'Distressing' inks

I decided to have a wee go with distress inks. I keep hearing about this 'smooshing' technique, so I gave that a go. I don't have any acetate but read that a clear stamp block could be used instead, so that's what I did and it didn't work at all. So I tried another technique I've seen, of just swiping ink pads onto a heat mat, spritzing with water and then dabbing the paper/card onto it a few times, heat setting in between. That didn't really work for me either, but I managed to get a couple of bits that looked half decent (well, maybe a quarter decent if I'm honest). This is the second bit. The first, and best, I managed to stick onto a card blank squint. I think I'll have to admit defeat and just use distress inks for the edges of paper.

Image stamp - Penny Black 'Snow-Board Ride'
Sentiment stamp - Lili Of The Valley 'Merry Christmas Words'
Paper - I used 'Picked Raspberry', 'Scattered Straw', 'Seedless Preserves' and 'Mowed Lawn' Tim Holtz distress inks to create a bit of a mess ;)
Colouring medium - Prismacolour Premier soft core pencils
Extras - Spellbinders Nestabilites circle dies, Flower Soft and 'Icicle' Stickles

The Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything goes + Christmas
Craftaholics R Us - Anything goes
The Holly And Ivy Christmas - Anything goes
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas goes
Crafty Creations - Anything goes
Creative Craft Cottage - Anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge - Anything goes
Little Miss Muffet - Anything goes
Sparkles Christmas - Feature a creature