Tamara's Paper Trail: April 2021

Thursday, April 29, 2021

Alcohol Painting - Stampin' Creative Global Blog Hop

Happy Blog Hop Day! Each month talented Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from around the globe bring your projects they have created around a common theme, and using only current Stampin' Up! products. We hope they bring you inspiration! This month the theme was "Sketch" ... so many options!

Sketches are a GREAT way to get your Mojo going. I very rarely stick exactly TO the sketch, it's more of a jumping off spot for me.

The sketch I worked with came from Mary Fish at stampinpretty.com. Here is her sketch ...

... and here is my interpretation of it ...

Sooooooo pretty! Last night I did my live "Check It Out Tuesday" Facebook Event and I was trying out the new hot technique "alcohol painting". Not sure if that's what it's CALLED but that's what I'M calling it! lol. There was a lot of trial and error but in the end I came up with something I really liked, so I decided to use it for my sketch.

How do you make the pretty background? In a nutshell, you colour on Vellum card stock with your Blends Alcohol Markers and then you "paint" over it with 99% Rubbing Alcohol. Since the BLENDS are Alcohol and the ALCOHOL is Alcohol, the colours bleed together and, when they dry, give you some amazing patterns! For a video "how to" you can check out my replay from last night on my YouTube Channel "Tamara's Paper Trail". Here is a brief picture tutorial:

Start by randomly scribbling on a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" pice of Vellum card stock. Bright, dark Blends work best. I used Dark Magenta Madness and Dark Night of Navy.

Grab some 99% Rubbing Alcohol and pour some in a small container.

Using a wide paint brush or our wide Aqua Painter, "pounce" or "dab" alcohol all over the image. If you rub, rather than pounce, the colours will muddy and not give you a nice colour contrast.

Allow the alcohol to dry/evaporate. You can speed up the process using your heat tool, if you like. You can also get some neat patterns by blowing the alcohol and the colour around!

When it dries, the colours are much more muted:

I then grabbed my Fine Tip Glue Pen and added thin lines here and there, to look like veins in marble. I added our Gilded Leafing while the glue was still wet:

You can also use Heat & Stick powder to apply the Gilded Leafing. If you don't have that product, you can also use Versamark and Gold Embossing Power, for a similar effect.

Once you brush the excess away this is what you get:

Per Mary's sketch, I cut my vellum layer piece into 1 1/2" x 3 3/4" strips and attached them to a Basic White layer measuring 5 1/4" x 4" that I ran through my Cut & Emboss Machine with the Painted Texture Embossing Folder. I added some gold chord around the layer and popped it up on dimensionals. The sentiment is from Happiest of Birthdays (SO glad that one is carrying over!), stamped in Gorgeous Grape ink. The sentiment is popped up on dimesionals and I added some Gold Gilded Gems to finish it off.

SUCH a fun card to make ... and OHHHH so pretty!

I hope my project has inspired you to try Alcohol Painting yourself. I'd love to see what you come up with!

Now hop along to see what my friends have to share with you ... and have a stampy day!

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

$13.25

Vellum 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[101856]

$13.50

Magenta Madness Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[153106]

$12.00

Night Of Navy Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154891]

$12.00

Gilded Leafing Embellishment

[154560]

$12.25

Hippo & Friends Dies

[153585]

$49.00

Happiest Of Birthdays Cling Stamp Set (English)

[152539]

$26.00

Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin' Pad

[147099]

$10.25

Gilded Gems

[152478]

$9.50

Wonder Of The Season Ribbon Combo Pack

[153537]

$12.25

Painted Texture 3 D Embossing Folder

[154317]

$12.25

Fine-Tip Glue Pen

[138309]

$9.50

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[149653]

$163.00

Take Your Pick

[144107]

$14.00

Stampin' Seal

[152813]

$11.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$5.50

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Monday, April 19, 2021

Positive Thoughts - Kylie's Maui Achievers Blog Hop

Happy Blog Hop Day!

Each month, Demonstrators from around the world bring you projects we've made using only current Stampin' Up! products. We hope you get some inspiration as you hop from blog to blog!

This month I wanted to use a stamp set that I (honestly) have struggled with. Positive Thoughts. I don't know what it is about this set but I just couldn't use it successfully! Well I refused to be beaten so I dusted it off and tried again. Less than an hour later I LOVED what I made. I guess I just needed to be "in the zone". Check it out!

I love it! Soooooo many layers! I didn't know which images I would want in what colour, or where ... so I stamped EVERY image in both Early Espresso and Crumb Cake. I cut them all out with the coordinating dies and then I just played! It was fun .. and therapeutic ... and I love how it turned out. Look at all that dimension! Dimensionals are my best friends! lol

I KNOW I'm not alone in owning stamp sets/bundles that I tried once or twice, didn't like what I made and left "benched" for a year or more. I challenge you to grab one and try again. I'm glad I did!

A full list of supplies is at the end of this post. If you are in Canada and don't have a demonstrator I would be honoured if you shopped with me! Click on any of the supplies listed and you will be taken to my online store.

Now hop along and see what my friends have to share with you ... and have a stampy day!

Tam

Product List