Oldies Technique #15 -- Polished Stone

Welcome back to another Oldies technique. I love using this polished stone technique because no piece ever looks the same. I also want to thank Debs Smith for joining my blog!

Supplies you will need:

several colors of alcohol inks

white glossy card stock

felt applicator

91% alcohol or blending solution

I wanted an old world look on my card so I chose Current, Slate, Ginger and Latte alcohol inks. Apply the inks to the applicator. I just cut a small piece of felt to fit the applicator and applied my inks side by side in a row.

Spritz the applicator a few times with alcohol or blending solution ( I used 91% alcohol ) and start pouncing the applicator over the glossy card stock. You will also want to make sure you are in a well ventilated room!

Here is the finished background!

You can also do this same technique on plastic or acetate. In fact you can used this on any non porous surface. I love the look of it done on plastic as shown below.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your day is wonderful!

Challenges entered:

Crafting From The Heart:  Always Anything Goes #73

Penny's Paper Challenge:  Anything Goes

We Love to Create :  Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes

Stamping With Spectrum Noir Markers

Hi and welcome to my blog. I am always looking for new to me techniques and I am happy to have stumbled onto this one. On the Artsy Inkers stamping board there was a discussion about trying to stamp using copics. Someone suggested that maybe by coloring on the soild stamp and then spritzing alcohol on the stamp that this would activate the copics ( the copics dry fast ) and you could stamp the stamp. Well, I immediately tried it and it turned out great! I stamped on matte card stock first and it looked good. It gave a marbled effect kind of like when you do the polished stone technique. Here is the example on matte card stock.

THEN I tried it again on glossy card stock and boy was I impressed! Here is the card I made with my image. The flowers were stamped using Spectrum Noir markers.

Here are some more examples on the glossy card stock.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your day is wonderful!

Challenges entered:

Artistic Stamper:  Anything Goes

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards:  A Flower in Your Image

Love to Scrap:  Anything Goes

Mod Squad Challenge:  Anything Goes Plus a Die

Penny's Paper Crafty:  Ribbon or Twine

Bokeh With Alcohol Inks

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my blog. I hope you are having a nice day. The bokeh technique has taken off lately and I tried a new spin on it. I started off by doing the polished stone technique with alcohol inks on glossy card stock. I used Currant, Slate and Denim alcohol inks. I spritzed the felt with 91% alcohol (or you can use Ranger blending solution) and tapped the applicator all over the card stock. It is best to make several layers of ink on the card stock, because when you start lifting off color the bokeh is more distinct as you will see.

Here is the finished polished stone background.

Now take your stencil and lay it where you want on your background. I found that larger simple designs work better with this. Use a small finger dauber sponge and spritz some alcohol on your craft sheet. Rub the dauber in the alcohol and blot it a little on a cloth. Hold the stencil down very firmly with your hand. Now rub the dauber LIGHTLY around in the circle stencil. If you press too hard alcohol will run under the stencil. I found that rubbing around in one direction and then the other worked best.

You will begin to see the circles turning whiter because the color is being lifted off by the alcohol. That is why you need several layers of the alcohol ink on the card stock to start with. Some of the color will move to the edges of the circle to form a distinct edge.

Here is the finished bokeh background. I really love the look of this!

This is the card I made with the background. It is SO hard for me not to add loads of things to my card. I made this one simple so that you can see the bokeh background. 

I hope you will have fun making some of your own backgrounds this way. I hope you have a wonderful day!