Hello and welcome to today’s blog post, which features the Stampin’ Blends and Alcohol Technique to create a cute and spooky background for your Halloween card! This technique has been around and I’ve seen some super cute cards made, so I thought this would be the perfect time to try it. This really is a super fun and easy technique, if you have not tried it, then you should! I did try a couple of variations, which I will share those at the end!
To start, I cut a piece of Vellum cardstock at 4 ¼” x 5 ½”, randomly colored Dark Pumpkin Pie, Dark Highland Heather, and Dark Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blend splotches, and then I used Dark Smoky Slate as a filler in any open spaces. Using 91% Isopropyl Alcohol that I poured into a small container (or you can use the lid) and a dry Water Painter (the medium tip), I just applied the alcohol over the Vellum cardstock, not really mixing the colors, but over each color, and used my Heat Tool to dry. The splatter was created by using my Dark Basic Black Stampin’ Blends, which I used the lid to flick the ink from the brush tip end. I placed adhesive sheet strips on a 4 ¼” x 5 ½” piece of Basic White cardstock, placed the Vellum cardstock on top, and then trimmed down to a 4” x 5 ¼”, which will be the base layer for the card front:
For the rest of the card front, you will need:
1. Use the second largest squared end Tailor Made Tag to die-cut from Black Glitter Paper.
2. Use the third largest squared end Tailor Made Tag to die-cut from Basic White cardstock. I used my Stamparatus to stamp the Halloween stamp from Well Defined in Highland Heather ink (I masked the lower part of the stamp to not get ink on) and the spider stamp from Frightfully Cute in Granny Apple Green ink.
3. Use the spider web die to die-cut from Highland Heather cardstock.
4. Use the owl die to die-cut from Pumpkin Pie cardstock and cut a small piece of Crushed Curry cardstock, which will be adhered to the back of the owl for the eyes and beak.
5. Cut a 4” piece of the Black & White Gingham Ribbon.
6. Use the silver trim from the Simply Elegant Trim, this will be tied into a bow around the gingham ribbon.
7. The Cute Stars Adhesive Backed Sequins, not pictured.
First, use liquid glue to adhere the layered die-cut tags as shown, use the Fine Tip Glue Pen to adhere the Crushed Curry cardstock to the back of the die-cut Pumpkin Pie owl, use a dimensional to adhere this to the tag, and fold the gingham ribbon in half, push through the tag hole into the back creating a loop, and then thread the ribbon tails through the loop and tighten, don’t forget to snips the ribbon ends! The silver trim is tied into a bow around the gingham ribbon, place some adhesive on the back of the die-cut tag, adhere the die-cut spider web to the back, and then adhere this completed piece to the base layer as shown. I added seven of the adhesive backed stars randomly and then adhered this completed piece to a Highland Heather cardstock card base, cut at 5 ½” x 8 ½”, and scored at 4 ¼”:
For the inside, cut a piece of Basic White cardstock at 4” x 5 ¼”, use your Stamparatus to stamp the lower half of the sentiment in Highland Heather ink (masking the top part that was used for the card front if needed) and stamp the spider in Granny Apple Green ink two times:
Here are three other examples that I tried, using more or less splotches of colors, making the splotches darker (going back over after it dried), instead of using a Water Painter with the alcohol directly onto the Vellum, I dripped and splattered the alcohol, which created “pools”, and used my Heat tool to push the alcohol/ink around while drying the Vellum:
If you have never tried this technique, I hope you do! There is no right or wrong way to do it and you can use absolutely any color combination!
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I hope today’s project inspires you to get creative! Please contact me if you have any questions about the products used on this or any other project. I hope you enjoyed today’s blog and thanks for stopping by!
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