All the Birthday Wishes

Today I'm highlighting a bold Birthday Wishes die from Stamplorations. I've had this awhile and I keep die cutting it from a variety of papers and materials. I love it because it's bold and it's all connected and not too dainty. 

There are some word dies that have delicate lines that get bent easily but this isn't one of them. Looks like this die is on sale right now too, if you want one. I'm not an affiliate link, I just like the store and die.

For this first card, I framed a beautiful patterned paper from Altenew with a gold cardstock frame I cut with an oval and then used black foam to die cut the greeting. I added gold Uniball pen dots to the foam and it worked great.

This card uses a mermaid stamp and die plus a spiral stencil from Hero Arts. The sentiment is die cut from some ink sprayed cardstock. When I create with new materials, it's not always with a project in mind but I've found cutting the artsy pieces for backgrounds and sentiments works great.

This one uses alcohol ink experiments for the background and the sentiment. I added glossy accents to the paints for a little dimension.

 

For this last one, the background is Distress Ink watercolored and the sentiment is cut from more yupo with alcohol ink. I don't think I'm finished with this card yet. It might get some black spatter, sequins or enamel dots...maybe even a flower in the right lower corner. I guess we'll have to see!

Do you have any dies you love to use? psst! I just got a new set of pizza dies from MFT and I've been cutting up a storm...I can feel a post about to written about those dies soon.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Guess Who's Guesting at a2z Scrapbooking?

Surprise! It's me! I was invited to join in the monthly challenge at a2z Scrapbooking, Sparkle and Shine, which is right up my alley, so of course I said yes!

For this project, I used alcohol inks and the lift off ink pad to make two panels with the Hero Arts Flowers for Coloring Cling Stamp. I learned this technique from Jennifer McGuire.

You can head over to a2z Scrapbooking to see more details on how I made this and to find out how to enter the monthly challenge or buy some of the supplies I used!

Happy Thursday!
Chark

Hero Arts Ornaments Dies in Two Ways

Hi, friends, I'm up on the a2z Scrapbooking blog today using the ornament dies from Hero Arts in a new way...I made Santa and Rudolph with them! Here's a peek...head to the blog here to see more info and pics.

And here are the same ornament dies in a more traditional use as tags. I used coated paper (the kind that has a sheen to it but isn't actually glossy photo paper) and alcohol inks and just dripped away. Here's the pile I ended up with.

And here are some in close-up. I don't think I have a bad color combo, even though I wasn't too careful on what I was putting next to each other. If something looks off, I just dab and add more color and it will work out okay.

I've always loved how alcohol inks spread and combine and just have such fabulous depth of color and now that Jennifer McGuire is revisiting them in her work, I was reminded to get mine out and play too. I just wrote names on these, but you can use letter stickers too.

On these, I added white Uniball ink initials. I'm using them for family so they'll know who they come from, but you can always add more info on the back of the tags.

So, if you need your own set of Infinity Ornaments dies, you can head to a2z and pick yours up today! And use my blog readers' code of CHARK15 to get 15% off your cart of $25 or over.

Happy Monday!

Chark

Experiments with Stencils

So, I love my alcohol inks, namely the Ranger Tim Holtz inks. And the reason I love them is just how pigmented they are and how intense the color is when used on the right surface. They look fab on glass, plastic, acetate and other clear surfaces. But I wanted to test them with papers just to see how it looked. Here are my results.

Here's the before pic...with the stencils already stained by paints and inks but clean and ready to go. Be aware that the alcohol inks will color pretty much any surface and are tricky to get off things like clothes and tables. That said, I've used the staz-on ink cleaner to get a bit off my wood table, but it's an old table and the cleaner couldn't really hurt the finish. 

TIP 1:Be careful. You can cover everything up and just prevent a problem. Wear old clothes and everything. Maybe you're neater than I am and it won't be a problem, but I like to prepare like it's infectious...like a virus, or glitter.

TIP 2: Always let the ink dry while the stencil is in place. Alcohol inks are friends by nature, so they tend to mingle and mess each other up by combining into new colors. If you lift the stencil before it dries, the inks will run together and ruin any pattern.

Okay, this is cardstock with the stencil in place and alcohol inks dripped through the stencil holes. After it dried, I sponged on some Silver Alcohol ink through the stencil, which was still in place.

TIP 3: The metallic alcohol inks sit on top of the other inks, they don't play too nicely. They are a little more stuck-up than the colors. They mingle some, but you will always see the silver or gold, you won't get a blue-gold, you'll get blue under the gold. But if you mix blue and red alcohol inks, you'll get a purple.

See how the silver is just sitting there but the other inks have mingled and merged?

TIP 4: There is no controlling this ink. You won't get a normal stencil experience. You'll just drip and let dry and then remove the stencil and be surprised.

I had similar experiences with different papers, though I will say my favorite is just photo (glossy) paper from the dollar store. Its sheen takes the inks nicely and the colors stay vibrant. The regular cardstock will let the ink sink in more and lose some vibrancy. The worst paper imo is the material in shipping tags. They do great with other inks, but they completely muddy the alcohol inks. I've used all the same inks on these samples. See?

TIP 5; The inks will surround and run under the stencil and when you lift it, you'll see a lighter color...or maybe a different color, depending on the paper. Since the manilla tag soaks the paper, you get a more traditional mask/stencil look. 

Here's a peek at the alcohol inks on acetate Same colors of ink too (blues and reds) but I did swirl them while wet on the acetate to get the look of swirling space. This is one of my favorite cards. My kids dragged me into Doctor Who when 10 and 11 were on and I loved them...it's still a good show, but less Must-See-TV for us now. You can find Doctor Who themed stamps at Viva Las VegaStamps. They have a ton of stamps in a lot of unique styles.

Here's a close-up of the inks. The fun with these inks is watching them react to each other on a smooth surface. You can make a muddy mess, but often just adding a lot of another color will crowd out the color you don't like. 

TIP 4: Prepare to play with these on a ton of different surfaces when you try them out. Get a trio pack and go to town. You can color metal embellies, gemstones and a lot of surfaces you wouldn't use regular ink with...they are like Copic markers gone wild. Same ink (sort of) in a less controlled environment. I imagine (but haven't tried) Copic ink refills...they may act the same way.

Here's a link to someone who has great success with these inks and stencils...Maria McGuire. I just saw her blog, but now I need to read it.

That's it for today...I'll be sharing more samples soon. Oh, and I ordered some new metallic watercolors, so you know I'm gonna want to play with those soon!

Happy Wednesday,
Chark

Fun with Alcohol Inks

I'm up today on the a2z Scrapbooking blog with my little alcohol ink experiment. I love dripping these inks on acetate and seeing how they turn out. The inks are so vibrant and when you back the acetate with white paper, you get a stained glass look. You could even use these in windows as decoration without the white backing. Here's a peek at one of the cards.

I just got some new alcohol ink colors, so I'm sure I'll be doing more experimentation with them soon. 

Hope you'll pop over to a2z to check out the cards and check out our new February challenge "Any Shade of Red" where you could win $25 to the store!

Happy Thursday!
Chark

Who Are You...Who...oo...Who...oo

I think this song is a good one by the Who and it's running through my head as I write this post. Sharing the video (I'm assuming this hair means the video was recorded in the 70s) just in case you're not getting the song I'm thinking of...it's the theme song to the original CSI, if you watched that.

 

It's a different Who I'm thinking of today, since I did a Dr. Who layout yesterday. I put a bunch of related pics on a page to show how Dr. Who has invaded our lives through the years. My daughter was a Dalek at Halloween, she had a Who birthday cake one year (I made it before I even started watching the show, she gave me the highlights and I looked up what a Tardis looked like) and the little stone angels are pound cake cut with a cookie cutter. My son took his Sonic Screwdriver to his get his photo taken and asked for Who gifts for a later birthday. Seriously, lots of Who stuff here.

I started with the paper and die cut from Scrap Your Trip. It was the only place I found Dr. Who related scrap paper (except digi paper). The quality is good and they were on time with their products. The Dalek and word 'exterminate" are theirs, the Tardis and "hello sweetie" came from Viva Las Vegastamps. They have the best fun stamps and naked rubber if you need to save money. The set I got with the police box has great Dr. Who phrases (fish fingers & custard) and images (bow tie, weeping angels). If you're a Who fan, check these sites out.

I'm entering it over at Viva Las Vegastamps for their February challenge. 

The rainbow swirl reminded me of the time vortex swirl from the show. I didn't use the whole rainbow, but used these colors together (Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean alcohol inks) on acetate to make the swirl, stamped the police box and colored with Prismacolor pencils and then cut it out and popped it up on the design. It was originally a card, but I thought it would go on this page perfectly.

Oh, and hey, Happy Bagel Day today! Love bagels and they are actually easy to make, so if you're interested, here's a recipe. I love homemade bread and these bagels are no exception. They're not fast (you gotta let them rise) but they're fun to make and then be all like, "yeah, I made those from scratch."

Happy Monday!
Chark

Christmas For Whovians

I haven't watched the new season with the new Doctor, but I will once it's out on DVD. In the meantime, I made this card to submit to Papercrafts Magazine before they closed their doors. Susan Opel did, in fact, love it though she doesn't watch Dr. Who, so that made me happy. I have a couple of projects coming up in the last online edition—January/February—which also makes me happy, even though the loss of the mag is felt. 

Here's my last submission card. It's the Tardis (blue phone box time machine)—the stamp came from Viva Las VegaStamps. They have some very artsy and fun images, including a steampunk octopus or two!

If you want to create a vortex of sorts like I did, get some Raspberry, Cranberry and Ocean Blue Adirondack alcohol inks, drip them on acetate (stamp packaging here) and lightly swirl with the felt applicator. Let dry, trim and adhere to white cardstock to really show off the color. I used dot adhesive in just a few places so it didn't show through too much.

I stamped the Tardis, colored with color pencils and also Tombow markers, trimmed it out and then popped it slightly up with dimensional tape.

The sentiment is also Viva Las VegaStamps and goes right along with this card. River Song is played by Alex Kingston and her signature phrase is "Hello Sweetie."

Hope you have a happy Monday,
Chark

Turkey Day Tomorrow!

The point of Thanksgiving to me is just to be thankful. I know a lot of people spend time with their families with traditional foods and activities and that seems like a brilliant idea. In that spirit, I'd like to say I'm grateful for everyone in my life, family, friends, fellow crafters and people who do their jobs to make my community a beautiful place to live. 

I'm also grateful for craft supplies and a way to channel my creativity. Here's a little hello card I made with acetate and alcohol inks. It says hello, but really it should say thanks today. I used a foil paper (DCWV) and alcohol inks for the hello die cut.

The background is the acetate sheet, alcohol inks and a Hero Arts arrow stencil.

And if you want to support small business, here's an adorable $5 digi stamp from this etsy shop. Go to printmagic and check out more!

Hope you have a gratifying Turkey Day!
Chark

Fridays Rock

I'm not sure why, but I'm especially happy to see Friday this week...not like it was especially busy or anything but inside I'm all Kermit arms flailing and saying "YAAAAYYYYYYY!!!" 

Hope you're having a good Friday too! Here's a little hello card I made with the beautiful Hero Arts stamp called Antique Gratitude that I got from the a2z Scrapbooking Supplies store. I love this blossom.

I stamped it in Pumice Stone (distress ink) around the edge and then stamped it in Staz-on black ink on acetate. Then I dripped Ranger alcohol inks on the back of the acetate and trimmed with my new Lawn Fawn stitched rectangles. Love! I used regular dot tape runner to affix the acetate in strategic (can't see) places. Then I added ribbon, a wooden hello and some pearls. 

In this pic, you can see that it's a piece of acetate (stamp packaging in this case).

And here's a little close-up view of the corner. I think it turned out artsy and vibrant and it works for me! 

If you're interested in this stamp or other scrapbook/card goodies, you can stop by the a2z shop and use my extra-secret code to get 15% of your order of $25 or more—type in CHARK15—for the dt discount. YAAAAYYYY!!!

Happy Friday,
Chark