Good morning all!

After a few days of vacation...I think my mojo is coming back! (Either that...or it's the kick in the pants I got from all the bitchin' and whinin' I've been hearing from everyone about not updating my blog.) LOL!

I made three cards yesterday. I at least somewhat like all of them. A step up from a couple weeks ago. It seems like my creativity ebbs and flows at times. Maybe there is a creative "that time of month". :-)

Anyways, without futher ado...here is one of my favorite cards...in time for tomorrow (thanksgiving). This looks a lot better in real life. The overlay is a transparency with alcohol inks on it. I can't remember who the flower stamp is from. The saying is from Clear Dollar Stamps.



So...what are YOU thankful for this year?

I'm thankful for my family, that we have a roof over our head, that I have a job and an income that at least meets the bills, that I have a few good friends, and that I have puppies/dogs who make me smile.

Have a great day!

Jane

Favorite card of the weekend!

Ok...I have to share this here NOW. I can't post it to Splitcoast until tomorrow (no upload Sundays) but I wanted to share it somewhere...so here it is! :-)

Yesterday was World Card Making Day (yes, there IS such a day!) As part of that event, they hosted several challenges on Splitcoaststampers. My card actually combines a few of the challenges. It is the sketch challenge, the inspiration challenge, and the ways to use it challenge.

Here is the sketch I followed:



The inspiration was this Coldwater Creek catalog cover...I followed the leaves and the yellowish color through into my sample...



And lastly the Ways to Use it Challenge was this:
"Doesn’t fall always make you think of trees, of warm rich colors and cool fresh breezes? Trees are such wonderful images, inspiring us with strength, hope, renewal and constancy. Think of the imagery we get from trees – sheltering us, growing roots, reaching to the sky. Well, if you can’t tell, I’ve been on a major tree kick this year (going green and all, I guess!). So, my challenge to you is simple. Show me your trees!

Whether it’s a spring tree ready to bloom, a naked tree in winter, a happy Christmas tree or fall foliage; whether you want to show the tiniest bit of a leaf or a huge forest; make them crazy, make them fun, make them elegant. If you can’t find a tree you want to use, don’t despair. We’re all flexible here so you can also use anything that is related to trees – leaves, acorns, even small woodland creatures! Get creative and let’s pay tribute to our arboreal friends."

Are you ready to see what I came up with? I really love this card. It looks SO much better in real life. It was hard to get a picture with the transparency and the black card base (and my photobox is black) but hopefully this photo does it a LITTLE bit of justice!



Supplies:
Stamps -
Close To My Heart (Skeleton Leaves)
Stampin' Up (Weathered Background and Small Sayings)
Cardstock -
Close To My Heart
Other -
Mini brads (Joann's brand)
Transparency
Alcohol Inks
Techniques -
Distressing (sanding and dragging edges with scissors)
Alcohol Transparency over the main stamped image

Enjoy!

Jane

More Fall...ya'll :-)

Here is my second "fall" card for my ArizonaStampers swap. This swap it doesn't matter if the cards are different...they just have to be the same theme. So, mine are different this month. It's called an Above and Below swap...and you send a card to the person above and below you on the sign up list.

This card uses a TAC stamp set...and alcohol inks for the background. I love how this background looks just like a countertop in your home. Cardstocks are from CTMH.



Hope everyone is having a great week! It's almost over!

Jane

Another way to use alcohol inks

I saw this posted on another blog and thought I'd try it out. You use baby wipes and alcohol inks to create a mixed muted coloring for solid stamps. I'm not sure I love it...and it stained my stamp (is it safe to clean rubber with the blending solution???) But it is pretty.

Anyways, here's the steps I took.

1) Choose 2 or 3 coordinating colors for your image. Set a baby wipe (or 2) on top of a plate or something you don't mind getting stained (I just sat on top of my Crafter's Sheet...LOVE THIS THING!) Then drop droplets of ink onto your babywipe...not touching but close together...in a random pattern.




2) Immediately take your stamp and use the inked area on the baby wipe as your ink pad.



3) Stamp on your paper. I was using a photo paper (matte) and it tended to stick to it (not sure why). I had better luck just using plain old white cardstock. Here is the finished image.



Anyways, just thought I'd share my new attempts at trying something new. Hope you enjoyed it and maybe it sparks an "ah-ha" moment for you. Maybe you'll find a way to branch off from this even. If you do...make sure you come back and let me know!

Jane

More alcohol inks

Well, I didn't drink any alcohol today...but I did play with some! Alcohol INKS that is! ;-) I wanted to make some dominoes with the alcohol inks. So first, I let my dominoes sit in bleach overnight to make them so they aren't as slick/smooth. Then rinsed and dried them and they are ready to go. I do this step when I first get the tin of dominoes and then I don't have to do it again and can stamp just a few dominoes when I feel the urge.

So, today I felt the urge. LOL. First I mixed two colors of alcohol inks and a couple drops of metallic ink to my blotter tool (basically a wood block with a piece of felt velcro'd to it). I wanted my dominoes to be light in color...so first I stamped the cardstock completeley and then added some blending solution to the blotter tool and then stamped the domino (so it was getting the "2nd generation" so to speak). Then I stamped the images in black. Well, my staz-on ink pad was dried out. I had another pad that I thought would work. But it never dried. I tried hitting it with a heat gun...still wet. So finally, I ended up having to use embossing powder on them and heat setting that. NOW they seem to be ok.

Here are the cardstock pieces and the dominoes...



And here is a close up of the dominoes themselves:



Now...I'll need to decide exactly what I want to do with the dominoes. I can make them into keychains, pins, magnets, etc. I can use a metallic krylon pen and draw around the outside of the domino...or I can use red tape and seed beads. I can use wire and beads (although this would be my weakest area). For now, I guess I'll go blog hopping and try to find some samples on what to do with my newest "toys".

Acetate Gone Wild

Just a LITTLE like Girls Gone Wild! LOL! Today I've been playing...I finished a couple cards I like a lot, one that isn't finished yet (but the main image is), and one I don't like at all and that didn't photograph well either...so that one will have to get posted later.

First I'll show my "Like It a Latte" card. This doesn't use the typical acetate...instead it uses a page out of the mini albums I got at Michael's $1 spot. I'd had to cut out some of the pages because otherwise my "surprise" item wouldn't fit in the album and allow the album to still close. (See my blog candy post to guess what's stored in the albums!) Anyhooo...I saw all these empty pages and thought "that'd work for alcohol inks!" So that's exactly what I did with it. Then I was able to cut the white cardstock to fit inside the page and slide it in after I'd covered the front with alcohol inks. And finished it off with a brown/pink color combo and lots of faux stitching. The stamp set is from Stampin' Up.




This second picture is a portion of an unfinished card. I wanted to see what my white staz-on ink would look like with alcohol inks. I quickly learned that you need to stamp on the OPPOSITE side of the acetate that the inks are on. Otherwise the solvent based ink removes the alcohol based ink. I suppose you could rub off the ink and then base it on a white base to get the white fish...but that wasn't what I was TRYING to do! LOL! Anyways, I inked up the acetate and let it dry. Then stamped the fish on the opposite side with white staz-on ink. Then I layered it onto a darker colored cardstock (which made the white fish more distinct). I'll still need to finish the card but this is a good start!




And these last pictures don't use alcohol inks...just the acetate. I believe this is called a "suspension card" but I might be wrong. I'd seen one in a magazine YEARS ago and liked it so decided to try my own version today. Basically you cut a frame out of the card, adhere the acetate on the back side...then adhere your main image to the middle of the acetate so it looks like it's floating in mid-air all by itself. I don't remember how they finished up the rest of theirs...but I didn't like my adhesive showing...so I cut the same size cardstocks for both the middle image and the 'frame' portion and adhered those on the inside front so you can't see any adhesive. Then I added another little frame just to punch it up a bit and stamped a simple greeting.



And here it is open but laying flat on the table so you can see it's clear all around the image:



Tomorrow is/was my Mom's birthday so I'll be sharing some pages from her memorial album tomorrow. Her album is vintage...so if that interests you...make sure you stop back by!

Jane

Alcohol Inks Agate Background Tutorial

Here is just one more thing you can do with alcohol inks!

To start with you will need:

2-3 colors of alcohol inks
1 color mixative (I used copper)
1 blending solution
craft mat (or layers of scratch paper) to work on
glossy cardstock
applicator tool
felt for applicator




Place the glossy cardstock on the craft sheet. Adhere a rectangle of felt to the applicator. Apply ink colors to the applicator BY PLACING THE TIP TO THE FELT AND THEN SQUEEZING. I used two colors and did kind of an 'x' pattern where I put one color at the top left and then bottom right and did the opposite with the second color. Next, open the mixative color and apply it in the center of the colors. You don't need nearly as much mixative color...just a little will do.



Pounce onto your cardstock, covering the whole piece. Let dry, repeat (refilling ink if necessary). Then to the same applicator add the blending solution and pounce over the cardstock. It'll cause all the colors to blend into each other.

Here's my cardstock before adding the blending solution:



And here is a piece of it after (it's the piece on the right...the other piece is a transparency from yesterday's tutorial):



And, for the finished card I ended up embossing a boot onto the cardstock. You can stamp with black archival ink but with these colors my image wasn't as clear as I wanted because the colors are dark. So I opted to emboss instead.



You can also use this same technique on metal surfaces...I like how that looks with the copper mixative on metal. I saw a cute container at the thrift store that was .49 and had a red ticket so was 50% off. So I spent a whopping quarter and used my alcohol inks...and now it's beautiful! I'll post a picture of that in the days to come.

I also have made several cards in the last couple days. So lots to share. Keep coming back!

Jane

Alcohol Ink on Transparency Tutorial

Ok...I did the best I could with the pictures. Since I still haven't found my digital card I had to be a little stingy on the pictures I took (otherwise I'd fill up my camera's memory too quickly).

So...to start with for the TRANSPARENCY you will need:

2-3 colors of alcohol inks
applicator
felt pads
transparency
and either some newspaper or one of these craft sheets like I'm using to stamp on

This picture shows all the supplies we will be using for both the transparency and the agate background so there are a few extra items in the picture for this part of the project.



Place your transparency on top of the craft sheet (or several layers of newsprint or scrap paper). Take a piece of felt and apply it to your applicator. Basically the applicator is a wood block with a piece of velcro on it and you just push the felt onto the velcro. Next we are going to add the ink. I used 2 colors. Place the tip of the alcohol ink to the applicator BEFORE squeezing. Otherwise it'll be a mess that doesn't clean up easily. Here you'll see I squeezed on 2 colors in a total of 4 areas. It's ok if they run into each other a little bit.



Once the applicator is inked up, pounce it onto your transparency. Do one layer let dry. This should only take a moment.



Then re-ink (if necessary) and repeat until the transparency is covered. Here I held the transparency over a bit of white cardstock so you can see what it looks like finished.



Then you can choose to layer it over a stamped image or use it by itself. Because it is see through whatever adhesive you use will be able to be seen. Brads are a good choice for adhering...or use well hidden adhesive like I did on my project. Basically I backed the front section on the inside of the card so it didn't matter that I used adhesive.

To clean up: If you used scrap paper just throw it away. If you used a craft mat, you can use the blending solution (large bottle) to clean all of the ink off your mat. This also helps with any you get on your fingers.

Here's my finished card! In this case, I made it into a window card so the fish is actually stamped on the inside of the card. The colors look better in real life. Seems like the scan didn't do it justice.



Ok...I'm saving the agate tutorial for tomorrow.

Enjoy playing!

Jane

Cheating

I'm cheating and sneaking in my Monday post tonight so I don't have to remember in the morning. Since it's 10:00 here I'm sure most of my readers are asleep. So I can post now, right?

Today I played...with alcohol inks! They are a lot of fun. I only have 3 colors of ink so far. I'll have to stock up on some more with my 40% off coupons whenever Michael's has one. For now, you'll have to deal with the repetitiveness.

This first one uses a transparency which is then layered over a piece of white cardstock that has your image stamped on it. If you'd like to see tutorials on either of these cards...you HAVE to leave a comment! All images on this card are from TAC. Cardstock is from CTMH. I distressed it by sanding it (all CTMH cardstock has a white core which works great for distressing). The circles are made with 2 different size circle punches. I like how this card turned out...but I like the next one better!



Ok...ready for my favorite? It's a beauty. I wonder if the scan will do it justice. It's coppery/shimmery in person. For this card I used the 2 colors of ink and a bit of copper mixative. Then stamped with archival ink directly on the same sheet of cardstock. The image is from Viva Las Vegas Stamps. The background has a crackle stamp from SU and then I sponged the edges with brown to age it a bit. The three little squares are pieces of the same cardstock. This is VERY Southwestern.



I think I've found a new obsession! I need a new house JUST for stamping and scrapbooking! LOL! I've outgrown my small room already. Wow, I remember when everything I owned fit in one small plastic box! Then again I remember moving into our 3 bedroom 2 bath house from a 1 bedroom apartment and thinking we'd never fill it up...and now it's bursting at the seams! LOL.

Remember, if you want a tutorial...you have to leave me a comment!

Jane