Sky