FOILED GLUE GUN SHAPES

It's been a while since we've dragged out the glue guns so I thought it was time to do so again, this time for a great little embellishment to add to your backgrounds.  Coloured foils that you can use with two-way glue, double-sided tape, clear embossed stamped images that you then run through a laminator, all of the foils that work with these techniques will work with this one.  Not giving too much away as I want to save it for the class as a surprise as it's surprisingly simple to do, but looks complicated.  Right up my alley.  

"Pinata"

"Nothing"

"Whinese"

"Hamlet"

"Demons"

"Drama shield"

"Dead fish"

 

ALCOHOL INK FLOWERS

Alcohol Inks are such an amazing product and I am continually amazed at how many different styles of art you can do with them.  This technique is using the alcohol inks to create floral effects, yes I'm doing flowers.  Those who know me realise it's a stretch for me to do flowers but these are just so simple to do and look so wonderful, how could I resist?  These are way easier to do on a larger format, say the size of a card (4" x 6") or even an A4 piece.  On an ATC, a single drop of alcohol ink is all you need to create one of these flowers (ATC size is 2½" x 3½").  Using a rubber puffer and a little 91/99% alcohol is how you get the whispy effects.  The metallics are Pinata Brass and Ranger Alloy Foundry.  Black acrylic ink and a white water-based Sharpie marker create all those other little finishing touches.  I have used Kirkland Photo Paper (the back matte side) for my substrate but this works just as well on Yupo.

"Decompose"

"Enchant"

"Ornamental"

"Exotic"

"Cultivate"

"Embracing life"

"Germinate Grow"

"Fragile"

STENCIL EMBOSSING

 Stencils can be used with various mediums and this technique is probably one of the simplest ways to add texture to a background.  You can use either a clear embossing ink pad to press through the stencil to get your layer of embossing ink down before embossing with your embossing powders, or, you can use gesso to scrape through your stencil and then add your embossing powder while the gesso is still wet.  You should leave the gesso method to dry a little before heating with a heat gun (don't worry, the embossing powder will just sit there until you're ready to heat it).  If you heat too early, you can get little white explosions coming through your embossing powder.  However, this is a cool look in itself so maybe try it this way to see if it works with you have in mind.

"Social Distancing"

"Insignificant"

"People"

(For this one, I drew along the edge of a city stencil with

a clear embossing pen before embossing to get the

outlines of the buildings)

"Eat glitter"

(The sun rays are glitter embossing powder while the

bird is a JAC paper shape covered with leafing foils)

"Art is an experience"

"Wild side"

(Love this 2-tone spotty embossing powder called 101 Dalmatians)