supplies: craft sheet, alcohol inks/cranberry/red pepper/watermelon, ink applicator tool, archival ink/jet black, paint dabber/lettuce, distress ink/pumice stone, ink blending tool, glossy accents, glossy cardstock; grungepaper, tiny attacher, sanding grip; dies/regal crest/tag & bookplate; cms112 seasonal reflections, grid-blocks; clearly heavy transparency; pearls
step 1: die cut a #8 tag from white glossy cardstock and a piece of clearly heavy transparency (from hambly studios). *note: you can use clear packaging for this step too, but i like the thickness of the clearly heavy from hambly – great for books too.
step 2: remove the clear protective film from both sides of the transparency.
step 3: apply a piece of felt to the ink applicator too.
step 4: apply several colors of adirondack alcohol ink (red pepper, watermelon, cranberry).
step 5: begin tapping the inked tool on to one side only of the clear tag.
step 6: continue inking until the tag is completely covered and allow the tag to dry for 10 seconds before adding more ink. note: to build the intensity of the color, reapply as many layers of ink as you wish. as long as the first layer is allowed to dry, additional layers will create intensity. allow the tag to dry completely – do not heat.
step 7: mount seasonal reflections stamp on to grid-block and ink with jet black archival ink. stamp image on to the inked side of the tag.
step 8: immediately blot the wet stamped ink with a soft cloth – DO NOT wipe, just blot.
step 9: once you’ve blotted most of the ink, begin lightly wiping the remainder of the ink away always working on a clean area of the cloth – this removes the stamped image and lcohol ink like magic!
step 10: repeat for the next stamping directly below the first one, and follow previous instructions to remove image.
step 11: stamp a third time and repeat previous instructions to remove image. *note: if things do go right, simply all of the ink off the tag using blending solution…no worries.
step 12: place your tag over your white cardstock and check it out! cool huh? *note: the more layers of alcohol ink you apply to the tag, the more “marbling” you get in the tag – i like it though, very distressed.
step 13: apply a small amount of glossy accents to the inked side of the tag.
step 14: place over white tag to adhere.
step 15: cut two pieces of grungepaper 3″x4″.
step 16: paint one side of both pieces with paint dabber (lettuce). *note: for those that need to have the “backs” of things finished, you might want to paint both sides of the grunge – i did not…
step 17: stack both pieces on to this die.
step 18: yep! the branch on the regal crest die is perfect for this.
step 19: die cut the branches and keep them in the grunge.
step 20: place on a piece of chipboard and sand with sanding grip.
step 21: remove grunge pieces and cut each one in half.
step 22: ink the edges with distress ink (pumice stone) using ink blending tool.
step 23: using your fingers, curl the ends of each leaf.
step 24: place two opposite branches on the tag as shown.
step 25: secure the top end with a tiny attacher. *note: i don’t feel the need to glue the entire branch to the tag, but if you wanted it more secure you could.
step 26: place the second layer of branches over the top, but slightly off-set them as shown.
setp 27: secure with tiny attacher as well.
step 28: tie a bow from ribbon.
step 29: adhere the bow to the top of the wreath. (loving my glue gun for things like this)
step 30: snip some flat back pearls and embellish the wreath – we’re done in record time!
the details: using this die for a mistletoe wreath and adding the little pearls is perfect.
the details: i love the ghosting effect this alcohol ink resist technique does…magic every time.
since we’re done with that tag already, how about another idea? i wanted to do this technique on fragments of course. so here’s a bonus tag for you!!!
additional supplies: fragment charms; metal foil tape; mini scallop and pinking die; craft knife, craft pick; wire; foam tape; CMS114, CMS117 stamps
step 1: select a couple of fragment charms.
step 2: ink one side of each fragment charm with different colors of alcohol ink and let dry.
step 3: following previous steps, create resist technique with archival ink.
step 4: now for the bonus part, cut a piece of metal foil tape a little larger than your fragment, and remove the paper backing.
step 5: adhere the inked side directly to the sticky side of the foil tape – no glue needed!
step 6: place fragment on a cutting mat (my cutting mat is glass so i’m NOT cutting through my craft sheet like it looks like) and cut of excess tape using craft knife. *note: scissors don’t work well for this and could tear the tape.
step 7: use a craft pick to pierce the holes back through the foil tape.
step 8: smooth the edges of the metal foil tape using a bone folder.
step 9: die cut a piece of metal foil tape using mini scallop & pinking die.
step 10: snip off some of the scallop edge and use to wrap around the top of each fragment charm, smooth edges to bone folder, and pierce hole to create an ornament.
check out the reflection through the fragment from the foil tape!
step 11: add a thin piece of wire through the hole and curl the end with pliers.
step 12: apply a piece of foam tape to the back of each fragment charm.
step 13: stamp the silhouette deer following the distress to distress reflections stamping technique i shared in the video earlier in this post. ink the background with distress ink (iced spruce, tumbled glass) using an ink blending tool.
step 14: mount the background on to black cardstock (i think this makes the image seem more dimensional).
step 15: stamp mini “merry christmas” in archival ink. *note: this is one of my favorite holiday mini sets since it has such mini verses and useful elements.
step 16: stamp mini snowflakes with distress ink (iced spruce).
step 17: adhere both fragment charm ornaments to the background.
step 18: fold wire around the back.
step 19: adhere to kraft tag.
the details: i think these fragment ornaments are so vintage looking, i really do!
so you might be asking yourself, will this technique only work with reflections stamps? the answer…nope! you can really use any bold design for this, but keep in mind that whatever design you use will end up backwards, that’s why reflections stamps are all words or music. here is one of my favorite stamp sets (tiny textures) to use for this technique and just great backgrounds in general. check these out…
well my advice for this technique is practice makes perfect – so if at first it doesn’t work, try, try it again. it’s so fun to do on anything non-porous like plastic, metal, or glass and you can see the effects are pretty neat. now what about that wreath out of the regal crest die? i think creativity is all about perspective. hopefully these tags are challenging you to see things a little different too. just be sure to have fun…t!m
