Category Archives: techniques

Nov18

Playing With Alcohol Inks

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Playing With Alcohol Inks

When was the last time you played with alcohol inks? I bet it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Alcohol inks come in dropper bottles, and you apply them to surfaces with a small foam sponge or pad. It’s important that you use a sealed surface in order to get good coverage and intermixing. These are one of Tim Holtz’s favorite supplies, and he’s used it on everything from transparencies to dominos to metal to glossy coated cardstock.

alcohol ink background

I started with mirror cardstock (a type of metallic coated cardstock with a high gloss) and three colors of alcohol ink on one sponge, and then dabbed the sponge across the background. When Ink stopped transferring, I add more drops to the sponge, and kept going. This is one of those backgrounds that are simply stunning in person, but don’t necessarily translate well in photos.

A patterned paper in coordinating colors, and then a stamp in a related theme finishes off the card nicely.

Thought for today: there are lots of ways to start a card. You can start with a sketch, and build it based on the pieces of the sketch. You can start with a favorite image, and work from there. You can have a theme or sentiment in mind, and choose supplies based on that. Or, you can start with technique, as I did here, and then make the rest of your design choices based on how your technique turned out.

There is no right or wrong way to create a card. There’s just done. I like done, how about you?

Don’t forget, if you want to get a card from me, make sure you’re on my email list!

Nov16

Watercolor Fun

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Watercolor Fun

Does watercolor intimidate you? It always used to intimidate me. But then I read a book by Dave Brethauer called Card Design: Rubberstamping with Colored Pencils and Watercolors. One of the best books out there for inspiring confidence in your skills as a crafter.

One of the most important things I learned from the book? With water color, you’re not applying color to the page directly. You’re using water to move it around. Realizing that watercolor application is fluid just flipped the switch and helped me relax and just go with the flow as far as water colors were concerned.

Watercolor garden

This started with the Shimmering Pearls paints I used earlier this week, but then I realized I only had one blue, and no green. So I pulled out the Crayola watercolor palette I rescued from my kids, and started adding color and water to the sky and grass and stems. A simple nature themed stamp, and the card was done.

Do you have any techniques that you really want to try, but are afraid to? Are you worried you’ll ruin a scrapbook page by experimenting? That’s a huge reason to make cards. Cards are smaller, more manageable canvases, that allow you to practice techniques without worrying that you’ll ruin something. Next time you think to yourself that you want to try a new technique, practice on a card. Then you’ll feel a lot more confident when you use that technique on a page.

Nov15

Out of This World!

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Out of This World!

This card was a lot of fun to make. Want to see it made, from start to finish?

Cara Miller’s copic coloring class is available here. It’s a great introduction to copics.

You know how sometimes you have a vision of a project, and the end product is something that matches your vision? Yep, that was today’s card.

Beam me up!

Now I have to just remember to leave it out in the light to see if that glow in the dark embossing powder really does glow in the dark.

Don’t forget, if you want to get a card in the mail, you need to sign up for my email list!

Nov14

Inspired by Crafty Friends

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Inspired by Crafty Friends

I have met some pretty wonderful people through scrapbooking. They are fun, interesting, and downright inspiring.

Take my friend Jen from Caffeinated Papercuts. She’s a riot at crops, full of energy and good humor. She’s also the owner of an adorable etsy shop filled with cute and useful handmade items, from things like gift tags and decorated coasters to wedding invitations.

Anyway, she taught her very first class at the last crop I went to, and she did an awesome job demonstrating a lot of Tim Holtz inspired techniques. ( I posted the page I made in her class here, and you all loved it!)

So, today’s card is based on that class.

Tim Holtz inspired Dragonlfy

 

Rather than the red, orange, and brown for the fall leaves pages, this uses pink and blues and green. Plus, once I got done, I realized it needed shine (after all it is a dragonfly!) so put a thin coat of water color iridescent medium over the top to give it some sparkle.

The most useful thing I got from Jen’s class? A reminder to layer images. Adding foam dots to a fussy cut image, adding some cute patterned paper? Those are things Jen would do. I know HOW to do it, it’s just I don’t always put things together that way. When I do, I LOVE how they turn out. Thanks for the inspiration Jen!

Nov13

Creating a Scene

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Creating a Scene

One of the things that was really popular when I first started stamping was creating landscapes and scenes that involved lots of masking and detail coloring. I tried a bit of that then, but I much preferred the silly scenes to the more realistic ones.

up a tree

The thing I prefer about this style of stamping is that I don’t have to mask. The stamps I used were small and clear, so I could see where I was stamping, and could leave spaces or work around the images I wanted to be most obvious. A little copic coloring, and the card is done.

Remember when you’re working with nature scenes, trees and grass and shrubs are shades of green. Vary and mix the colors you use on something like this, so you get a more attractive and interesting image. Wouldn’t this be lovely with lots of reds, yellows, and oranges to make a fall tree? Add a few loose leaves floating around, and you’d be set!

Don’t forget, if you want to get a card from me you need to sign up for my email list, and send me your snail mail address!