Alcohol inks and craft plastic

  

I could subtitle this "A Tale of Two Thrinchies" since you might guess that my husband made the quilled thrinchie on the right, and I made the one on the left.  We made these for the Club Scrap retreat, and traded them with many of the attendees - little did they know that my swap would be two-for-one!  I'll show you how I made my thrinchie (3 inches square), and how it can be adapted for the holidays!

The craft plastic I used is a wonderful material, with a lot of possibilities.  It is 0.020" thick, so it is sturdy, and it is very shiny.  It's dimensional (which I looooove) but still durable and flexible.  I started by using my paper trimmer (a guillotine cutter by Tonic - you need a sturdy trimmer or a craft knife) to trim the plastic into two inch squares.

I got out my Pinata alcohol inks (yellow, orange, and red) and my alcohol ink applicator tool.  Range inks are great, too, but I don't have them in the bright colors.  I like the handle on this applicator tool, but you can improvise with a wood block, velcro, and felt.

Apply the ink to the craft plastic (after taking off the protective plastic on one side!).  It doesn't take a lot of ink - just a few drops.

Repeat!

I had a lot of leaf brads that I love, but I wanted them to be copper colored.  I used a krylon leafing pen in copper to color them.  I didn't bother with perfect coats, since leaves are not perfect, so you might see some of the gold from the original brad showing through.  It's all good.

I put a piece of pearly paper through my Xyron 900, and glued the alcohol ink side of the craft plastic to the paper.  I did experiment with a variety of wet adhesives, and my ink kept bleeding.  I was really puzzled by this.  Has anyone had better success with an adhesive like glossy accents?  My handy craft knife came out to trim around the edges.  Since the plastic is thick, and the paper was thin, this was easy without a ruler.

I then stamped the other side of the plastic with a smudgy stamp and the word "behold" (Club Scrap - Autumn Splendor kit).  I was thinking of fall leaves when I made these, and it just fit with the wonder I have when I see our fall colors.  Make sure to use an ink that works on a non-porous surface (I like StazOn), and don't rock the stamp as you stamp.

I embellished with my brad(s), found some coordinating paper, and assembled them.  No two are exactly alike!

For the holidays, I made some inchies (one-inch square) pieces using a sapphire blue and silver alcohol ink.  I found more sparkly paper, and made some cute little cards that I can use for gifts.  I like how these could be used for Christmas, but are also sophisticated enough that any occasion could work for these.  These cards were given as part of a gift to my coworkers.  They really liked them!

Our tradition at Christmas is to enjoy the holiday, take some time off from work, and go skiing. I hope you enjoy your holiday traditions, and I'll see you next year!

These are some of my favorite products that I couldn't live without to make these.  The Grafix plastic comes in a variety of sizes, and counts, but this package is a nice way to try it out without having 25 sheets in your house (like me!).  The larger package is eligible for Amazon Prime, though, which is definitely one of the factors I consider when I'm shopping.

    

Sunny Card with Alcohol Inks

Sometimes when I'm stamping, I have a goal in mind (make a card featuring orange for a dear friend who is retiring from work).

These goals generate a few ideas (alcohol inks - since I don't have much orange paper, pick a great Club Scrap stamp, find a good sentiment).

I settled on the sentiment right away, but couldn't decide on the image.  The mosaic card I made earlier this week was a "reject."  I loved the colors, but wasn't quite as happy with the image - I wanted more black on the image to contrast with the bright colors. Check out this video from Ranger to learn more about the technique and materials to make the orange panels.

Besides the alcohol ink background here, nothing fancy.  Just a lot of layering of some great papers, a little rick rack for some added interest, and some great stamps in black ink.

Materials list:

• Card stock from Club Scrap (Gimme a Ring) and Stampin' Up (glossy cardstock)
• Alcohol inks from Jacquard (Sunbright Yellow, and Calabaza Orange)
• Stamps from Club Scrap (Fossils - old friend, Perfect 10 - collage image)

Tutorial - Mosaic Card

A while ago, somebody asked me how I use up my card scraps, and I thought back to another card I had posted.  I thought I would share my process for making this card.

First, start with an image.  In my case, this is piece of glossy cardstock that I pounced on with alcohol inks and then stamped with an image (check out this video from Ranger to learn more about this).  You could use patterned paper, a cut out from a magazine, or anything that strikes your fancy.

Next, cut the image into pieces.  I like to make mine around 1" square (these are 7/8" square).  This is a nice size to work with (not too big, not too small) and can easily fit onto a variety of card sizes.  Those rectangular pieces are discarded.  Not all sizes of images will work perfectly to the size that you want to cut.

I thought I still needed more black on my squares, so I stamped a little more on them with a coordinating stamp.  I used a color wheel to pick a teal color to mat the squares, and then just layered some other interesting scraps to finish the card.  I did rotate and mix up the pieces for a more abstract look.

This is a great technique that I use quite frequently.  Because of my engineering background, I like things to line up, but they don't have to!  It can also be used with circles or other geometric shapes.

Experiment and have fun!  I hope you share what you create!

Materials list:

• Card stock from Club Scrap and Stampin' Up (So Saffron - yellow, glossy cardstock)
• Alcohol inks from Jacquard (Sunbright Yellow, and Calabaza Orange)
• "Happy Birthday" from Stampin' Up (Teeny Tiny Wishes)
• Word window and modern label punch from Stampin' Up
• Time and Space stamps from Club Scrap