Neon Love!

Ok, I am totally in love with Hero arts new Neon ink pads. I have been making a ton of cards and experimenting with different ways of applying the ink.
I have tried picking up the color directly with a paintbrush from the pad, but the color doesn't stick very well to the brush.  Next I tried rubbing some color onto my ranger non-stick craft mat and applying a little water to thin it out and pick it up with a paint brush. It beaded up into a mess on my paintbrush, and did not color evenly. Finally I got Ranger's craft nib and had great results applying the ink like a marker.  The best way to pick up the ink with a nib was to roll it across the inkpad then apply it to the image.  The Neon inks don't react well with water, so I am keeping a craft nib for each color permanently.
The other way I am applying the Neon inks is with a Ranger ink blending tool. It applies evenly and very smoothly with the blending tool. It also blends very well with other colors in the line and is archival so you can do other techniques over the top of it.
Both of the following cards have the neon ink blended as the background on neena solar white cardstock.
The ornament card has the ink applied to the ornaments with the craft nib. Both cards have starburst stickles on the focal images but it is only visable on the ornaments. I first stamped the ornament stamp (Hampton art Stamps), then masked the ornaments.  I used Neon Green ink for the background. Then I used hero arts dots background stamp and inked it up with Neon Green ink, wiping some off randomly for an aged look. I then stamped believe (Dylusions Ranger Ink) in Memento Tuxedo black, and outlined with a Gelly roll white pen. I then colored the ornaments with various neon inks and when dry applied stickles. This card was a CAS (clean and simple) one layer card. The finished size is standard A-2.

The tree card I first white embossed (detail white) the tree image (PSX), then blended neon pink, neon purple and neon blue onto a piece of cardstock that would be matted onto a standard A-2 Card (I also used a bit of vintage photo distress ink on the edge of the piece). I used a paper towel to buff off the ink from the image. I then inked up the Dot background (Hero Arts) with ranger Picket fence distress stain and wiped some randomly away, and stamped over entire piece.  After buffing the image, I then stamped the sentiment (my sentiments exactly) with Memento tuxedo black. I used tim holtz Distress paint in black soot to color the edges of the card base. (I like the "brush strokes" that are visable with the paint dauber as it adds interest) I applied stickles to the tree and when dry I wrapped a piece of pink wribbon around the mat piece and added a bow of bakers twine. I finally attached the mat piece to the finished card.

Happy Crafting!
~Jay