Fun with Mixed Media - a card by Sue Smith

Here is a card I made using a mixed media background, which I had a lot of fun making (and making do when I didn't have the 'right' products).....



I started off with a piece of glossy paper. With not having any glossy cardstock on hand, I decided to experiment with some old glossy photo paper, which was a little yellowed around the edges and no longer works well with my printer. I cut it down to A5 size.
I also don't have a craft sheet so I folded up some cling-wrap and used that as an ink palette, stamping down with the Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Dusty Concord) numerous times to get a good amount of ink on the plastic...



To thin down the ink and make a light colour wash, I sprayed with water from an atomiser....



I have also made my own ink applicator with a small block of wood with velcro attached and I cut up small pieces of felt which stick right onto the velcro and work just like the real thing....




Starting from the edge, I worked the ink-laden applicator in circular motions and left a small portion of the paper uninked....



Then using the wings stamp (from Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Collection - Regal Flourish), I stamped with VersaMark ink onto the paper. My stamp was a little stained with black ink which gave a bit of an outline to the image (remember there are NO mistakes in art...just happy accidents!).
Working quickly before the VersaMark dried, I covered the stamped image with Opals Franklin Embossing Enamel (an ultra thick one) and also Stampin' Emboss Crystal Clear fine embossing enamel, shaking to make sure the image was well covered.....



Then I shook off the excess....



And applied heat....



Then using a new piece of felt on my applicator I applied some Adirondack Alcohol Ink in Latte over the white area (the embossed image acted as a resist) and overlapping the mauve area....



And then some brighter Terracotta alcohol ink over the top of that....



To clean off the embossed image and to smooth out some of the background, I then applied Blending Solution with the applicator. Here is where another happy accident occurred....in the areas where I worked a little exuberantly the emulsion started to come off the photo paper, leaving this wonderful patchy distressed look....



After working some more with the Blending Solution, and allowing the ink to dry, the colour became a lot more subtle. I then repeated the stamped image using VersaMagic Multi-surface Chalk Ink Pad in Night Sky, and stamped some words in the bottom right-hand corner with black StazOn....



Some more layers of stamps with StazOn...this time music notes....



And blurred and blended a little with Blending Solution....



I then added some scraps of paper and some natural fibre....



Some more paper, fibre and some lace to the top right-hand area....



Next, I mounted it on some natural cardstock, and distressed and ripped the edges, and then mounted that onto some dark blue cardstock, folded into a card.
I added some ink to the paper scraps and the fibre to match the background, and lightly sprayed with GlimmerMist in Antique Brass...



Then I stuck on some lettering which were cheap old 'no-name' letters which I roughly inked with dark blue....



And finally, some more GlimmerMist in Antique Brass and a metal butterfly which I coloured with Alcohol Ink in Purple Twilight and Denim....



A close-up of the butterfly....



I really did have a lot of fun with this one, experimenting with lots of different techniques, and I was really happy with how it all turned out....hope you like it too!

Don't forget to visit Tanyah's store where EVERYTHING is heavily discounted!

Let's have some fun!.....handmade embellishments by Sue Smith

I don't know about you, but I LOVE to try new products and experiment with them to see what happens....and this is just what I did when Tanyah sent me some fabulous Viva Decor Croco Crackling Colour. I had so much fun playing with this!

NOTE: You can click on any of the following photos to see an enlarged image.

First of all I started off with some plain chipboard shapes....



I spread each shape with about 2mm thickness of the Viva Decor Croco Crackling Colour in Turquoise colour and left it to dry for 24 hours.....



You need to BE PATIENT with this part of the process to get the most out of this fabulous product. I experimented with speeding up the drying process with my heat gun, but this was the disappointing result....



....so don't be impatient, because the day's wait is totally worth it as this is how it turns out with natural drying....



Now these pieces are gorgeous just as they are, but I really wanted to go a step further and try something different, so I got out my Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks and had fun colouring the different pieces. I have a bad habit when I play with my alcohol inks of not knowing when to stop, so the resulting pieces have none of the original colour left showing....



Next, I pressed the chipboard pieces facedown onto a Versamark Pad and then sprinkled liberally with some Clear UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel)......



I shook off the excess UTEE, otherwise it would have blown away when I applied the heat gun. Once the UTEE was melted, I sprinkled small amounts of UTEE and heated again, building up the layers until I was happy with the result. You could also sprinkle with some glitter at this stage if you wish. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of UTEE to play with, otherwise I would have built up the layers even more. The effect you achieve from this is reminiscent of dichroic glass....I love how everything changed so much from the original...





Once the UTEE is totally dry, you can file the edges or punch holes quite readily through all the mediums.....so cool! I had SO much fun playing with this.

Here is a card I made with one of the finished embellishments....





....and a close-up....



I really hope you like what I've created this week, and I would encourage to try some of this fabbo Viva Decor Croco Crackling Colour....it really is lots of fun and I would love to see what you create with it... Tanyah has a gallery where you can display any of your creations.

Until next Monday....happy scrapping everybody!! xx

A Simple Card Using Alcohol Inks - by Sue Smith

This week I have made a card using a very simple alcohol ink technique to make the coloured square in the centre of the card here...



Here is a list of everything I've used to make this card...

* Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock

* Chromatics cardstock in black and white

* Clear acetate sheet

* Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks (I have used the colours Raspberry and Caramel)

* Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Alcohol Blending Solution

* StazOn Ink Pad in black

* Tim Holtz stamps

* Kaisercraft Rhinestones (Black Square Border)

* Basic Grey Lasercut Doilies

The technique I want to show you this week is for making the centre square of this card...it is a very easy and and very quick way to make your own original creation as a centrepiece for a card (or it could easily be incorporated into a layout as well).

1. Take you piece of acetate and cut to the approximate finished size you want for your project (I had a few off-cuts lying around, so I used those).

2. Next tear off a sheet of clingwrap that is larger than your project size and scrunch it up.



3. Then open it up again but leave some crinkles still in it, laying it on your work surface.



4. Next, select your coloured inks. Bright contrasting colours give the most dramatic results, but you can use any colour combo you like. I chose Raspberry and Caramel for mine.



5. Shake a few drops of the alcohol inks over the clingwrap in any pattern you wish, and then add a few drops of blending solution as well, but not too much though. The next couple of photos show a different colour combo I used.



6. Working quickly so that the ink doesn't dry, place your piece of acetate over the top of your ink-splattered clingwrap and press down. As you smooth down over the top you will see the ink moving around as well.



7. Then turn the acetate ink side up and set aside to dry. You will probably have enough ink left on the clingwrap to colour some more bits of acetate if wish (you may just need to refresh with the blending solution).



8. Once the ink is dry (very little time at all), turn the acetate over so that the ink side is facing down, and stamp that surface with any stamp you desire. You will need to use StazOn or Archival Ink as normal stamping ink will not dry on the acetate.



9. After the StazOn is dry, mount the acetate on some white cardstock, and then it's ready use on any project.

Hope you liked this technique...it really is easy and very effective and lots and lots of fun to do. Until next week...happy scrapping everyone! xx