Exploring Tim Holtz Stamps: Embroidery - – Card Ideas with Distress Oxide Inks
If you are a follower of my blog, you will know that part of my crafting life is working as a demoer on craft TV. Whilst I do not hide this part of my work, I do not always share the projects here on my blog. For 2026, I would like to change that - not to promote the shows themselves, but to share some of the finished creative ideas that come from them.
One of my recent shows explored different ways to use the Tim Holtz Mini Oxides alongside several Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp sets. In this post I wanted to focus on one of those sets: Embroidery.
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This is a stamp set that would normally send me straight down the journaling route, but I wanted to challenge myself to use it for handmade cards while still keeping that inky, slightly journal-style feel.
Easy Layered Stamping
One Tim Holtz stamp set I have truly fallen in love with is Label Frames. It’s fantastic for creating structure - whether in card making or journaling - and it pairs beautifully with the Embroidery stamps.
For this first card I combined the two sets.
For this technique I did use a stamp platform, as it really helped keep everything aligned.
I began by stamping one of the frames and cutting it out. With both the background card and the cut-out frame positioned in the stamp platform, I stamped them at the same time. This simple step removes the guesswork when lining everything back up later.
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I then created the inky background layer, adding colour only to the areas that would actually be visible - after all, why colour what you won’t see? The same colours were used on the matching card topper.
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Foam pads were added before layering the topper back over the background, lining the images up again. A stamped sentiment and butterfly finished the card.
Just Take Two ...
The background was built up gradually by layering the inks, drying between each layer. I also introduced some sentiments using the same colour palette so everything felt connected.
Once again I returned to the Label Frames stamp set, stamping a large frame in the centre of the background. To help the frame stand out, I used a contrasting pigment ink.
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The flowers were stamped, coloured using the same two oxide colours and then carefully cut out. They are quite fiddly to cut out, but I do enjoy a bit of fussy cutting and the extra effort is definitely worth it.
The flowers were added to the card front using foam pads and finished with a sentiment and a few faux gems.
Easy Watercolour Stamping
I stamped the frame first using a Distress Oxide ink, then lightly spritzed it with water before drying it with a heat tool. This encourages the ink to soften and spread slightly, creating a loose watercolour effect.
Without moving the stamp, I then overstamped the image using a darker archival ink. Because the stamp remained on the platform, everything lined up perfectly.
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The same process was repeated with one of the floral images from the Embroidery set.
Once everything was dry, I added a little extra colour with the same oxide ink to bring the flower forward slightly, which helped the image pop against the background.
Final thoughts
Working with the Embroidery stamp set in a card-making context reminded me just how versatile these images are. Although they naturally lend themselves to journaling, pushing them into layered, inky card designs opened up some new possibilities — especially when paired with more structured elements like the Label Frames stamps.
The final card technique would also work beautifully as a background for an art journal page, and it’s definitely something I would like to revisit, perhaps in a softer colour palette next time.
Tim Holtz Stamp Sets
If you enjoyed seeing how this stamp set was used, I have also shared another post exploring the Curiosity Shop stamp set and some different ways to use it.
You can read that post here: Exploring Tim Holtz Stamps: Curiosity Shop
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