"Pseudo Emboss Resist" Domino Magnets

I've been having a lot of fun recently with alcohol inks. I also love altering game pieces. Put the two together and you can make some pretty dominos! To make the two "white" ones, I stamped images from SU!'s Pocket Silhouettes in Versamark on the dominos, sprinkled with clear embossing powder & heat set. Then, I colored with different combinations of alcohol inks until I liked them. The cool thing about alcohol inks is that if you don't like the results, just dab with the blending solution to lighten or remove ink & try again. For the domino in the middle, I stamped the image AFTER coloring with inks, sprinkled with gold embossing powder and heat set.

Finally, to remove the ink and get the clean, white image, simply heat the image again (after coloring) & wipe off with a clean cloth. The alcohol ink comes off. I discovered this while playing one day (was trying to do an emboss resist technique but the alcohol inks still stick to embossed images so it doesn't work like it would with water-based dyes--hence "pseudo emboss resist").

Stick a bit of magnet on the back, & I have pretty things to sell at craft fairs :).

"Pseudo Emboss Resist" Domino Magnets

Reverse Mask a Fish Bowl

For technique club this month, I wanted to show "reverse masking" and an image of a fish bowl popped into my head--I have no idea why. This technique is so simple! For this card, the first thing I did was stamp the fish in Cameo Coral craft ink, sprinkled clear embossing powder over it & heat set it with my heat tool. For the fish bowl, I cut a 2 1/2" circle out of some cheap cardstock with my Circle Scissors Plus to make the mask. I placed the hole of the scrap cardstock over where I wanted the fish bowl to be & laid a piece of post-it note over the very top. Then I sponged around the edge of the hole with Going Gray to get the outline of the fish bowl. After lowering the post-it note a little, I sponged the rest of the hole in with Baja Breeze. Then, I rolled the fish wheel right over the bowl in Night of Navy & wiped the coral fish clean of any ink. Then, I placed another piece of cardstock down right at the edge of the bowl and sponged Going Gray all along the bottom of the card so the bowl would be sitting on something. The base of the bowl is a Word Window punch.

This beautiful Christmas card was given to me at a swap probably two years ago and was the inspiration for my next reverse masking sample.


For my (more spring-like) sample, I first cut a rectangle out of a scrap piece of cardstock using my trimmer & placed the opening over a piece of Whisper White cardstock. Then I sponged Lavender Lace all over the open rectangle. Next, I took a flower from "Petal Pizzazz" & used the "step off" technique to stamp inside the rectangle. I'd stamp one time with all the ink, then stamp a second time without inking up again or I'd do the full ink on a piece of scrap paper & the second stamp inside the rectangle until it was completely covered in flowers. The last little touch was a full-on ink stamp over the boundary of the rectangle and then embellishing with 2-Way Glue & SU!'s Purple glitter. This technique is a great choice for one-layer cards!

Reverse Mask a Fish Bowl

Congrats Mini-Album

I love being able to make projects for a specific reason--like a gift! A friend of mine needed a gift for her friend who's graduating from college (in middle-age too--an impressive feat!) So, I whipped up this simple album using the Scallop Circle die & Big Shot. The outside covers are chipboard covered with the retired "Ginger Blossoms" paper. The inside pages are just cardstock--the retired Groovy Guava & River Rock. This album took four runs through the Big Shot, four punches with the Crop-a-Dile, attach Jumbo Pewter eyelet & assemble with a D-Ring. So easy! Totally gave me ideas for my craft fairs!

For the "Embrace Life" flower, I stamped in Versamark & then River Rock, sprinkled with Clear Embossing Powder & melted with my heat tool. Then I used Groovy Guava & Ruby Red inkpads & an aquapainter to watercolor. Any "overlapping" wipes off the embossing with a rag so the River Rock outline stays crisp. Used the the Circle Scissors Plus to cut out the circles (using serious adhesive on the back--otherwise, the paper moves around.)

The only embellishment I made to the inside was on the back inside cover with this sweet sentiment & punched flower. Otherwise, I punched & glittered a bunch of flowers & put in a baggie so the recipient could add them where she'd like (a great idea for craft fairs I think).

Congrats Mini-Album

New Pendants at My Etsy Store!

I've been really obsessed lately with making altered game piece pendants--from Scrabble tiles, Othello chips & mini dominos. I'm sure if I can find something else that works, I'll use that too! Hunting through thrift stores is just part of the fun. Of course, it's a lee-tle early for craft fair season, so I've started listing them in my Etsy store (see sidebar over to the left).

Yesterday I looked up how to make a light box to try to get better pictures of them but as you can probably tell, it's still a work in progress! I still don't think the pictures do them justice. My personal favorites to make are the mini dominos because the plastic surface lets me get my hands dirty with alcohol inks. I love combining the various colors and coming up with unique looks every time. Plus, while I've definitely seen others do versions of paper on game pieces to make the pendants, I haven't seen actual stamping so hopefully I'm bringing something a little new to the game :-)

& In case you're wondering, one bottle of Crystal Effects can seal about 100 of these puppies!

New Pendants at My Etsy Store!