Number 83 #146

I've had a busy busy day today sorting out my craft room.  Why does the crafting table end up so covered in stuff! 

Well... this is the start and the finish pics - at last I am again organised and have room to craft hurrah!

So...no time for getting creative today, however one of the discoveries I made whilst clearing through my boxes of random things was this little ATC created I think at one of my demonstrations quite a while back.  Please excuse the dark colours, but I didn't get a chance to photograph it until this evening under houselights.  The colours in real life are lovely warm pinks and browns.

I've started with an alcohol ink background - dragging the colour down in vertical stripes.  The stamps are all Crafty Individuals - all stamped in Archival Black.  Then a few white highlights to finish.  A nice little piece of artwork I think!

Must get out the alcohol inks.. it's been a while since I've used them.  Did you know that there are new colours out?  We've just had a delivery in store of the new shades. 
 
now off to create a little zentangling ready for the workshop I am running in the morning!

hope you've had some time to enjoy the sunshine today

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

Christmas Baubles #123

Back to Christmas again today!  This was a card I made as part of a make & take project at club last year.  I started with glossy white card and added a mix of alcohol inks and then sprayed with Stazon cleaner and dripped on some blending solution to add all the mottled patterns.

I then stamped my bauble stamps with black archival ink.  The merry christmas bauble is a Just Rite Stamp that has a matching spellbinders die so I cut it out once stamped, the tall bauble is a Joanna Sheen stamp that I hand cut out.

I hand-drew on the hangers to suspend them from and stuck my baubles down.  i then used an off-cut of the glossy card with the alcohol ink and as I only had a small square I cut it in two 'L' shapes so I could use it at both corners.  By rubbing the inkpad around the edge of my card gave it enough of a border to make it stand out from the card blank.

A fun technique to play around with  - perfect for Christmas baubles!

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

Thetford Samples

Just as this post goes out the doors will open at Sincerely Yours at Thetford and I'll be busy demonstrating these fab designs all day.  I hope you will be able to visit and see these in person as the photos don't do the vibrant colours justice.  At the top we have used Distress Inks, in the middle fab bright ProMarkers and at the bottom Alcohol Inks combined with the floral borders from Chocolate Baroque.  Loving these stamps from Woodware! 

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

Bright Owl

I love to create really vibrant bright backgrounds and then see what I can make with them.  This card started with Alcohol Inks - dropped in big drops and then spritzed with Stazon cleaner to add speckles and muted areas.  The background has also been stamped with a flourish design using plum Archival to give a bit of pattern

I then chose this gorgeous owl from Chocolate Baroque and stamped him in Archival Black ink.  A few elements were then traced with white gel pen so he really stood out from the background.

The wording is also from Chocolate Baroque, and again, I've outlined with pen.  It was such a busy background without it even the bold black stamp wasn't enough to make it stand out. 

Lovely and bright!

I had a lovely day today chatting to crafters and customers at a Craft Fair - always such a sociable occasion!

I'm going to have to be organised tomorrow - I need to create my sample board for my demonstrations at Sincerely Yours Thetford on 30th March... and make two blog projects too... a creative day lined up for me I think!

I hope you get to fit in some crafting this weekend.

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

What a Colour

I'm loving this orange background phase!  Again created with Alcohol inks onto glossy card - a mix of yellow, orange and cranberry and this time spritzed with Stazon stamp cleaner - it will give this lovely fine mottled effect. 

The stamping is all by Chocolate Baroque stamps in Archival Black.  The elephant and that most gorgeous flower are both from the same set - Indian Elephant.  The wording is from Artistic Affirmations.

It's worth taking the time on this sort of project to put in lots of white detail - it's what really makes the project come alive.

One of my favourite pieces!

This is a scheduled post as I will be at the second day of the trade show today...  my head by now will be spinning with inspiration!  Keep an eye on our facebook page for lots of updates as I'm sure I'll be sharing inspiration about what I've seen as soon as I can! 

happy crafting

Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
Shop for Chocolate Baroque stamps

Make Time to Make Art

I love the colours on this piece.  The background has been created using Alcohol Inks onto glossy cardstock.  I just love the vibrancy of alcohol ink backgrounds.  I did the background quite a while ago so not 100% sure of the colours... but it looks to me like Orange, a bit of yellow, Cranberry and drops of blender. 

As the background was so beautiful this one didn't need any other colours adding to it, so I kept it simple and stamped in Black Archival.  The butterfly stamp is from Crafty Individuals and the other stamps are Chocolate Baroque.  A few highlights with a white gel pen make all the difference!

A very important sentiment on this card.... make sure you make time to make art this weekend... You'll be so glad you did!

happy crafting

Jane

www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk
Alcohol inks are available to buy instore but sorry we can supply online due to royal mail dangerous goods restrictions!
Shop for Glossy Card
Shop for Chocolate Baroque Stamps
Shop for Crafty Individuals Stamps

Steampunk Butterfly

Sometimes you see a stamp and say 'I've just got to have it!'.... well that's how I was with the Steampunk Butterfly stamp set from Chocolate Baroque.  Love the big butterfly, but there are just so many elements on this stamp I know I will use over and over again.

This design was put together in one of our recent workshops - this time the alcohol inks techniques workshop.

I created the background with Stream, Raisin and Orange alcohol inks and then added on some blots of blender to bleach out the colour a bit.  At that point the background had quite a bluey grey industrial look to it, so I immediately reached for my steampunk stamps.

I stamped the designs on using Archival Black ink and then added highlights with my usual favourite White gel pen.  All of a sudden, I noticed that now I had added some steampunk elements the browns seemed to show more in the design - almost looking a bit rusty.

I just love the finished result and now have it proudly displayed up on the gallery wall in the shop!

These stamps are on reorder and due to arrive this week - let me know if you want a set reserved!  Would you like to learn some new techniques?  I run regular workshops at our Attleborough, Norfolk store - come and join the fun!  Click here for a list of our latest workshops.

happy crafting

Jane
www.aldridgecrafts.co.uk

A colourful card today to brighten us up on this damp day!  This card has been created using alcohol inks onto glossy card.  Blotches of bright colours in a random pattern.  I've then stamped using the Andy Skinner Antiques set using black Archival ink.  Highlights next - black patterns using a letraset fine marker and white & silver highlights using gel pens - it just helps to define the image over the darker areas of colour.  Then to finish - a few swirls cut out of black card with a Marianne Designs die and a simple colour mount.  Very effective and vibrant!
enjoy!
Jane

Alcohol Inks, Andy Skinner & more!

It's been a while since Sincerely yours at Thetford - a big hello to everyone who came and chatted with me! Here are a few of my favourite samples to emerge from my demonstrations during the day. I played with Alcohol inks, Glossy Card, Shrink Plastic and used stamps from Andy Skinner and Crafty Individuals and Inkadinkado. I'm posting up the alcohol inks onto glossy card today - and I'll put up the shrink plastic and glass samples later this week. I hope you enjoy the samples and they inspire you to get out your alcohol inks!

My favouriteof the day! Start with glossy card, then spritz with the chalk Cosmic Shimmer mister - yellow and green and dry with a heat gun. Then apply Alcohol inks - the mister ink resists the alcohol ink and you end up with these interesting cloudy patterns. Then stamp over the top with the stamps - from the Andy Skinner Antiques set using Archival Jet Black ink. Then a few final highlights with a white gel pen to finish. It's really worth experimenting with misters and alcohol inks - you get some great effects!

You can keep it subtle in colour by using some of the natural tone Alcohol inks. This has been applied using felt on an applicator tool. I've then stamped using a mix of Crafty Individiuals using Archival Black ink and also Versafine Sepia. Finally highlight and accent with patterns using Letraset fineliners and white gel pen. I usually cut my Crafty Individuals stamps into individual designs - ie the four cottages are now four stamps and the set of 9 motif designs 9 tiny stamps - even cutting up the words on sheets into individual stamps if you've got the patience is really worth it! It gives you much more flexibility in using the stamps to greater effects.

Play around with striped effects too. A few dots of colour onto the felt on the applicator tool and then drag it across your card in stripes. The stamps used here are from Crafty Individuals.

Another example of going bright - a few drops of bright colours onto white glossy card and then I've used Inkadinkado Inchies Dogs stamps and accented with the flourish stamp from Andy skinner's antiques set. Again a few highlights in black and white pens finishes off the design

If collage isn't your style - you can keep it simple, just create a simple background with a few drops of Alcohol inks and drag it across in waves - same sort of thing as the stripes - but add a few curves for interest. Then I've stamped with a Crafty Individuals stamp and then added a few details in Blue Versafine ink with the Crackle stamp. Again a few highlights to finish.

Now go grab those Alcohol Inks and get playing - you'll love it!... and if you need to top up your supplies and treat yourself to a new colour... or two.... have a look here we've many colours in stock!

enjoy

Jane

Metal Squares with Alcohol Inks

Chris, Pauline and I had a fab time in our workshop this morning. We spent the morning playing with different techniques using metal sheets and alcohol inks and by the end of the morning all three of us had very inky fingers! Above is a picture & closeup of the card I created. It's a simple technique but very effective - cutting out shapes using the cuttlebug and then embossing an applying the alcohol inks. There are endless possibilities that you can create using this technique when you consider the different shapes and layouts you can do, the different colour metal sheets you can use, as well as different inks, whether to sand or add black ink highlights, use texture tools or rubber stamps too. I've created a full downloadable and printable project sheet to create this card and you can download it via 4shared by following this link. I would love to see any cards you create inspired by this project, post a comment back to this blog with a link to you picture, or email me a pic that I can post up for all to see!

happy crafting

Jane