Cards using the acetate

These were made in the early hours so they are not fantastic but it just shows a couple of ways to use the acetate backgrounds you can make.

I found that you need to let them dry for a while or use a heat gun, they are slower than proper alcohol inks to dry and I stamped on the reverse side as the mixatives seemed to make the stamp blur a bit even when dry. I think they would look better on a colour cardstock but its a process of holding them against various colours till you find what works best and I was a bit tired :-(

Alternative to Alcohol Ink ideas

I am always looking for ways to save on buying new products and using the things I already have in a new way, for me that is.

I love alcohol inks and what they do, it took me a while to get used to them but now I am getting some good results. As you play you discover how inks etc work together and I have found some great effects by accident this way.

The first photo's show acetate which I have put Stazon or Permanent Marker on and I have put a brief description beside each to tell you how it was done. I am going to abbreviate some names to save on typing :-)

This is Permanent Markers (PM's)
dripped with Adirondack Mixative (AdMx)
PM'sSmudged with AdMxDabbed with Stazon Cleaner on a piece of felt or a tissue would do
Dabbed with Ad Mx
lightly stroked with St CleanerDabbed for a lighter colour
Stamped with what been taken off while dabbing the photo before
Using a swirl motion with felt on an applicator
This effect was made by painting lightly over the acetate with Stazon Cleaner first then dotting it with PM's, the wetter the acetate the better the effect
Dabbed with a tissue
Stamped onto the acetate with Stazon depending on how dry the background is affects how the image will appear this one was damp so gives a smudged effect then I went over again in green to give highlights
This one was dry so the image is a little clearer
Now for working on Dominoes. I used 2 types of PM's pastels and dark
I drew lines across this one then dripped very tiny drops of Ad Mx onto itthis was dabbed its given a nice marble type look This was very wet so I dotted more colour into it to get a brighter colourDabbed with felt on an applicator, it would be hard to tell this was not done with Alcohol Inks I think its so pretty
And these are done with Stazon Pads, use just an edge or corner to apply all over the domino in several colour then dab with felt or tissue
This one had cleaner painted over it then I used a dry brush to pick up colour from the ink pad and dabbed down onto the domino
This one was wet with cleaner and dotted with Permanent Markers
The drops came out to much here but by tilting it to make it run I got this effect
and then dotted with PM's to give more definition of some of the colours
**Versions of permanent markers can be found in cheapie shops
**Adirondack mixative is about 5.00 from craft stores
**You can use it to clean your dominoes or acetate if you don't like the effect and start again and to clean your brushes.
** Buy felt squares from Fabric shops and cut it yourself, its so much cheaper than buying precut packs
** Make an applicator with a piece of adhesive Hook & Loop fastening (Velcro from Fabric shop) stuck to a wooden block or the back of an old wooden stamp or even a small clear stamping block it sticks to almost anything.

thanks for looking
xx

Domino Book Tutorial

This is what I used to make this book:
Alcohol Inks
Ink applicator
Dominoes
Brads
Cord
Beads & charms
Paper and stamps
Superglue, Uhu glue
Versafine and Adirondack Archival InksGet your "handyman" (or do it yourself if your handy) to drill holes in the dominoes, the hole needs to be wide enough for your brads to sit in and deep enough to leave a small bit sticking out to tie the cord round
Ink the dominoes in your choice of colours and do the sides and inner edges of the back for where the paper doesn't quite cover them. Set them aside to dry.
Cut a strip of paper, mine is 12" x 1 7/8ths to be just smaller than the domino. Stamp with saying etc and then fold to approx 7/8th wide portions. You can add some rub-ons but nothing to thick or it won't look right when its closed as it will stick out to much.
Go back to your dominoes and stick the brads in the holes with Superglue and leave to dry, it doesn't take that long. Make sure you have a bit sticking out for your cord to wrap round
Take your domino (lay them flat side by side to see which is the front and back and with brads facing to outside edges otherwise you will stamp them wrongly) stamp your image with Adirondack archival ink you can keep this black (or other colour) image or you can then with a wet wipe rub away the stamped image to leave a white impression like this. The Adirondack ink removes the alcohol ink like a resist technique which I think is pretty cool. Do the back as well if you want to. You could go over the image with glossy accents too if wanted to make it pop forward more.

This technique is in Craft Stamper this month too. I also use it on colour metal as it strips the colour away and leaves the silver which looks nice.
Now glue the cord to the centre of the inside back domino and then glue (uhu) the paper concertina and front domino like I have shown here
concertina
Back cover, hold together or weigh down till the glue sets
Now wind the cord round the book using a figure of 8 round the brads to secure and then add beads, charms etc to the cord, secure with a knot. Your book is done.
"Cardmaker" this one is for you, hope you like it
xx

Acknowledgements**There are versions of this to be found online and in books, this is my version. The closure idea is from Tim Holtz Altered Journey, the concertina idea was mine as I love them but others may have done it and TV Weekly The Craft Channel America did a version of a book like this but I think it was Stampboard Domino pieces.

Needle Felting

Oh Oh Oh new toy !!!!!!!! I invested in a needle felting kit and its fab. Its sooooo easy to do and I haven't stabbed myself once...YET lol This is my first attempt, well actually I made a butterfly first but that was rubbish :-( I used one of Noahs old vests as a backing for it as I needed a piece of fabric and he had outgrown it! I lightly inked it all over with some distress inks so any bits that might show through weren't a stark white and took it from there. I have a fairly limited selection of wool so that curbed my ideas a bit but I really like this and the little lambs are so cute. I used regular fibres for some of the accents, like the fence and sheeps legs as they felted really well and I think the tree is quite effective made from eyelash wool. I was going to use it as a cover for a book but think I might frame this one and make a more abstract design as a book cover.
Thanks for looking
xx