This "beauty" has been saved on my laptop in my "Blog Post pictures to be edited" category for over a month now. I think it is absolutely ironic that Sharon used the exact same Webster's pages paper in her post yesterday. Perhaps it's because this collection is so strikingly beautiful and so easy to use in so many different ways. I am thrilled to tell you that we will be adding the new 6x6 pads of this luscious paper manufacturer to our collection. I can hardly wait!
I always have so many different things I would like to try and then share with you once I know for certain that it will work. This "experiment" was to test a couple of different things. First I wanted to play with Various Ink Refills. For those who are unfamiliar with this product they are the alcohol inks we use to refill Copic markers. There are so many fun uses for them other than filling markers, but it seems to take me much longer than I would like to share all these little details. Today I finally have this opportunity.
Secondly I absolutely love the beautiful pearlized mists that can be created with Perfect Pearls, Distress Reinkers and water. I have been wondering how they would work with the Craft-a-Board. I am tickled with the results!!! WAY COOL! (at least I think so - LOL!)
I must admit that I can't stop gazing at this particular creation when I walk past it at work. This technique is begging me to explore it further.
To begin I removed one side from the wonderful plastic we carry. This plastic is fabulous for making your own embellishments, focal points and scrapbook pages. The larger size is begging me to create a wipe-off calender. Is anyone up for that challenge? I want to do this so badly, but there just doesn't seem to be enought time in the day!!! Is anyone out there up for that challenge?
I prefer to use Palette Noir for stamping on plastics. You will need to allow this to dry for some time before proceeding to cut out your image. When doing a project like this I will stamp my image (Shady Tree, Large Bloom) well in advance and just walk away from it, coming back to it later that day or the next day. So plan this project with a little lead time in mind. I then use my little snips to cut out my image. I have shared the image above to give you an idea as to how to cut out intricate shapes.
When cutting out designs that are "tight" as is the area between the bloom and the foilage you can see above that I cut the long lengths in to the fine point first. This allows for some flexibility in the material and makes it easier to bend it so that you can get precise cuts. This plastic is a little too thick to use the Fiskars cutting blade or retractable blade on, but the scissors work great!
Once complete you will want to remove the backing from the other side as well. I leave it in place during cutting to minize getting finger prints all over the surface. When cutting I also prefer to hold my project by the edges for the same reason. Finger prints are no fun to remove - LOL! Now you can more easily see the colors that you will be applying.
I then place drops of Various ink on the corners of my felt pad. I find that I have more control over where the ink goes when I work from my corners only. As you can better see in the photograph below I used a couple of different shades of blues.
When applying alcohol ink to your clear stamped project be certain to ink your design on the opposite side of your stamped image. Alcohol ink will "eat away" your stamped image when stamped on plastic if applied directly to this image no matter what ink you use. If any of you have an ink that you have used on plastic and then applied alcohol ink to without this happening I would love to learn more about it!
I am sharing the above photo for a couple of reasons. This was my first attempt at applying the alcohol ink. As you can see when comparing the above photo with the one directly below the color is more "puddled" above. When touching the alcohol ink pad back on a surface that is already covered with alcohol ink you will "push" the first layer of alcohol ink to different locations. Sometimes this is exactly the look you are going for, but in this case I wanted a really deep, smoother color in the center.
The wonderful thing about alcohol ink is that it is forgiving! Simply take a paper towel and apply a small amount (note I said small!) of Colorless Blender Fluid to dampen one corner. Simply wipe your project clean and you can start from square one once again.
This is much more the effect I was going for! It reminds me of the Morning Glory Pool in Yellowstone National Park.
To get this smooth, clean effect quickly apply the ink around your flower, working quickly so as to not let it dry before you apply the next impression.
If you happen to extend your blue on to the area that is supposed to be green, use your Colorless Blender marker to precisely remove the color. This is how I was able to remove the blue from the flower centers!
Two create your own custom frames use the square and label nestabilities together. I use a magnetic sheet to assist in keeping my dies perfectly aligned. Cut out your Craft-a-Board as shown below.
It was six years ago that I first discovered a beautiful watery mists at a stamping convention where I learned of a product called Glitz Spritz. Glitz Spritz needed to be mixed with a hairspray solution. We then started creating our own with Pearl Ex and hairspray mixtures. When I was exposed to Tim Holtz's beautiful "concoctions" I was totally hooked. The fact that Perfect Pearl mixtures do not need hairspray is huge! Hairspray would clog the mister and make me crazy - now I can make any color mixture and combination that strikes me and for much less $$$ then purchasing Tattered Angels Mist in numerous colors. The flexibility of being albe to create my own color combinations is awesome! So today I also share how these custom mixes work to alter the color of Craft-a-board.
As you can see I selected two complimenting colors - turquoise Perfect Pearls with Shabby Shutters Re-Inker.
The little "tea" spoons from my girls' old tea sets have become so useful in my crafting - LOL! They are the perfect size for measuring Perfect Pearls and adding them to a Mini Mister. Next insert an entire dropper full (not one drop, but the entire dropper) of Re-inker in to the Mini Mister. Fill up the remainder of the bottle with water, leaving about a half inch at the top of the bottle so that you will have room to shake up the mixture. Now put on some good music and do a little shaking (or perhaps a lot of shaking - insert grin). Each time you use this mixture you will need to give it a good shaking.
As you can see I placed my project on top of a paper towel, on top of my non-stick craft sheet.
Complete the project with a little lace, some gorgeous jewels, stickles, punched edge, piercing and a little more stamping (Aged Sheet Music) on the Lagoon base card.
I would like to encourage you to start putting those Various Ink Refills to more use than just filling your markers. They are SO much fun to play with!!!
