Cards and Alcohol ...

Inks, that is!  :lol:  Something to be said for catchy titles!  I have a friend who is just brilliant at thinking up really witty titles and they are so humourous - I really struggle, and may occasionally come up with something vaguely amusing.  I console myself with the thought that my talent must lie in other areas - I'm still waiting to discover it!  Ha! 

Anyhoo, a friend's birthday was coming up, and I decided to make her some vintagey arty cards, which is exactly her style.  She is not a card maker, but does heritage layouts with her seemingly endless supply of gorgeous family photos of ancestors. 

Living in my own little Alis world of delusion and fantasy half the time, I missed her birthday and had to scurry to make up.  (get the pun - ha ha!)

Here was her belated birthday card - made using alcohol ink on left over photo paper, embossed with shiny pink embossing powder, and then grunged up a bit with black pigment ink, heat again to set. 

I thought that Prima ribbon coordinated at the time, but now I've decided that it really doesn't!  I added silver accents.  That little gauze butterfly I received in a swap.  I don't even mind the dark image of the photo coming through the background.  It adds to the effect.  Shame that the photo paper pops and buckles with the heat coming from the heat gun - but again, I won't lose sleep over it.  On a mission to use all my left over peel-offs that I've accumulated too!  Some of them are quite decent, and look good in the right place, but most of them are just naff. 

Here's another card using those Crafty Individuals' images - love the ethereal quality some of them add. 

Also using up the stash of aperture cards my friend donated towards the charity cards.  They have temporarily stopped, because we've built up quite a collection - but then I will substitute my own card blanks for that, so it all works out the same in the wash, I think!  I stamped around the edges, and the gun metal frame for that Creative Imaginations image was from HOTP, which I've had for many years.  A scrap of punched out decorative edge finish the card off. 

Here's a friends card with a difference.  Linda sent me a sheet of vintage images some years ago, and I accented this very cute picture with some pink patterned papers from my scraps bag.  I don't throw anything away, which my groaning scraproom and my groaning husband would testify to! 

A very simple card.  I bought a kit from Craftwork cards a little while ago and received a pack of these curved messages.  I was a bit concerned that I didn't like them and would struggle to use them, but I think that it works really well on this simple card, and helps to avoid everything being too square.  I inked the message in pink chalk ink to coordinate, and job done! 

This next card could apply to both men and women - probably more men though I guess - made from more scraps and another one of those Crafty Individuals images. 

Unearthing things in your scraproom really helps - I've dug out my 6 x 6 pads which have been hiding, and now I am delving into them, in between elephant hunting, scrapping and domesticating, working etc ....  I used a friend's scallop circle punch, and colour coordinated this with a Promarker.  My colouring is not very even though, is it?  Pah ...

I used a left over rectangle from one of my alcohol ink backgrounds, and added it to a card ...

On reflection, I should have added some copper or gold for impact, as it looks a bit flat to me.  Another lesson learned! 

A friend gave me a sheet of green mirri card.  It really works well with this next card, I think.

That black lace, again given to me in a swap, really adds impact.  I had one of those happy birthday toppers left from a pack from Hobbycraft some time ago, and I glimmer misted some mulberry paper behind the image.  Otherwise, pink and khaki paper from scraps bag. 

Last card - I guess most suitable for a man ....

Alcohol ink background.  Collage stamp inked with white stazon.  A thin statue image triple matted - blue, Basic Grey pattern, then green mirri card.  Tara gave me the message, which I knocked back with a Promarker.  A small flower altered to Navy with a promarker, and then a green gem added to the middle, finish it off nicely. 

I love being able to adapt styles and themes to whatever suits your mood - one day vintage, the next day bright and funky, and then grungy ...