More cuppies!!!!!!!!! and an alcohol mixative did-you-know....

hi!!

a little business first:
the first of three huge ranger orders arrived yesterday - i expect the others in a few days. so i have most of the back orders EXCEPT distress stickles packed and shipping today!!!! if you love tim holtz's projects and challenges be sure to check out the kits i have been putting together for last years 12 tags of christmas

distress stickles should be here friday.

i have all three sets of studio G inks in stock if anyone missed those!

ok now some more adorable little cuppies - 2 more gift sets this time all acetate!!

i LOVE making acetate cards!!! they just look so cool!!!
here are some close ups for you:







the images are all stamped with black memento ink (full size pads are FINALLY back in stock now) and colored with copics. accented with liquid pearls and stickles. the aqua set has snowflakes (from the cuppies set) stamped in white stazon on the acetate. the dark blue set led me to a cool "discovery" - i use that term loosely since i doubt i am the first to do this.....i wanted silver snowflakes but there is no silver staxon. it occurred to me that maybe i could use alcohol ink mixative to stamp with......so after a few trial and error attempts here is what i came up with - try it!!


supplies - alcohol ink mixative, alcohol ink, craft sheet. stamp and acetate.

make a small puddle of mixative on your craft sheet. ad a bit of colored ink to if you want.

now take your stampand sort of stamp it around to sprea and thin out the puddle. to stamp on the acetate a few tips to prevent the ink from doing it's natural "spread":

• stamp off on the side of your puddle a couple times so you don't have too much ink on your stamp
• let the stamp dry a few seconds and get sticky before stamping onto the acetate.
• helps if your thin puddle starts getting sticky too
• you can also stamp and quickly blow to dry it fast

the mixatives seem to work better than the alcohol inks themselves since they are thicker.

i hope you like my little tip!

and now off for more coffee!!!!

hugs and happy stamping!!!

tutorial - alcohol inked transparency card

acetate cards are so fun!! and alcohol inks are perfect for them. i have this card for our tutorial today. it is two-fold today so hang on! inking the transparency and hwo to layer/sandwich your pieces correctly so no adhesive shows - this is something i learned from stacey in tech club last month.

first the supplies: acetate/transparency cut to card size and folded, stamps, white stazon (or black or whatever color you want), alcohol inks, blending solution, felt pad and applicator tool, cardstock pieces to finish it off. you will need four pieces of cardstock but more on that later.

Begin by stamping your images on the transparency with the stazon.

Next we will cover it in alcohol ink. I chose to use 3 colors plus copper metallic mixatives. the metallic mixative is very strong so you only need a little bit - here i have two tiny drops of it on my felt.

next i put a puddle of each of my alcohol inks on the felt pad. i added a couple drops of blending solution - the more you use the lighter your colors will be.

Dab the ink all over the BACK of the card you stamped - it will make the stazon come off.

now for the cardstock "sandwiches" on the front and back. here i have a stamped image (stamped with tuxedo black memento ink and colored with copics - wings are opal liquid pearls) with a thin purple mat and larger yellow scallop mat for the front. for the back/inside i have a white circle for writing on and a purple mat THE SAME SIZE as the front ones so they will be hidden and a green square with stamped corners for the very back of the card.

the green piece is the largest so we want to position everything in relation to that or we could put our circles up to high and the large square will be over the top of the card. BUT DO NOT ATTACH IT YET.

attach your white circles to your purple mats. now lay your green square (or back piece) down on the table. put adhesive on the back side of the inner writing piece, position it on the inside of the card in relation to the back piece - i hope that makes sense - in this photo the green piece is not yet glued on.




NOW close the card so you are looking at the back of the piece you just glued to the inside. put your adhesive on WHERE THE INSIDE piece is showing, turn it over and lower it onto the back mat piece so you can be sure it is centered correctly and stick your back piece on - this way the adhesive does not show through.

For the front pieces you will glue the front (smaller) piece on first - line this up with the inside piece that is the same shape and size so the front piece hides the inside piece. Open the card, put the adhesive directly on the acetate where the back side of your front piece is showing, lay the scallop mat on the table and lower the front of the card down so you can be sure the front piece is centered correctly on its mat.

your acetate is now sandwiched BETWEEN your cardstock pieces so the adhesive does not show and you aren't seeing a plain back side of any piece but still have a place to write a message on the inside. notice when my card is closed i positioned my pieces so the front image is framed by the yellow scallop and the green square.

i do wish in hindsight that i had only inked the bottom portion of the card and left the top clear but oh well - another card another day right?!?!?

i hope you all try this out and i would LOVE to see your work so leave me a comment and a link!! remember the supplies used are available in my store!

Tune in tomorrow for thinking outside the block friday (already?!??!) and this weekend for more VERY exciting techniques with alcohol ink - cute stuff up my sleeve!

happy stamping!!