Alcohol Ink Background...

Hi folks.. Creative Expressions Design Team time again today...
As I said in my last post, this Month’s goodies were anything but Christmassy! And although I made last week’s project Christmas because I was in that mode, this weeks has reverted back to everyday use. And more specifically something I can use for a Birthday..
September che Pinnacles is defo a Birthday Month! At the weekend we celebrated the shops 12th Birthday with a little Christmas Demonstration Day, (and I'd just like to thank everyone who was able to pop along, and I hope you enjoyed the inspiration!?) Next week is my Dads Birthday, followed 3 days later by my Mums, then it's mine and finally at the end of the Month we have my Nans!! You wait all year and then they all come at once!!!
Anyhoo... Here's todays sample, I've decided that it’s going to be the one I send my Dad for his Birthday...

And if you fancy giving this fun technique a go, here's a little step by step on how it was achieved...

To start off with I took three colours of Alcohol Ink

Randomly applied them to my Craft Mat

and then added some Alcohol Blending Solution, the final results of how light or dark the colours will be will depend on how much of the solution you add, as it not only reconstitutes the Alcohol Inks, but will also lightens them if you use a little more.

To allow the colours to blend together I tip my Craft Mat from side to side, trying to stay within the centre of the Mat so as not to waste too much of the Ink.

Next, place a piece of Acetate into the Ink

and then remove it and place to one side to dry. As the Inks and the Blending Solution are solvent based, this should only take a minute or two to dry as the Alcohol evaporates.

As effective as this looks on the Acetate, it's not until it is backed onto a plain piece of White card stock that the true effect comes thru..
Now the only decision you need to take is what to do with it.

For this particular project I decided to stamp one of the Silhouette images I was sent. Wasn't quite sure whether to have the Red at the top or the bottom as it seemed to work both ways, but finally went with having it at the bottom.

A little bit of Mat and Layering

and there you have it!!

Using different coloured Inks will give you a choice of different backgrounds to add your Stamps or Die Cut images to..

Using more Brown/Yellow tones has seemed to work wonders as a Desert background for this Die Cut,

or actually any colour combinations seems to work!!
As a result of Saturday’s demo, I now have a nice little pile of backgrounds to work with.. Just need to wait for the right image to add to the front of them though!!
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon.
Andy...

Making good use....

.... of a few left over’s for this week’s Creative Expressions Design Team projects...

Hi folks.. Following on from last week’s project, I had a few backgrounds left over which were too nice to not use, or put to one side and get lost in the ether!

So, with the addition of a couple of the new Sue Wilson Christmas 2015 Dies, I hope you'll agree that I've put them to good use?!

This Black and Brown combo was just crying out to be used.

So, with the addition of the Three Wise Men Striplet Die

it almost creates a desert background for them!

And this Aqua/Blue background

works so well with the Snowflake Striplet...
Last week’s post will give you a step by step guide on how to achieve something similar yourself if you fancy giving this technique a little try!

Thanks for checking us out, see you soon.
Andy.

Sue Wilson Festive Collection Die - CED3038 Wise Men Mini Striplet
Sue Wilson Festive Collection Die - CED3036 Snowflake Mini Striplet
Alcohol Inks
Alcohol Blending Solution

Art from the Heart....

Hi folks.. Back to my crafting first love today for my Creative Expressions Design Team post!!! Ink, Ink, Ink and just a little more Ink!! I make no apologies for it; I've been right selfish with this Month’s projects and loved every second of it.. It really has made a nice change to veer away from the same old same old Die cutting and re visit some wonderful crafting techniques I thought I had long forgotten.. The Dies will be making reappearance real soon though..

So, here she is...

I've delved into my somewhat neglected stash of Alcohol Inks for this one.. Some so neglected that it was difficult to get the lids off where they had died somewhat!!

Still, off they came and I chose four colours I thought would work quite well together.

Literally "drawing" with them over my craft mat with them

before applying some Alcohol Ink Blending Solution and tipping the mat from side to side a little to reconstitute the colours and mix them a little.

Now for the fun part, lay a piece of acetate into the mixture for a second or two and then remove and place it to one side to dry. As the Inks are Alcohol based they should dry in a few seconds..

Seems a shame to waste what's left on the craft mat so I think it's time for a little "double dipping"

Once the Acetate sheet is dry you be able to see your pattern appearing,

this will become even more apparent once the Acetate is mounted onto some White card stock.

Just finished the project with a stamped sentiment and an image from the new MDF Crafters shapes from Creative Expressions and there you go, not a Die Cut in sight!!!
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon.
Andy..

Alcohol Inks Hazelnut, Oregano, Currant, Ginger
Alcohol Blending Solution
Acetate
Craft Mat
White Card Stock
Stick and Stay
Archival Black Ink
Creative Expressions Rose Elements Stamp Set
MDF Decorative Accessories - Crafters

Shaving Foam Flower...

Hi Folks.. Well, here we are with yet another Bank Holiday.. I hope you are going to be able to make the most of the weather today, cos it's not going to last here in the SE!!
Work for me today!!, but I'll be making sure I get out and catch a few rays when I take Hollister for her walk's!! So, although I'll be stuck inside for most of the day, I might as well enjoy myself...

Today, I will mostly be playing with.... Shaving Foam me thinks!!
Have a great day. See you soon.
Andy..

Shaving Foam
Alcohol Ink (Raisin)
Archival Ink (Black)
Cheery Lynn Die Fanciful Flourish
6" x 6" Embossing Folder (Lattice)

Now, I'm not a big fan of....

"Novelty" type cards.. But occassionally I let my inner child take control and just see what it comes up with... In my last couple of posts I have shared with you a few stamping techniques using the Spellbinders 2012 Heirloom Ornament, in, perhaps it's more traditional context.. Today, we have something slightly different, but still using some stamping and inking techniques which I will be sharing on Saturday at our 9th Birthday Stamping and Inking Demo Day...

So, is it a Bauble?

or a Fish?

or a Venetian Mask?

You decide... Oh, and one last thing for today.....

Good Luck Team GB!!!! Thanks for checking us out, see you soon. Andy

Happy Travels...

No, not me! Well, not yet anyway... Hi Guy's, today's post is a rather picture heavy long one I'm afraid. So, grab a cuppa and let’s get started.. Hopefully you are aware that we have Viv from Creative Expressions coming to demonstrate for us on Saturday 28th April? Viv will be with us from 9am - 2pm and will be demoing amongst other things, Spellbinders Dies, the Grand Calibur Machine, Stamping techniques, Inks and Mica Powders... She came to visit us last week and it was great for us to finally put a face to a name. She really is a lovely person, and the samples she brought with her!!!!.. Well, I will leave you to sit in awe on the day... To add our own "Pinnacles" spin to the day, I have been getting some samples ready too.

And here is the first one I am going to share with you. It's using one of the wonderful Stamps Viv will be using on the day, which I've turned into a Suitcase... Well, the stamp is all about travel, so it seems only fitting!

Something you might not be able to see from this first picture is the dimension created with the world images. Hopefully, this picture will show it better...? So, shall we get on with a step by step?!

I started off the project by taking my stamp, Ink and card stock which was cut to the size of the stamp.

I then stamped the image onto the card stock, try and get them all roughly the same, it doesn't matter if some of them are slightly out, you can always trim them down afterwards. Or, if you have one, you could always use a stamp-a-ma-jig to get them perfectly accurate..

I then coloured each sheet using a selection of Distress Inks

to give them an aged, distressed, vintage look.

Next, I took a selection of Circles from the Spellbinders Classic Circles Large (S4-114) and Classic Circles Small (S4-116) sets of dies,

positioning the largest one which fitted inside my world map image

and passed it through my Die Cutting machine to cut out the shape.

Repeating the process on the other world map image

to cut it out.

Next, lay another one of your stamped images onto your cutting plate

and lay your first stamped image, (the one with the Circles now cut out of it) directly over it. Lining up the images as best you can.

Take the next sized Circle and position it through the cut out image.

And then remove the first stamped image as this adds unnecessary bulk to the plate "sandwich". We don't want your machine breaking now do we....?

Pass it through your machine to cut the shape out..

Line the first two images up again

and position the Circle die as before, this time onto the second world map image,

remove the first stamped image

and pass through your machine to cut the shape out.

Just to make sure the images have cut out correctly, line them up by matching the picture, not by the size of the card stock. If the card stock differs slightly then you can cut the excess of nearer the end of the project to make it all neat and tidy..

Oh, and don't forget, you will also gain the positive images to use on another project.

Repeat the cutting and layering process on all of your remaining stamped images.

You can then start to stick each of your layers together. Lining the images up as best you can.

If the layers are not exactly the same size, just trim them down

so that you end up with your layered images all stacked together with nice neat edges.

You will need one more stamped image; this one will have no Circles cut out of it.

All the other layers will be mounted onto it to complete the image.

So, seeing as we have a travel theme going on here, what better than to make this stamp into a suitcase eh?! I cut out the 2 largest shapes from Spellbinders Labels Twenty One (S5-027) in Copper Mirror card, layering one shape inside the other to form a frame.

This was the waste from the cut and it seemed a shame to, well, "waste" it!

So, I layered my stamped images onto it to start to form the suitcase.. Another piece of waste card used.. I'm getting good at this..

To form the handle of the suitcase I attached the frame I had made using Labels Twenty One to the top of the stamped images...

I then added some "Screw" Brads,

which I had coloured with Copper Alcohol Ink,

as the ones I had were the wrong colour for this project.

Whilst I had my Alcohol Inks out

I also coloured my other embellishments

as none of them were the right colours for the project.

I prepped by base card using a great paper from Bo Bunny,

cutting it to size to fit my project

and adding my suitcase.

Finishing off with my sentiment and Key embellishments...

And there we go, a lot of work but very much worth it I think... Thanks for checking us out, see you soon. Andy.