Fun with Alcohol Ink - Part 1

Hello crafty friends.

If you're a fan of alcohol inks, you'll be happy to know, we finally added all of the Tim Holtz alcohol inks to our online store.  While the inks have been around for many years, they have recently become very popular again.  So, we thought you might enjoy a few blog posts featuring these inks, supplies for creating with these inks, and some fun techniques.

There are numerous techniques and mediums to use when creating with these inks.  They can be used on glass, metal, coated paper, Yupo, tiles, or any non-porous surface.  My personal favorite is using the inks on Yupo. 

As I mentioned, my favorite way to create with these inks is using Yupo.  I love sitting down with and assortment of inks, dripping them on the paper, and then blowing them with a straw to move the color around.  It's fun to just play, and see what the colors do and how they mix together.  Once I've created an assortment of backgrounds, I use them to create cards.  Below are a few backgrounds I created and a couple cards I made using the backgrounds.

Yupo is a synthetic paper.  The most commonly used is the Yupo ORIGINAL.  It's smooth, bright white, and 100% waterproof and tear resistant.  It is available in multiple weights (we carry 144#, 74#, 86# and translucent in 104#) and is 100% recyclable and die cuts easily with most dies and machines.  As I mentioned before, it is my favorite medium for using alcohol inks.  I've tried photo paper and Tim Holtz glossy cardstock.  Nothing works quite the same as Yupo.  It is a bit more expensive, but totally worth it!

Blending Solution vs. alcohol?  I use both, but prefer the way the colors move and blend with the blending solution.  I encourage you to experiment with both.  I think you'll find they both create magic, just differently.  Here's a quick VIDEO from Ranger Ink demonstrating the difference between the two.

Felt Applicator Tools are great for applying alcohol inks.  Especially if you like to have more control.  To use, place a piece of felt onto your applicator tool.  I like to choose 3 or 4 colors that work well together.  Then, squeeze a 1-3 second squeeze of each color onto the felt while pushing the tip against the felt.  Then pounce the color, or drag the color across the paper.  After doing this, I like to add some blending solution to the felt and pounce again over the area where you previously applied the alcohol ink.

The Alcohol Inks from Ranger / Tim Holtz are acid free and as I mentioned before, can be used on most non-porous surfaces.  They are available in 60 alcohol ink colors and 7 mixatives.  The mixatives are luminous, fast-drying, acid-free inks, specially formulated to create metallic highlights when combined with Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks. Use them on non-porous surfaces such as light or dark glossy paper, Yupo paper, glass, and other slick surfaces.

Ashley Tucker created some fun YouTube videos demonstrating how she created some basic alcohol ink backgrounds.  She kindly gave us permission to use her videos, here, in our blog post.  Below are her fist and second video in a series using alcohol inks.

We hope you'll head over to her YouTube Channel and take a peek at some of her videos.  If you like them, please subscribe to her channel and leave her a comment!  She also has a lovely blog you'll find HERE.

Watch for our next blog post.  We'll talk more about the inks and a fun, new product Tim introduced a few months ago, Lift Ink.

Thank you for stopping by!

LINKS TO SUPPLIES FEATURED:

National Coffee Day Blog Hop Winners

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the National Coffee Day Blog Hop!  We loved reading all the lovely comments and viewing all the inspirational projects posted by the other participants!

The following comments were randomly selected.  They will each receive a $15 discount code, redeemable in our online store.  If you're name is listed below, please contact us at customerservice@doodlebugswa.com with your full name and email address so we can get your discount code to you.
 

Denise Bryant  September 30, 2018 at 9:47 PM

Awesome cards! I am spotting so many fun coffee-themed stamps along the hop!
My favorite drink is a mocha!

Teresa Selby  September 29, 2018 at 7:09 AM

What great cards you all made. Very note worthy on the backgrounds. Love it. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful weekend.

StampingbugKerry  September 29, 2018 at 12:32 PM

Great cards! Love the layouts, coloring and the background images. :) Thanks for hopping along with us today! :)

Holly AKA KopyKatSeptember   29, 2018 at 8:26 AM

OMGosh these are all so cute. My favorite coffee drink is a latte. Happy Coffee Day!!!!

National Coffee Day Blog Hop

Hello coffee lovers!  We're so excited to be participating in the National Coffee Day Blog Hop!


To celebrate, we're sharing some fun projects, offering you a great discount, and giving away FOUR, $15 discount codes to four lucky winners.  To participate, tell us what your favorite coffee drink is, in the comments below.  On Saturday, October 6th, we'll randomly select four winners from the comments.  Winners will be announced on our blog, on October 8th.  So, be sure to check back on the 8th.  You could be one of the lucky winners and we'll need your email address to send you your discount code.

We're also offering a great discount to our online store.  Be sure to use the coupon code when checking out to save 20% on your purchase!

We're sharing three coffee inspired cards with you today.  We hope you enjoy them!

For our first project I used Thanks a Latte from Lawn Fawn along with the Plaid Background stamp from Concord & 9th to create a Fall inspired coffee card.  The images are colored with Copic Markers and embellished with Nuvo Glitter drops in White Blizzard, white embossing powder and a white gel pen. (Supply links can be found at the end of this post)

The next two cards were created using the same stamps and similar techniques. The backgrounds were stamped with images from the Coffee Break stamp set from MFT Stamps.  The featured mugs are stamped with Copic friendly ink using the new, Thanks a Latte set from Lawn Fawn, and colored with Copics.  I embellished the mugs with a white gel pen.

I masked off the edges of the card below before stamping the background images.  After stamping, I  used an ink blending tool to add some Antique Linen Distress Ink over the stamped images.  Once complete, the masking paper was removed.  The sentiment was added to the bottom and the mugs popped up with foam tape.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Don't forget to leave a comment, and check back on October 8th for winner announcements.

There are so many amazing blogs participating, sharing creative projects and giving away great prizes!  Please use the links below to join the hop and visit each of them.

Have fun, and happy hopping!

Link to Participating Blogs



SUPPLY LINKS FOR FEATURED PROJECTS and other coffee related products:

So Foxy from Neat and Tangled

Hello crafty friends.  Thank you for stopping by our blog.  Today we're sharing a Fall card created with the adorable So Foxy stamp set from Neat and Tangled and the Wreath Turnabout stamp from Concord & 9th.

 To create this card,  I used the MISTI and the Wreath Turnabout stamp from Concord & 9th to stamp the wreath on kraft cardstock.  I then used the Wonky Stitches Rectangles to cut it for the front of my card.

This adorable fox was stamped on Colored Pencil paper from Strathmore and colored with Polychromos pencils.  You'll find the specific colors linked in the supply list at the bottom of this post.  I added some black glaze pen to his eyes and nose for a shiny, slightly dimensional look.

In the event you don't receive our emails, you may have missed our Turnabout Promotion.  It's not too late to take advantage of the extra savings.  We're offering the discount through September 20th.  You can find the Turnabout Stamps from Concord & 9th in our online store.

 SUPPLY LIST: