Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "On The Wild Side TE50' The Fungi Forest Artist Trading Card

For this Artist Trading Card (ATC), I used a small piece of Yupo paper with green alcohol inks on it, that has been in my stash for longer than I care to remember. I'm calling this ATC "The Fungi Forest".

On a piee of grey card, I stamped the fungi, using Versafine Clair "Morning MIst" grey ink.  The fungi are part of the Tracy Evans Boutique Designs "On The Wild Side TE50" stamp set. I coloured the stamped images using Posca Pens, a white gel pen and a black fine liner pen.  I then fussy cut them and arranged and glued them into position on the alcohol ink background.

I used a pink Posca Pen to add dots, that I circles with a black fine liner pen.  I then added smaller white Posca Pen dots to the background and some brown Posca Pen for the forest floor. Finally, I added a Tim Holtz "Idea-ology" word sticker saying "discover" to the top right hand corner.

Funky Fossil Designs "Stencils Unlocked" Techniques - Day 2a 2b and 2C

Today is Day 2 of "Stencils Unlocked" a free technique tutorial on how to get the most from your stencils.  Here's the link on thier site.

For the Alcholol lift, I used a piece background from my stash that I had made maybe two years ago.  Using Alcohol Lift Ink to lift the pattern below the Funky Fossil Designs "Striped Circle Mask".

For the Brusho Paint Lift, I again used a background I already had in my stash, using neat bleach on a q-tip through areas of the Funky Fossil Designs "Woodcut Flowers Stencil by Zinski Art".  The bleach did bleed a little under the stencil but for this purpose the end result is fine.

The final one is using Acrylic paints, I used the following colours Ochre, Vermillion and Viridan Green, applied loosely with a paint brush.  I lay the Funky Fossil Designs "Wavy Grid Stencil" over the surface of the tacky paint and dabbed the surface using a wet wipe to lift the paint.

Of the three I made today, the acrylic paint one is my favourite as I tend not to do those colours but they work so well together here.

Lavinia Stamps "Logan the hare" Card

I had a play with the alcohol lift technique using a green and butterscotch colour ink to create the background.

I stamped Lavinia Stamps "Locan the hare" in Versafine Clair "Pinecone" dark brown ink.  I stamped him again on a large post-it note and cut around the shape and placed over logan on the card to create a mask.

Using a sheet of copy paper and Versafine Clair "Shady Lane" green ink, I created the landscape that Logan runs on.

Using Versafine Clair "Shady Lane" green ink I stamped the "Leafy Spray" stamp in various positions, using first and second generation stamping.

I then used Versafine Clair "Pine Cone" to ink up the very top of the Lavinia ""Small Branch" stamp to create foliage in the background.

Lifting the mask off Logan, I coloured him using Derwent Inktense pencils.  I then added colour to the foliage using Posca Pens and gel pens, finally adding white highlights to Logan using a Signo Pen.

Lavinia Stamps "Fairy Chain" Card

I've used another one of the backgrounds I made the other day using Amanda Branston's alcohol inks on gel plate technique to make this card.

Again, I have used a selection of Lavinia Stamps:  Fairy Chain (large), Red Pines (large and small), Forest So Green verse, Small Branch and Foliage Set.  I've also used the Lavinia Moon and Hill masks.

I've used five shades of Versafine Clair Inks:  Nocturne black, Morning Mist grey, Shady Lane green, Warm Breeze teal/turquoise and Purple Delight.

I've added extra colour to the picture using Van Goch Pastel Pencils, Posca Pens and assorted gel glitter pens.

Lavinia Stamps "Wild Flower" Birthday Card

Each Friday evening, Lavinia Stamps Design Team member Amanda Branston, does a Facebook Live demonstration.  Last week she showed how to use alcohol inks on a gel plate, so I decided I needed to try out the technique, resulting in this card.

I pulled out my gel plates, alcohol inks and alcohol blending solution ready to play.  I decided to opt for three shades of Alcohol Inks:  a yellow, a green and a blue.  I didn't make a note of which ones I used but I do remember that the yellow one was a pearlescent one, so has left a lovely sheen on the card.

With the gel plate on my glass mat, I squeezed some "Alcohol Ink Blending Solution" on to the gel plate, then dotted the three colours on top, starting with the lighter, working to the darker.  I added a little more blending solution to the gel plate then used the hand puffer - sorry I don't know what the proper term is, it's like a little fire belllow!  The puffer distributes the ink around the gel plate.  I then pressed a card over the gel plate, leaving in position for about a minute, before lifting to see the image it had created.

I tried this technique several times.   By the third attempt I had got the hang of it!  Lighter inks or less of the darker shades seem to work better... for me at least.

To clean the gel plate, I initially used my water spritzer, but there were still areas of ink left, so used some alcohol gel hand sanitizer which lifted the ink.  I then washed and dried the gel plate before returning to its storage tin.

I stamped the Lavinia Stamps in three shades of Versafine Clair inks, using:  Shady Lane green ink for the "Leafy Spray", Warm Breeze turquoise ink for the "Wild Flowers" and Nocturne, black ink for the dandelions.  I actually used four different Lavinia Stamps:  Open Dandelions, Drooping Dandelion, Make a Dandelion and Tall Dandelion.

I coloured the flowers with a mixture of Posca Pens, Signo glitter gel pens, Derwent Inktense pencils and Van Goch Pastel Pencils.  There is actually a lot of sheen and sparkle on this card, which sadly is not captured by the photograh.

I used Versafine Clair "Nocturne" black ink to stamp the "Happy Birthday" sentiment, which is part of the Waffle Flower "Essential Sentiments" stamp set.

Waffle Flower "Oversized Hello" Card

I received an order of a new stamp set today, a brand that I've not previously used, called "Waffle Flower", purchased through Seven Hills Crafts, who provided fab customer service and quick delivery too.

I couldn't wait to try out the stamp, so decided to use it on an Alcohol Ink background I had created on a thick Yupo Paper some months ago.

I decided to heat emboss the large "Hello", first using the Wow! Embossing ink pad, then covered the image with Wow! Opaque Bright White Super Fine Embossing Powder.  I had to use a low heat setting on my heat gun to set the powder as Yupo Paper is plastic coated and I could see that it was starting to distort with the heat.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I suspect I will be using this stamp set often.

Ranger Alcohol Lift-Ink Butterfly Card Topper

I continued with playing with alcohol inks in a way this afternoon.  While I was filing away the backgrounds I had made earlier, I came across a scrap of a previous alcohol ink project, so decided to have a play.

I found an old rubber stamp that I've had for about fifteen + years and decided it was a nice image to play with.  I inked the stamp up with Ranger/Tim Holtz Alcohol Lift Ink and stamped onto the scrap of background I found.

I then removed the background, replacing it with a piece of white card then without re-inking the stamp, stamped again onto the card.  The ink that the stamp had lifted from the background had clung to the stamp and then transferred to the white card, providing a pretty image.

Here's a photo of the scrap of background, after I had buffed the image where I had stamped to remove any remaining "Lift ink".  It didn't leave an awfully clear stamp impression, but you never know, it could well appear in a future creation... I loath to throw any crafty scraps out!

Alcohol Ink Play

Today I've had half an hour play with my Ranger Alcohol Inks, making these backgrounds.

I've no idea how I will use them, they invariably end up in my file called "backgrounds for future use"!  I'm really happy with how they look, so there is a good chance they will get used sooner or later - fingers crossed!

Funky Fossil - Funky Circle Alcohol Ink Good Luck Card

I've been playing with an alcohol ink background I have had in my stash for a couple of months and decided today I would make something of it.

I decided to use Tim Holtz Alcohol Lift Ink through the Funky Fossil "Funky Circle" Stencil over the alcohol ink background to create the bleached look pattern.

I used some Wow! Fab Foil in a copper colour to add some interest to areas too.

The stamped "Good Luck" sentiment, using Versafine Clair "Warm Breeze Ink" is from a Simon Says Stamp set called "Clean Line Everyday" and die cut.

Funky Fossil Designs - Fish Background Birthday Card

I had an alcohol ink off-cut from a previous project that was too pretty to throw away, so I decided to use the Funky Fossil "Fish Background Stencil" with texture paste.  I had no idea if it would take or not, fortunately it did.

I used "Peacock Feathers" Distress Oxide Ink to stamp the sentiment which is from issue 68 of Creative Stamping magazine.  I then die cut the sentiment using a stitched banner die.

Lavinia Stamps Design Team Samples for Hochanda TV on 23rd April 2019 (Set 3 - 1)

Lavinia Stamps will be featured on Hochanda TV on Tuesday 23rd April 2019 at 11am and 3pm.  This is a Design Team sample I have made for them.

I apologise for the multiple images and the poor photography.  As I have used mirror card, it is nearly impossible to take a photograph without getting my reflection too.

I used a piece of mirror card for the base of this card, applying the followint shades of alcohol ink to the surface:  Citrus, Aquamarine, Mermaid and Meadow.

I inked the top and bottom edges of the card and dragged the black Ranger Archival ink pad across the surface from top to bottom and then bottom to top (not cross ways).

Using the same ink, I stamped the Lavinia Stamps "Harrieta's House", the "Path" and the "Fairy Buds".  Once the Archival Ink was dry, I then dragged a Versamark clear ink pad across the surface (not fully flat, just enough to get a streaked look).  I then covered it with clear embossing powder and heated till the powder had melted.  To finish the card, I added black dots of Liquid Pearls to the Fairy Buds, Roof and the area between the door and the path.

A recovery project (when crafting goes wrong) #Laviniastamps

I have been a paper crafter for many years and sometimes things go wrong.  Usually due to my carelessness.  This is one of those projects that went wrong and was then recovered.

It started a couple of days ago, when I was making a batch of alcohol ink backgrounds on Yupo paper.  Having made a very special background (using Mermaid and Citrus shades), I foolishly stamped the seahorse in the wrong ink.  I don't mean the wrong shade, I mean the wrong type of ink.  I used a Versafine Clair ink instead of a StazOn.  

The difference between the two is that StazOn is quick drying and works well on non-porous surface (Yupo is like a plastic coated paper).  Where as the Versafine Clain needs something to grip to.  The result of this error was that in 24 hours time, the ink was still very wet.  I decided to wipe it off and see if I could salvage the beautiful background - and it worked!

The wet wipe did remove some of the alcohol ink background, but at least I was able to use it.

I started by stamping the Lavinia Stamps "Seahorse" in a StazOn ink in a "Teal Blue" shade.  I then stamped the "Skeleton Tree" in StazOn "Midnight Blue" shade of ink to replicate seaweed.  I used the Lavinia "Seaweed" stamped in StazOn "Forest Green" shade of ink.

Finally, I added highlights of silver glitter using a Signo Pen and added sequins and sticky gems to replicate air bubbles in the water.

Express Yourself Card with alcohol inks and #laviniastamps

My late night play continued into the middle of the night when I made this card.  I dragged out my old alcohol inks, which have not seen the light of day for over a year and created the mottled background on Yupo Paper.

I generally use my stamping platform when I stamp and I did come across a problem with using Yupo paper as it moves around a lot.  I even used a bit of tape and extra magnets, but the Yupo paper wouldn't let go of the stamp.  

I did find a solution by mounting the Yupo Paper onto cardstock.  With a firmer base, it behaved better.  I was then able to stamp the Lavinia Stamps "Moon Pods" and the "Express Yourself" sentiment in StazOn "Iris" shade of ink.

Finally, I added colour using Distress Ink Pens and added Liquid Pearls in a shade of "White Opal" to the Moon Pods.

#laviniastamps