Hello.....I Miss You

 

Welcome back crafty friends and happy Sunday!  I hope you're all doing well and having a nice and relaxing (perhaps a bit crafty too) day!  Today I am back to share a card made with my absolute favourite medium...alcohol inks! I had some fun last night playing around my inks and this is one of the results of it.

For this card I picked 2 different colours of Ranger alcohol inks plus a metallic.  It is amazing the different range and tones you can get from just 1 colour but if you chose colours well, they will blend beautifully and you'l get altogether new colours.  These are 2 of my favourite colours as they are nice and rich and do blend together really well.  For this I picked Monsoon, Rosewood from Ranger and a Pinata Brass metallic mixative from Jacquard. 

I have always used Legion Yupo paper and I do really enjoy using it, but I have recently heard of a different paper and lots of people saying how fantastic it is, so I finally managed to find some and I ordered straight away.  When I've mentioned before that the paper quality makes all the difference for watercolouring, well let me tell you...it is the same for these inks!  I will still use Legion Yupo paper but I do love this as well.  This new paper is very similar to Yupo though.  The same goes for the higher percentage alcohol, as I recently changed that as well...it really makes a big difference with the inks.  Now to order lots more of each!

I've learned that less is more when it comes to the ink, so I add a small amount at first and then build it up from there, if needed.  So I added a small amount of ink first and then my alcohol and moved it around with my hand puffer thingamajig and then I used a hair styler as well.  It's very important to keep it moving to keep the movement in the ink and not to warp the paper, even though it is on low heat. Once each colour dried, I added the next one and some of the brass in the middle.

Once I was happy with the inks I trimmed it down on all 4 sides to give it a slight border and popped it up on my card base.  I cut out the hello using some gold mirror cardstock to tie in the gold mixative ink and used the smaller sentiment from an Altenew stamp set.  I added them all to the inked panel and that's it!  

I absolutely adore how this turned out!  Alcohol inks are my absolute favourite medium¡  They are truly magical and mysterious!  The way they move and blend is just mesmerizing and you really don't know what your outcome will be!  I am far from a professional or an accomplished alcohol ink artist, but if I can offer any advice when using these inks, it is to just keep practicing, playing with them and watch lots of tutorials and videos.  There is such a wealth of info and free tutorials out there, especially on YouTube.  And don't be afraid to make mistakes.  If you make a piece you don't like, put it aside and come back to it.  The great thing with these inks is that no matter how much time has passed, you can always add more alcohol and ink to bring them back to life and change them.  They are very forgiving.

I really hope you have enjoyed my card for today as much as I loved making it.  And hopefully you may have learned something as well when it comes to alcohol inks.  Definitely give them a try, if you haven't yet and are in a situation to be able to.  Thank you so much for stopping by today and spending a bit of time with me.  I hope you get a chance to sit down and get crafty.

I am also linking this to the following challenge -

          Just Add Ink #537 - the theme is 'Family'  I know I am missing seeing my family terribly.                  

Thank you and until next time,  Michelle 💖

Supplies used:

Nara paper
Ranger Alcohol inks  - Monsoon and Rosewood
Jacquard Pinata alcohol ink - Brass
99% isopropyl alcohol
alcohol ink hand blower thingy
hot air styler brush
Mama Elephant hello die
Altenew Painted Butterflies stamp set
Tonic Studios Polished Gold mirror cardstock
Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock
Big Shot die cutter
3M foam tape