Alcohol ink backgrounds

I just realized that I’m behind on my blog posting (I know, shocking, right?). Back in July I spent a day playing around with my alcohol inks and making a bunch of different backgrounds. I thought I had already posted them, but I guess not. So here they are, better late than never:

I used a few different kinds of paper — glossy white card stock, white and translucent YUPO paper, and Tim Holtz silver sparkle alcohol ink card stock — and I have two different brands of alcohol inks: Tim Holtz/Ranger and Jaquard.

I can’t give you the specifics on how I made any piece in particular since it’s been awhile, but in general I played around with the inks, alcohol blending solution, and rubbing alcohol. For tools, I used the Tim Holtz alcohol ink applicator with felt pads and an ink blower. My ink blower is an old one designed to hold a felt-tip marker and create colored splatter. I might get a new one someday, but for now it’s good enough.

It had been awhile since I used my alcohol inks, so I looked through a little instruction/idea booklet I have and also watched a couple of short YouTube videos to get started. There are some really amazing artistic things you can do with alcohol ink, but I just like to make these colorful panels for cards.

I ended up using some of these pieces for card backgrounds and some for die-cut pieces. I’ll shore those cards In my next couple of posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Crafty road trip

In my last two posts I shared the cards I made while I was in Ankeny, Iowa, with my aunt Terry and friend Lisa. Now I want to share some photos from our crafty road trip. This will be a long post, but there are a lot of pictures, so you can scroll through.

Ready to hit the road! We had a beautiful day for the drive. And Lisa put together little goodie bags for us. The bags say “I’m a craftaholic on the road to recovery. Just kidding. I’m on the road to the craft store.” Ha ha! 

We stopped at a rest stop for lunch. I had bought some fun containers and made us lunch: tuna salad, crackers, veggies and ranch, a clementine, a peanut butter packet, and a couple pieces of chocolate. Lisa brought a jug of iced tea that lasted us all four days.

After we checked into the hotel and had a few minutes to rest, we headed over to the Taylored Expressions (TE) Studio. We got to see Taylor, complete a make-and-take project, and of course do some shopping. I focused on expanding my TE color collection with several packs of card stock and coordinating ink pads. When we were done we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some dinner (Hy-Vee has really good store-made pizza!) and then headed back to the hotel to relax for the evening.

On Friday we had breakfast at the hotel and then drove to the scrapbook/papercraft store Memory Bound. Lisa loves this store, regularly watches their videos, and often does their online/virtual classes. She was excited to meet the staff in person. I bought a few packs of the Tim Holtz Palette Paper Collection, a Tim Holtz stamp set, a Distress Oxide Spray, and a few other things. When we were all shopped out, we went back to the hotel to eat lunch (leftovers) and do some crafting in the lobby. (Check out my previous posts if you want to see the Christmas cards or Halloween cards I created.)

For dinner that night we had yummy Mexican food at a local restaurant called Fiesta Jalapeños. Back at the hotel after dinner, I wanted some reading time so I relaxed in a nice comfy lounger in the courtyard area.

Saturday morning was the big TE sidewalk sale. The sale started at 10:00, so we made sure we ate breakfast early and left the hotel by 9:30 (it was only a few minutes’ drive to the store). When we got there, there was already a huge line outside. Thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to wait in the shade. The sale was in their new classroom area, and at 10:00, they started by letting in 25 people. As people finished, more shoppers were let in. I didn’t get a picture of the sale are because I was busy just trying to see everything and get through the crowd. From the sale area, everyone moved to the Studio to either shop more or head to the checkout. The second photo above is the line of people waiting to check out. They had extra people working so it actually went pretty quickly. The third photo is everything I got at the sidewalk sale. I hoped to keep my total under $75, and it was $74.99. :)

After the sale we headed back to the hotel for lunch and more crafting. For dinner we went out to a restaurant called 30hop. I had delicious fish tacos and a fun mocktail. Then we got fancy cinnamon rolls from Cinnaholic — I ordered a maple pecan cinnamon roll but saved it to eat later in the hotel room. (I forgot to take pictures that evening.)

It was time for more reading after dinner. There was a dragonfly flitting around me, and several times it decided to land on my book. I’m glad I got a couple of photos.

After breakfast on Sunday morning it was time to pack up and head home, each of us with a bag or two more than when we came. Ha ha! I always have mixed feelings at the end of a trip; it’s fun to get away, but it’s also nice to be back home. 

Thanks for stopping by — and thanks for making it to the end of this post!

Halloween cards with collage cutouts

As I mentioned in my last post, I made some Halloween while on a recent crafty road trip. I didn’t have anything planned out, unlike my Christmas cards, so I brought a few coordinating supplies to play with: card bases, twine, sequins, two small ink pads, and a package of Photoplay Collage Cutouts for Halloween.

Here are all the pieces I cut out. I love the variety of images in the pack, as well as words and accents like banners and strips. The package had sixteen sheets — two each of eight designs — so I cut up one sheet of each design. Now, I don’t mind fussy cutting, and the images had cutting lines to follow, but my fingers were definitely sore by the time I was done!

With all that work finished, it was time to start creating. In addition to the supplies I brought from home, I also used the 8” x 8” Charcoal Palette Collection papers (Tim Holtz Idea-ology). I’d wanted to get some of Palette Collection papers, so when we hit the scrapbook store during our trip, I couldn’t resist. I picked up a few packs, and the Charcoal one worked perfectly with these images.

Here are the cards I created:

I’m pretty pleased with how these cards turned out. I only brought eight card bases with me, but I probably could have made another eight with all the collage cutouts I had left. Not to mention the rest of the package that I haven’t cut out yet. I guess that means more Halloween cards to come!

Thanks for stopping by!

August Christmas cards: Holiday cheer

Last week I took a crafty road trip with my aunt Terry and my friend Lisa to visit Taylored Expressions and Memory Bound scrapbook store in Ankeny, Iowa. We knew we would have some down time for crafting, but I didn’t want to pack a bunch of random stamping supplies. Instead I planned ahead, designed my August Christmas cards, and did a lot of the prep work at home.

Here is the card layout I designed for August. It’s a different layout for me because I was also working with a sketch challenge. When I saw the sketch, with the space for three images along the right edge, I knew this snowman would be perfect. (This is actually one wood-block stamp with the right-facing snowman on one side and the left-facing one on the other side.) I used some patterned papers for an easy background and coordinating alcohol markers to color the images. I added the sentiment on a white strip above the images and finished the card with silver sequins. It’s hard to see in the photo, but I also used a gel pen to add sparkle to the white parts of the hats.

To prep for the trip, I cut, scored, and folded eight white card bases and stamped the sentiment inside them; stamped and punched out 26 snowmen (enough for eight cards and a couple extra); cut two pieces of patterned paper for each card (background panel and strip) and tucked the pieces inside the card bases; and stamped the sentiment on strips of white card stock. I packed all the pieces, as well as the coordinating alcohol markers, the sparkle gel pen, and the sequins, in a small plastic box (an old Stampin’ Up! stamp case). The other supplies, like glue, foam tape, and scissors, went in a zippered pouch. Here is a look at my paper-crafting supplies all packed up:

I also decided to bring a few things to make some Halloween cards, which is the box on the left. (I’ll share those cards in my next post.)

Once we sat down in the hotel lobby to craft, all I had to do for my Christmas cards was color the images, trim the sentiment strips, adhere everything to the card bases, and add sequins. I did make one change from the original card: I decided to use foam tape to adhere the snowmen and then tuck one of the sequins behind the image instead of gluing it on top. Here are the nine finished cards:

I think they turned out pretty cute! If/when I go on another craft retreat, I might consider prepping some cards like this. It was nice to just sit down and get to work without having to think about what I wanted to make. It was much easier to pack, too! I don’t typically make multiples of card designs (except for holiday cards), but I could plan out some card sets or something like that.

We definitely had a good time on our trip, and I came home with waaaay more crafting supplies than I left with! After I share the Halloween cards I made, I’ll do a post with some pictures of the trip. Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Multitudes of mushrooms

I am a sucker for mushrooms in crafts. I just think they’re adorable, and I love the forest and fairy themes that often accompany mushrooms. So earlier this summer I decided to make a card (or two) with each of my stamp and/or die sets that prominently feature mushrooms. It will take me a while to get through all of them (especially since I seem to keep collecting more), so today’s cards are the first installment.

I made these two cards using an old My Monthly Hero kit (Hero Arts). For the card on the left I used the stamps from the kit. I created the scene with masking paper (so some of the images look like they are behind others) and colored the images with colored pencils. I die cut the finished panel with a deckle rectangle die, inked the edges, and adhered it to a green card base. I finished the card with clear droplets and a bit of striped ribbon.

For the card on the right I used the dies from the kit to create a terrarium. It’s a shaped card, so I used the arched die to also cut the card base, leaving a small portion of the fold intact. The blue layer on the card front hides the flat fold. I also had to consider the bottom of the card because the piece for the base of the terrarium has little feet. In order to get the card to stand up correctly, I needed to die cut a base piece for the inside of the card as well as the front.

The most time-consuming part was creating the gravel layer at the bottom. I cut that piece out of dark brown for the dirt and two light colors for the stones. I glued the brown piece to the blue background and then pieced in the “stones,” trying to mixup the two colors. But I love how the card turned out, so I think the extra time was worth it.

Here is another terrarium-like card. Or maybe it’s a little fairy habitat. Either way, it’s cute.

I used two die sets to create the focal image: Cottage Terrarium and Mini Forest Plants (both from Poppystamps). I die cut the pieces in the mat from water color paper and then painted them. I used a white Posca paint pen to add the spots on the mushrooms and the lines on the left side of the jar. The lid of the jar is metallic card stock, and I used hemp twine to add a bow around the lid.

For the background I used the retired Tree Rings background stamp (Stampin’ Up!) and stamped it on a kraft card base. I think it’s the perfect background for this card.

This card and the next one were both made with the Nature Walk stamp and die combo (Ellen Hutson). To make this card I stamped the fronds and moth images on the card base for the background. I stamped the mushrooms and snail on white card stock and die cut them. I liked the idea behind this card, but I don’t love how it turned out. Something feels off with the background; I think maybe I should have stamped just one moth.

I decided to make this a belated birthday card, so I stamped “sorry I’m late …” on the front and “I took the scenic route” on the inside.

Now this card I really like. I used the Nature Walk stamp set again for the images and the Organic Elements stamp set (Ellen Hutson) for the solid shapes in the background.

I stamped six shapes in a grid on a white card base using four colors. Then I stamped five images from the set on white card stock, using the “filler” stamps to add color to the moth, mushrooms, and snail. (The filler stamp I used for the snail was actually the one for the smallest mushroom. I think it’s works for the snail, too.) I kept the frond and the flowers white. I adhered the images over the shapes, using foam tape for the colored images. I added a sentiment strip in the bottom right corner over the sixth shape. I finished this card (and the previous one) with some gold confetti.

I hope you enjoyed this first batch of mushroom cards. I’m not sure when the next batch will be ready, but I have quite a few other cards to share in the meantime. Thanks for stopping by!