Tiny Towns under Alcohol Ink Skies

Posted: August 19, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Dies, grafix, Penny Black, Sizzix, Spellbinders, Taylored Expressions, Tiny Tree | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

I do like the look of little houses and buildings against a bold or colourful sky. I’ve done the same thing numerous times with watercolour panels. The little town featured in these cards is the Penny Black ‘tiny town‘ die. Once again I have completed my cards with embossed panels and PB or Taylored Expressions sentiments.

One thing you might notice is that some of the sentiments are stamped on the alcohol ink sky not on a strip of cardstock. After several alcohol ink sessions resulting in a stack of useful panels I remembered my alcohol lift ink. Lift ink does exactly as the name suggests, it lifts alcohol ink off the surface (in this case yupo or grafix craft plastic). Once lifted the ink needs to be wiped off the stamp and a few more applications made in exactly the same spot. It is also necessary to blot the stamped area with a tissue or cloth to remove any ink which has been diluted by the stamp pad. I was very happy with the results and you will see just how happy in a bunch of future cards.

Once again I have created different alcohol ink patterns by tilting the panel to move the ink, blowing the ink with a hand pump or spritzing the ink with isopropyl alcohol to create the spotty or starry look.

I used several different embossing folders to add snow, more little houses or the spellbinders nordic pattern to the background. The little houses embossing folder is from Vaessen Creative and was found at the new craft supply store in Ottawa.

Thank you for the encouraging comments left on the recent alcohol ink blog posts. I am glad to be providing some inspiration to get your own inks out. If you haven’t seen the previous alcohol ink posts look here and here.

And stay tuned there are more little houses, trees, baubles and Bethlehem skies to come. Have a great day!

Alcohol Ink Trees

Posted: August 17, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Creative Expressions, grafix, Kristina Werner Joyful and Merry dies, Kristina Werner Joyful and Merry stamp set, Spellbinders, winter pines | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

The alcohol ink cards continue, this time with a tree theme. If you didn’t see my first collection of alcohol ink cards please visit here. Once more I worked with only 2 or 3 alcohol inks to create patterned panels. I have been starting with 4.5″x 6″ yupo or craft plastic panels which I can turn into a large background panel, two smaller backgrounds or numerous trees.

To add interest to alcohol ink panels I use several different techniques. I always add isopropyl alcohol to the panels to move and blend the inks and sometimes move the liquid around by tilting the panel or blowing the ink with an alcohol ink blower.

Another technique which gets quite intricate or softly blended results is to apply ink or isopropyl to a felt pad and ‘stamp’ it onto the yupo or craft plastic. Many of the cards I’ve been making feature an embossed panel behind the alcohol ink elements. I’ve used a nordic themed embossing folder from Spellbinders and an Anna Griffin ‘regal braid’ folder for today’s cards. The greeting stamps and dies are from Kristina Werner’s sets “Joyful and Merry stamp set” and “Joyful and Merry dies“. I don’t actually own them but you can be sure I made good use of them before my sister-in-law took them home to Australia. All the trees are cut using a fabulous Creative Expressions die set called Festive Collections – Winter Pines.

And, if you know me, you know there are more tree cards to come; this is just a smattering!

Alcohol Ink Skies

Posted: August 14, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink, Dies, grafix, Penny Black, polar bears | Tags: , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Well hello! Once again it has been weeks between blog posts, but here I am with a surprising selection of cards for you.

Surprising because they are alcohol ink panels. I don’t remember the last time I worked with alcohol inks. In the last month or so I have done little else in the art realm but work with alcohol inks. Why might that be? I have been working outside with said inks. My sister-in-law who was staying with me in June and July joined me at a friend’s house where we set up outside in the shade with a pleasant breeze and proceeded to experiment with the inks. As I mentioned I hadn’t use them for a long time and had forgotten many techniques. Since then I have refreshed my memory by watching a few videos and have worked outside with the inks numerous times where I don’t get headaches from the alcohol and everything dries quickly. Occasionally panels end up in the garden but that is a price I am willing to pay.

I made a few panels with 2 or 3 ink colours per panel and a generous amount of 99% isopropyl alcohol to move and blend the colours. I used an air blower (hand pump style, not electric) and sometimes a spritzer filled with isopropyl to add splatter which looks like snow or stars. I worked on yupo paper, grafix white craft plastic and Nara paper, all similar products and all from my existing supplies. I am still committed to ‘Using What I Have’ as much as possible.

The second surprising thing about these cards is that they are Christmas cards. Never have I started my Christmas cards in the middle of summer. I have never wanted to because I am influenced so much by the seasons. For whatever reason that is not the case this year. Future me is going to be very thankful for this strange occurrence. These are three cards I made featuring the ‘polar bears’ die from Penny Black and a PB stamp set, “All is Bright”. I really enjoy creating northern skies with alcohol inks; they seem to mimic the beauty of the northern lights I am yet to see in person. I know that polar bears have nothing to do with Christmas but when I create alcohol ink or watercolour skies I am reminded of the verse from Psalm 19, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.’ Thank you for visiting and reading to the end of this post; I will warn you now, the alcohol ink blog posts have just begun, so buckle up my friends!

Botanical Thank You cards

Posted: July 24, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: gel press, Penny Black | Tags: , | 7 Comments

Recently a friend asked me to make her ten thank you cards. I decided to make them using a few botanical gel prints. Some prints were quite large, featuring several flowers or leaves on one large sheet of copy paper or rice paper. The cards above were from a print taken with dark green and cream paints so I added green mats and sentiments on cream card bases. I love printing plants; the detail possible always amazes me. So, as I use up these prints from another summer, I feel the need to pull out the gel plates and print some of the many flowers and leaves within reach this summer.

The cards below were prints of Queen Anne’s lace printed with black and picked up with gold paint. Again I used cream card bases and black or gold sentiments.

The last batch of co-ordinated cards were leaves and lavender in blue and black paint, lifted with white paint so I added blue sentiments and attached everything to white card bases.

You can find techniques for gel printing plants and many other things in my Gel Print Journey online class and use the coupon SUMMERSALE for a 25% discount. You can also find a playlist of gel printing videos I’ve made on my youtube channel.

Today & Always

Posted: May 14, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: beaded mandala, cricut, The Crafter's Workshop, Watercolour | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

I have turned yet another stencil & watercolour print into a card, this time a wedding card featuring a large circle print made with the The Crafter’s Workshop ‘beaded mandala’ stencil.

Most of the stencil print is paler than the surrounding blended watercolour painting because my technique involved spritzing the stencil to cover it with water before pressing it onto the painted panel. The water on the stencil dilutes the paint. I can’t remember for certain but I probably weighted the stencil down with a large acrylic block and let it dry for quite some time, maybe overnight. In the close up above you can see an area of the stencil print is a mustard colour, that was a happy accident due to the stencil not being clean! It prompted me to choose gold cardstock for the circle border and the sentiment cut on the cricut.

Thanks for dropping by. I think there will be several more stencil and watercolour projects to share but I do hear the gel plate calling me, so stay tuned!

Leafy Vines

Posted: May 11, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: AALL & Create, The Crafter's Workshop, Watercolour | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

I have a stack of stencil+watercolour prints to turn into something and it appears that this ‘leafy vines’ stencil from The Crafters Workshop was a favourite during my preparations and workshops. I’ve turned one panel into a card and have six more panels to work with. I used a variety of techniques to create the panels including painting through the stencil as shown on this card.

Painting through the stencil didn’t give me a sharp complete representation of the stencil but it did give me a loose and impressionistic design with lovely soft blends from bluegreen to green to mustard. I matted with dark green cardstock and stamped an AALL & Create sentiment in green to complete the card.

Below are some more panels completed using the same stencil but different techniques. A few of them will become cards I imagine but I’m not sure with the blotchy one bottom right; not my favourite!

Totally Dotty

Posted: May 6, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: AALL & Create, Classes, Concord & 9th, many mandalas, totally dotty stencil | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

This stencil is appropriately called ‘totally dotty.’ It is a big stencil from AALL & Create and is cool for gel printing, alcohol inks and as it turns out, watercolour as well.

I have done quite a few stencil prints lately both in preparation for and during my recent workshops. I used different watercolour mediums including distress stains which provide quite saturated colour as you can see in the panel above. Pressing the painted panel on the stencil or vice versa can create very funky and distinct patterns as well as subtle dreamy ones. This panel ended up very distinct except for an area in middle. Not a problem as you can see; I stayed with the dotty theme and stamped my C&9 ‘many mandalas‘ sentiment on a circle for the centre.

This post includes an affiliate link from Scrap’n’Stamp . If you buy through this link I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Flowers and Tiles

Posted: April 22, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Classes, cricut, Darkroom Door, Rockwell art, Watercolour, wildflowers | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

The experiments with watercolour and stencils keep on happening as I prepare for the in-person workshops next week. This one ended up being very satisfying. I designed the stencil to look like Moroccan tiles and chose the paint colours to look aged and stained. I was happy to see those effects in the final panel.

Because the panel looked a bit like a tiled floor or wall I wanted to add flower silhouettes like shadows. I inked through the Darkroom Door small ‘Wildflowers‘ stencil with Gina K obsidian ink and added an AAll & Create ‘everyday sentiment with the same ink.

I used a combination of paints and distress oxide spray to get the unique mix of colours. Some of the paints were the Rockwell self evolving mineral watercolours which always give great multicolour effects.

Roses Stencil in Blue

Posted: April 7, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Brusho, Classes, cricut, Echidna Studios, grafix, Roses digital stamp set, Watercolour | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments

I’m continuing to enjoy my stencil and watercolour experimenting, this time featuring a stencil I designed myself and cut on the cricut. The stencil is made from two sections from a rose border digital design which is part of a trio of rose themed images available in the Echidna Studios etsy store. To create more of a square stencil I joined two parts of the border design together in cricut workspace before cutting them from Grafix matte dura-lar. I know many people don’t use cricuts or digital cutting machines but the technique would work with any fine line stencil.

I painted the panel in blue paint before dropping the stencil on top, then added brusho powder and some spritzes of water. I am continuing to finalise techniques for my Stencils & Watercolour workshop here in Ottawa and this was one of the panels I created on watercolour paper. (there is one space left in the Monday workshop and several spaces in the Saturday workshop)

The sentiment was also cut on the cricut from the navy cardstock which also frames the stencil print. I know the cricut can be used for many things but my favourite use for it is definitely stencils! Looking at the photos as I write this I notice I did not glue the tittle over the ‘i’ in birthday. I had better try and find it!

Stencil & Watercolour wedding cards

Posted: March 27, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Classes, clematis burst stencils, Creative Expressions, cricut, Watercolour | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

I’ve been creating quite a few patterned panels using stencils and watercolour while designing a workshop. There have been many experiments and most, but not all, have turned out quite well. You can see in the photo below the Creative Expressions square ‘Clematis Burst’ stencil beside two panels. The bright one on the left was the first impression and the one on the right the second impression using paint remaining on the stencil.

As I never seem to have any wedding cards on hand when someone asks for one I decided to make both panels into wedding cards, one bold and one subtle. I cut the sentiments on the cricut and also the large red heart

When you look closely you can see both ‘prints’ are loose and a bit messy but I don’t mind the impressionistic look!

I used a gold gel pen to add definition to the flowers on the lighter print, not every petal but enough to make sure they looked like flowers!

I am teaching a Stencils & Watercolour workshop here in Ottawa in late April and early May, you can find all the details on the CLASSES page.

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