My Little Creative Space: Cards with Alcohol Ink

Happy New Year!

Am back after a small break. A lovely vacation with my family :) So once I got back I could not wait to get started again. Just before leaving I had received a new bunch of craft items!

So for the new year I wanted to try something new. And then I came across the latest challenge at CAS Mix Up - to use liquid colors such as Alcohol Inks. I thought its a good time to experiment with them. But to use them I did not have any Glossy cardstock or Yupo Paper. So I decided to make do with what I had - some Acetate Sheets and Photo Paper.

Then I made two cards using some Alcohol Ink backgrounds I created.

Card 1 - Alcohol Inks on Acetate Sheet

I had tried out Alcohol Inks on acetate sheet before and I was quite pleased with the results. So for this card also, I created a background using two colors of Alcohol inks - Wild Plum and Stream from the Valley Trail set. For this I first applied drops of colors on the felt applicator and pounced all over the sheet. Then I added some blending solution on the applicator and pounced all over again to get lovely patterns and blended colors. I did this till I was satisfied with the outcome.

Once the background was ready I trimmed it to my desired size. With the left over scrap piece I punched out some small hearts using a small heart punch. After that I took a strip of White cardstock and punched out a few butterflies and a heart again using a craft punch.

I stuck the background on the card base and adhered the white punched out strip on the base of the background so that the background shows through the punched parts. I then randomly stuck the hearts around the base.

To finish the card I stamped the word Beautiful from Simon Says Stamps Sketch Ranunculus set in two colors of distress inks - Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers - to match the background. Then I wrote the words 'Life is' in front of the stamped image using Sakura Micron Pen.

I am entering this card in the following challenges

CAS Mix Up January Challenge - Stamping + Liquid Colors - Alcohol Inks + Craft Punch

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge - Start Afresh

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - New Something

Card 2 - Alcohol Inks on Photo Paper

Photo Paper is not a great surface for Alcohol Inks. I realized this when I tried to use Photo Paper as a replacement for Glossy paper. The colors would get absorbed so soon that it doesn't leave much to do. Disappointed with this result I just randomly streaked the felt applicator which had some left over inks in it across the photo paper and it created some nice patterns. For this card to get more colors, I added more drops of the colors - all 3 from the Valley Trail set and ran it through photo paper and created a background with streaky lines of colors.

With the background ready, I cut it up into 3 rectangles and punched out butterflies and hearts from the background similar to the previous card. I punched out some extra butterflies and hearts from the scrap pieces of background. I stuck the rectangles, the butterflies and hearts on the card base using foam squares.

For the sentiment I chose 'Believe in your dreams' from the Flutter By Stamp set by Lawn Fawn. Again I stamped it with Distress Inks to match the colors of the background on a white strip and then adhered it on the card base. To finish it off I stuck a couple of hearts on the sentiment strip. I also rounded the edges of the card.