The Alphabet Challenge: T is for Try Something New

Hi everyone.  Sorry, I'm late posting this.  Friday saw a new challenge at the Alphabet Challenge - T is for Try Something New.  I'm a bit of an experimenter, so there are not many things I haven't tried when it comes to papercrafting. 

I decided to try this alcohol ink technique which involves dripping the inks onto acetate.  I opted for some nice bright colours for maximum impact.

I  stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and embossed it onto the acetate (make sure you are using laser copier safe acetate if you are dong this, or it will melt).  I inserted the acetate panel with the stamped and embossed sentiment into an aperture card and die cut a circle of the same size in black card and layered it on top.  I also added some card at the back with an aperture of the same size to make it neat.

Finally I layered some patterned paper behind the panel.  I have added pictures both with the patterned paper and without so you can see the impacet of the alcohol ink on a white background as well.  I hope you can join us this week at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian. xxx

Cardz 4 Guyz: Under Water

Good morning!  This is my DT card for this week's Cardz 4 Guyz.  The challenge this week is under water.  I  used some brilliant digi stamps by Vera Lane Studios for this one, and coloured them using watercolour pencils. 

the sea behind this fish and the happy birthday sentiment was created using alcohol inks on shiny card. 

The bubbly background was created by dry embossing using an embossing folder by Crafter's Companion, and I rubbed some different coloured Brilliance inks over it to give more of a watery effect.  As final touch I added some sparkly mesh and some shells which are from the same digi stamp set as the fish, and which I also coloured with watercolour pencils.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian.  xx

Make My Monday: Shimmer and Shine

Hi everyone.  I had the honour of choosing this week's theme at Make My Monday.  I chose the theme of shimmer and shine, the idea being to create something using products that make it shimmer, shine, sparkle etc.  You can use anything you like that creates shimmer, shine or sparkle.

I have not used any patterned papers on this card, which is unusual for me.  Instead I opted for maximum shimmer and shine by creating my own backgrounds.  I created the main background to the card using Distress Spray Stains and mica sprays, then sprinkled it with some Wow! embossing powders which I set with a heat gun.  I used pearlescent teal card for matting and layering. 

I created the panel to the left of the card using alcohol inks and then layered a strip of sparkly silver mesh over the top of it. 

The main image on my card is a digi stamp by Julia Spiri, and I coloured her with Polychromos pencils added some Wow! embossing powder to her tail using a Versamark pen and added some Stickles glitter glue  to her tail, eyelids and to the bubbles.  Then I inked around the edges of the image with Versamark and embossed with Wow! embossing powders in various colours, sprinkling some of the embossing powders inwards from the edges for added sparkle and shine.  I die cut the shells and starfish using some nautical dies by Marianne Designs then inked them with Versamark and embossed them in various colours of Wow! embossing powders.  Finally I added some very shimmery pearls.

Shimmery/shiny/sparkly items used:

Mica sprays
Pearlescecnt card
Wow! embossing powers (various colours)
Stickles glitter glue
Silver sparkly mesh
Shimmery stick-on pearls

I hope you can join us this week at Make My Monday.

Sian. xx

Doodling on Metal

These are embossed alumininium which I coloured using alcohol inks before embossing.  I've done them all freehand, which is just like doodling on metal.

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Crows!

These are for a swap I've joined on the ATCs for All Forum. The backgrounds are alcohol inked and the crowns are Friendly Plastic.

Feeling Blue

In complete contrast to my previous post, here are some pretty flowers!
Done using alcohol inks and gel pens.

Experiments with Alcohol Inks

I made these ATCs for an alcohol ink themed swap. I wanted to use the inks in an unconventional kind of way (I'm an unconventional kind of person).

The one on the right was done using alcohol inks on a Teflon sheet, swirling the card around on top. I wasn't 100% happy with the result I got so I had a think about how I could change it and sprayed it with the cheap hairspray that I normally use for setting chalks etc. (I would NEVER put it anywhere near my hair!) As you can see, this has given it a nice grungy look, a bit like spraying a distress inked background with water. I coloured the button with Sharpie pens and sprayed that with the hairspray too to blend the colours together. I stamped the background writing with a Memories Electric Rainbow inkpad and then the main image in black Stazon. (Having seen how well the Memories ink stamps on alcohol inks I now need to get a black Memories pad).

The one on the left was done using alcohol inks and silver mixative with a Spin and Splash. I stuck it onto mountboard and then added three layers of UTEE and stamped the image into the UTEE. I added the beads on wire at the bottom to finish it off.

Some More Bits and Bobs

This is an ATC I made for Bobs' Bits and Bobs Challenge on the DoCrafts forum. Bobs provided the clay face, mesh and foil, and specified that we weren't allowed to add anything else other than inks/paints etc. I created the background using distress inks then stamped the writing in white. I scrunched up part of the foil, applied ink to it and stamped with it in black around the edges. Next, I coloured the rest of the foil using alcohol inks and wrapped part of it around the face. I used an embossing tool to press it in tight to the face. I scrunched up the rest of it then layered the foil and mesh onto the background and stuck the face on top of the mesh.

A Child Free Weekend!

I've had a rare child free weekend this week. I spent yesterday buying birthday presents for my little boy Adam, who'll be three a week tomorrow, and we went out for a meal in the evening so I didn't get very much arty time, but I've had most of today to myself, so have made a few ATCs.

These are two of my favourites, which I've made for a couple of hosted swaps I'm in. I think I was in a bit of a silly mood this afternoon. Oh, and I've got some new colours of alcohol inks. Can you tell?