I had a few moments recently, and thought it would be a good time to start on the shadow box I painted a few weeks ago. I used a page of Carta Bella's All Hallow's Eve, some ephemera and a glass bottle:

I used black alcohol ink to color the bottle. Drip a couple drops into your glass and rotate the bottle for coverage. The bird cage is a 3-D acetate sticker.

This is a close up of the top slot. I have a few more things to add here - possible some pen nibs, etc.

Metal background

As a little tag project for Camp Scrap, I decided to try Ranger's Sticky-back Foil. I cut the square of foil into pieces, some large and some not so large. I pulled off the backing and stuck the foil, piece by piece, all over the tag. I over lapped some parts, and used the entire square.  An embossing stylus was used to draw stitch marks, doodles and circles into the foil. Then, out came the alcohol inks! Below is the tag to this point:

From there, I stamped a variety of images (Artistic Outpost) and cut them out. The bicycle is from   Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante. I added a few gears, a token and some trim. Tag complete!

Alcohol Ink Agates

I had a bit of time to play, so I thought I would get out my long neglected alcohol inks and some glossy card stock. With Easter just around the corner, I thought I might pull out some Lights and Brights from the color selection. My first attempt was a little too dark, but I tried stamping on it anyway.

Not thrilled - but I will be able to cut it up or use it as a mat. (Hmmmm...maybe I could find an egg

punch!) Anyway, I still wanted the same colors, but just a bit more muted. This was my next attempt:

Of course, I could not resist stamping this cool rabbit. I shaded some of the rabbit with Faber Castel Fat Brush markers. It is difficult to see in the photo, but the markers colored over the alcohol inks quite nicely. This little guy will most likely end up as a card at some point!

Done!

A couple of weeks ago, I completed some projects that were laying around awaiting the finishing touches. (I posted the Shadow box a couple of days ago.) Back at the end of July, I took a couple of Tim Holtz's classes when he was teaching in the San Jose area. Well, the largest of the projects has finally been completed. The great thing about this class and project was the variety of techniques it showcased. We used tapes, paints, alcohol inks, stains, embossing, chipboard, and metals. Most of the techniques were not new, but the class was a great reminder of using your materials!

We even added a cute (or so my friends think "creepy") little porcelain doll, and some fun gears and watch parts. If you have a chance to take this class, I highly recommend it!

Tuesday's Tip

I love using Ranger products on projects, cards, and scrapbook pages. One of my favorite background techniques is using Alcohol Inks. Usually, these work best on metals and coated papers, like glossy card stock. Did you know that you can use alcohol inks on porous materials as well? I learned this tip in a Tim Holtz class: use silver Dabber Paint to seal the grunge board or porous material. Once it is dry, feel free to alcohol ink away!

Tuesday's Tip

When using paints and various inks, I often work on a craft sheet. Most mediums clean off with soap and water - sometimes a baby wipe will do the trick. When I use alcohol inks, I was using Blending Solution to clean off excess inks. However, a cheaper alternative is hand sanitizer (such as Purel). It works great!

Tag 4

For the Day 4 tag, I had none of the materials Tim used. But, I did have great papers from Graphic 45.  I muted the bright colors of the background by applying a wash of Cream Golden Glaze. I also added a bit of shimmer with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaz in All That Jazz (blue).  The oval is from Tim's Fragments collection. It is a clear acrylic tag that I colored with a couple different shades of blue Alcohol inks. Once it was dry, I stamped the snowflakes in black Archival Ink and gently patted/wiped the black ink off. If you visit Tim's blog, he gives a greater detailed instruction. You do need to work fairly quickly so that the ink does not dry. I found that I had to gently wipe to get the ink off to reveal the clear snowflake design. There is a learning curve, but do not get too frustrated. The acrylic is then mounted onto while card stock.

Tuesday's Tip

I periodically like to use brads to add accents to scrap layouts and cards. Sometimes, it is difficult to find the right color. No problem- you can color your own a couple of ways. Alcohol inks work well on plain silver. You can also color emboss over any finish of brads (I keep a collection of small brass colored for this purpose!)

Alcohol Ink Play

There is a ongoing challenge using Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosity. I have been incorporating some of the techniques with recent card making sessions for Club Scrap's PSL. I used alcohol inks and a craft mat for part of these 2 cards.

I used 4 different alcohol inks for this technique - Alcohol Ink Monoprinting. All the cardstocks and stamps are by Club Scrap.

Tuesday's Tip

I have been working through Tim Holtz' Compendium of Curiosities ( a blog challenge you can find here (studioL3.blogspot.com). I have done 3 of the techniques (a little out of order) and will be working with alcohol inks this week.

For those of you with alcohol inks, you know that you go through a lot of felt. I tend to change my felt frequently so as to not muddy the colors. This can get expensive - if you buy the pre-cut rectangles at you local craft store. Or, it can get time consuming, if you purchase a large sheet of felt and proceed to cut it your self (trust me extremely boring!)

Did you know that the felt used to clean guns is precut to the exact size for the alcohol ink tools? Plus, it comes in large bags that are much cheaper than those at the craft store.

Next time you run low on felt, check into a sporting goods store that sells gun cleaning supplies and save yourself some $$.

Tuesday's Tip

I was cropping this weekend for National Scrapbook Day with some friends. One of us needed a brad or paper fastener in a specific color that could be found. Have you ever been in that situation?

Metal embellishments are easy to color - using a permanent or alcohol in to do so. Sharpies, Copic and any other alcohol marker will work. You can also use alcohol inks from Ranger and Us ArtQuest.

Alcohol Resists

I was playing around with various art medium techniques last week. I thought it was time to break out the alcohol inks, since it had been a while since I put them to use. The background panel on this card was the beneficiary. I clear heat embossed the swirl design on the white glossy cardstock. I then added 3 colors of alcohol ink to the panel. After allowing it to dry, I placed another piece of glossy white cardstock on top and ironed the pieces together. Then, I pulled them apart. The embossing was removed and transferred to the other piece - as was some of the color.

Here is another example of the technique. This is the "original" embossed and alcohol inked glossy white panel. I placed a second glossy white panel on top and used a hot kraft iron.

This was the "transfer" piece. I did add some Distress Ink in a similar color help the embossed image to stand out a bit. Quick and easy - and a little different twist on resist and alcohol ink techniques!

Gift Tags

I have a couple (more) gift tag ideas using alcohol inks and metal. These 2 tags are made from Pre-purchased metal tags that I ran through my Sizzix in embossing folders.

The gold and pink colored tag was painted with alcohol inks to match the gift bag to which it was attached.

The red and white tag at the top was colored with alcohol inks using an applicator with felt attached. the strips were colored white with a paint pen. To tie in the idea of a candy cane, I stamped the small squares and attached with mounting tape. Easy and quick!

Alcohol Ink and Microglaze

The above photos were the ones I was attempting to upload the other day. The top photo is actually a finished card made using alcohol inks, Microglaze, stencils and a "spinner". The 2nd photo shows glossy cardstock with a stencil overlaid. Microglaze is applied to the openings. Photo 3 is the cardstock with the stencil removed - you should be able to see the raised Microglaze image. The next photo shows the cardstock inserted into a Spin Art machine. Does it look familiar? They are available at some Micheal's for around $10 (less with a 40% off coupon :)) And, lastly, the cardstock after alcohol ink was applied to the spinning cardstock - the Microglaze is the scrapped off. You're ready to trim and decorate the card!

More cards and techniques to come soon!

Not Enough Time...

The past month has been very busy: my high school senior has perfromed in her final musical (HONK! - the story of the Ugly Duckling), meaning mom has a bunch of volunteer responsibilities; my bi-monthly (every other month?!) card making class (more on that later); Club Scrap pro scrapbooking and cardmaking league - now in it's last week; and some sad news regarding friends.

HONK! turned out to be an amazing success - selling out both weekends. We even set up an additional 35 seats and sold those as well. The kids were fabulous and enjoyed every minute - although it was bittersweet for the seniors. My daughter, Megan, has already promised to come back and see next year's play when she is on Spring Break.

One of our good friend's daughter ,who spends time with Megan, was diagnosed with a brain tumor 2 weeks before HONK! opened (she was the lead). We've been on a roller coaster with her and her family hoping all goes well with surgery and recovery. Thankfully, the results came back negative for cancer and she should hopefully come home in the next day or two. That's a relief for all of us.

There's been other stuff - too complicated to go into here. However, life is slowly getting back to normal. AND, Megan has made her decision as to which college to attend next year - the winner is Emerson College in Boston! She's very excited as she will have the opportunity to design her own major, encompassing sound for theatre, film, and TV. It's a wonderful opportunity for her!

A taste of card making - above is one of my favorites of the past couple of weeks. The background was made using an alcohol ink technique of polished stone. It was fun to make a couple of sheets of polished stone and then cut them up for cards. It's a technique I used way back when and have had fun revisiting it!

As for my card making meeting - that'll be for another post with some technique photos!