BIRTHDAY CARD FEATURING ALCOHOL TECHNIQUE WITH STAMPIN' BLENDS

 

I recently read about an alcohol technique with Stampin' Blends markers and was anxious to try it.  Have you heard about it--or tried it?  It's quite cool . . . especially when done correctly, which I didn't quite do.  Basically, you just use the markers to color circles on a piece of Vellum cardstock, place a few drops of alcohol (at least 91% Isopropyl) onto the vellum, and then use a water brush (dipped in alcohol or an Aqua Painter filled with alcohol) to move the colors around.  You can also blow through a straw to move the alcohol around on the vellum, which I found to be very easy.  Although I used dark/vivid marker colors, my colored circles became muted when my Aqua Painter, which had water in the barrel, decided to dispense water even though I didn't squeeze the barrel.  Argh!  Although I wasn't 100% pleased about the water situation, I had to continue with my colored vellum creation because the card needed to get in the mail, and I had a job to go to.

Since my marker colors got diluted, I just rolled with the pastel palette.  I think it ended up being a pretty card, don't you?  Additional products featured on this card include the Happy Birthday die (retired Stampin' Up! product), Crystal Distortion embossing folder (Simon Says Stamp), absolutely GORGEOUS Adhesive Backed Sequins & Gems (Stampin' Up!), Metallic Edge Ribbon (Stampin' Up!), and the lattice die-cuts from the Chick dies (retired Stampin' Up!).

A white gel pen was used to accent the die-cut sentiment.  It lends a festive flair, right?  And just look at those pretty sequins!

If you have Stampin' Blends markers, definitely give this technique a try!  Oh . . . I think you'd figure out that the side of vellum that you color on is the back side but . . . I should mention that just in case you wonder.  ;-)

Until next time . . . have a stampin' good day!

SCARECROW BOX CARDS

I have quite a few photos to share of the scarecrow box cards that I made recently.  I can't take credit for the design, though, so let's get that out of the way.  I found this awesome card at svgcuts.com and knew that it was the perfect Fall card to send to family, friends, and the elders.  

It took all of two days to choose papers and cardstock and cut (with my Cricut Explore) all of the pieces for these cards--and the better part of another day to assemble them--but it wasn't a dreaded process.  I was quite excited about the cleverness of this card design!

Aren't they adorable?!?!  As you can see from the above two photos, I embossed part of one of the hats just to see if I liked it.  I did like it--just not enough to emboss all of them.

The above photo shows the front, side, and back of the cards, and you can see that they are, indeed, box cards. In the photo below, you can see the card folded flat for mailing.

And following are a few more photos:

Below is a better photo of the embossing on one of the hats:

One of my favorite things about these adorable scarecrows is that they weren't just cards . . . they were also a nice Fall decoration for the recipients.  If I got a card like this in the mail, I'd certainly find a nice place to display it, wouldn't you?