Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Charm swap

One of the gifts I received in the 12 Days of Christmas Swap on ccswaps was this gorgeous bracelet by Paula Hill.
The bracelet came with a very creative back story, encouraging each of the 12 recipients to create/buy charms to swap with each other. I found these fabulous mini frame charms. I started by coloring them with gold metallic mixative so they'll match the bracelet.
I cut up an extra background from when I made these double resist backgrounds.
I wanted to stamp and emboss a very small flower onto the backgrounds. With this small a piece of paper, the easiest way for me, was to stamp the flower with embossing ink on to the background, pick up the background with tweezers and dip it into the jar of detail gold embossing powder. I flicked the back of the paper with a finger to knock off tmost of he excess powder. Then I heat set the embossing powder while continuing to hold the paper with the tweezers.
I inserted the embossed backgrounds into the frames. I had a hard time getting a good photograph of this small image.
I think my charm will be a good addition to the bracelet and look forward to adding more charms from the others in the group.

Twisted Alcohol 7

One last card to take to my upcoming club demo. I choose another purple background I made today. I stamped a large butterfly stamp and embossed with black embossing powder. I stamped smaller butterflies with black Archival ink and heat set.
I stamped on more butterflies with white dye ink and heat set.
I splattered on copper metallic mixative with an old toothbrush.
Colored a chipboard "buckle" with copper ink, ran it through a swirl Cuttlebug embossing folder and then colored the raised surface with purple Distress ink. Then adhered a clear vellum quote on top.
Added a wide satin ribbon through the buckle and glued on to the alcohol background and layered all onto a white card.

I now have a good variety of cards made with Twisted Alcohol backgrounds to take to my stamp club. Hope the demo goes well.

Twisted Alcohol 6

I decided to make one more set of Twisted Alcohol backgrounds to show for my upcoming demo at a local stamp club. I went for a purple palette, using a variety of blue & purple alcohol inks along with copper metallic mixative on a craft sheet.
Added alcohol blending solution to mix the colors a bit and dipped & twisted glossy card stock into this mixture.
Here are the assorted backgrounds I got from this mixture. These are my favorites from yesterday and today. I think it's important to use a wide variety in the color palette and to use lots of ink.
I choose on of these backgrounds, stamped and embossed some butterflies with black embossing powders and stamped some more butterflies with black Archival ink on one of the purple backgrounds.
I stamped some more butterflies with white dye ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder and over stamped them with light purple dye ink.
These are very light images, here is a close up.
I painted a large chipboard "B" with antiqued bronze crackle distress paint. After it dried, I adhered it to the background and added a clear sticker saying. I splattered all with copper metallic mixative with an old toothbrush.
I created a frame with copper colored metallic paper, embossed in a Cuttlebug embossing folder. And layered it all on a purple card.

Twisted Alcohol 5

Making more Twisted Alcohol backgrounds for an upcoming demo in January. I wanted to try and get a deeper red than I did yesterday by adding a darker purple to the mix on to a craft sheet.
Added blending solution to mix the colors a bit, and dipped and twisted glossy card stock in it.
Turned a deeper red, but not quite the color variation I was hoping for.
As the ink on the craft sheet got less, I added more blending solution.
I was able to color a couple more sheets of glossy card stock.
I took one of the backgrounds, stamped a heart and embossed with black embossing powder. Stamped some floral flourishes with black Archival ink and heat set.
Stamped more floral flourishes with white dye ink, heat set, then over stamped with red dye ink and heat set.
Used an old toothbrush to splatter on Copper Metallic Mixative over the background.
Added a rub-on "of love" onto a piece of similar background that had been splattered with the bronze metallic mixative. Added a ribbon and metal frame with brads. All was layered onto black card stock and then onto a white card.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Twisted Alcohol 4

I took another one of the green Twisted Alcohol backgrounds I made today.
I stamped and embossed with black embossing powder a large stamp. I stamped the same image two more times with Black Archival ink and heat set. I like how just embossing one image makes it pop and add dimension.
I then stamped the same image one both ends with white dye ink.
Next, splattered gold metallic mixative with an old toothbrush over the surface.
I adhered a vellum saying onto yellow gold card stock and layered onto the card with a gold edged green ribbon and two small metal dragonflies. This all was layered onto yellow card stock and then onto a dark green card.

Twisted Alcohol 3

I choose green alcohol inks and gold metallic mixative for these backgrounds. I dropped them on a craft sheet and later added alcohol blending solution.
I was able to color 4 sheets of glossy card stock with this mixture.
I took one of the backgrounds and stamped a bird image and embossed it with black embossing powder. I then stamped some branches with black Archival ink and heat set.
I then over stamped the branch images with white Brilliance ink and two shades of green Distress inks and heat set.
I used an old toothbrush to splatter gold metallic mixative over the surface.
To finish the card, I stamped a saying with black Versafine ink onto card stock that had been in the bottom of my spray box and used Versafine ink to color the edges. This was layered onto the Twisted Alcohol background and then adhered to a green card.

Twisted Alcohol 2

I took the second sheet I made with the Twisted Alcohol background today
I stamped a cherry blossom branch and embossed with black embossing powder. I stamped a second branch with black Archival ink and heat set. I stamped some more branches with white Brilliance ink and heat set.
I wanted some more contrast, so I stamped the same branches in pink Distress ink and heat set.
I added a black ribbon and a mounted oriental image sent to me in a Little Beauties swap from Maggie. I stamped a saying with black Archival ink. I mounted it all onto black card stock and then on to a red card.

Twisted Alcohol 1

In two weeks, I'm doing a demo at our local stamp club on the Twisted Alcohol background. I need to make a bunch of samples before club meets. For the first set, I mixed Copper Metal Mixative with some red alcohol inks on a craft sheet.
Added alcohol blending solution.
Then I placed a sheet glossy card stock down into the mixture, twisted, lifted up and placed the card stock down again to pick up more color.
There was still enough ink on the craft sheet to cover another card.I didn't realized there were some dried bits of platinum distress paint on the craft sheet. This second sheet of card stock picked it up. I like the added texture.
I took the first sheet of card stock and stamped a large flourish in one corner, covered with black embossing powder and heat set it. I used portions of the same stamp and black Archival ink to add images to the other 3 corners.
I stamped some smaller flourishes with white Brilliance ink and heat set.
I then used an old toothbrush to splatter copper metallic mixative over the surface. It doesn't show up very well in the photo.
I added an image with a metal frame and brads to a decorative ribbon and a vellum saying. This was all layered onto black card stock and then onto a white card.