Throwback Thursday - Pigment Ink Art

When I first got into card making, I bought a die cut machine and made shapes with a little bit of stamping. As time progressed, I began finding that I preferred stamping to the die-cut. What that led to was the use of pigment inks to create the "tie-dye" affect. I found it fun to create this type of background layer for cards. Here's some cards I have made using this technique:

If you are wondering how to do this, you need pigment ink and some type of dauber. I bought similar daubers and ink to those pictured below.

 I prefer to use card stock for my projects, but many others use photo paper to get a more blended effect. If you are interested, please look at youtube to see some of the wonderful artists who use these types of techniques. You would be amazed! I know that I was.

Make it Monday - Inspiring your heart with Art

As a lover of art and creativity, this is a fairly simple week to develop in terms of crafting. I have previously made dauber projects, but this one really was super fun to do. I started out with a different idea. As I started working though, I quickly changed my tactics. As it is getting closer to Valentine's Day and the theme is Inspire your HEART, I chose to make this as a heart.

Here's the picture - with a view of the mess on my craft table while crafting!

Note: This, like most of my crafting posts this year, will contain more written instructions and less pictures.
If you would like step to step pictures with this technique stay tuned to Scrappy Saturday on 1/31/2015.

Materials
Paper cutter or scissors
Ruler
Pen (if you don't use a paper cutter with a ruler attached)
One card base
One main color (backing)
A sheet of white card stock
A sheet of white copy paper.
Sponge Daubers
Pigment ink
A stamp if you want that
StazOn Jet Black ink (for stamp)
Acrylic block (for stamp)
Roller Tape


1. Cut a piece of 8.5 x 11 card stock in half to obtain two 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 cards. Score one in half, making your card.

2. Cut a piece of purple card stock to 4 x 5 1/4. This is the "backing."

3. Cut a piece of white card stock to 3 3/4 x 5. This is the mat. Take a small piece of tape and place it on the back of this piece and place it on top of your sheet of white card stock. This will protect your surface from ink.

4. Using the white copy paper, cut a heart free hand. If you want to use a die cut machine to create a heart you like, do so. I don't have one, so I used my scissors and pretended I was in elementary school. Place a small piece of tape on the back and adhere it to your mat.

5. Using the daubers, choose whatever colors you wish. Rub them across the ink. Holding the side of the heart down, begin in circular motions to rub the ink onto the mat. Repeat until you have the entire outline of the heart. You can remove the heart now if you wish or continue to blend the ink around.

6. Once finished, take the mat and and adhere it to the backing with tape. I chose not to embellish any more. Adhere the layers to the card base.


What is so lovely about this card is that it opens your mind to using this technique in many other ways. The original way I saw this accomplished was using glossy photo paper which made the finished product glossy. I prefer a more matte card, but feel free to explore this type of technique. 

Inky Rainbows

A few months ago when I decided to try paper crafting, I found a technique I was interested in trying. It involved pigment ink, a dauber, a white wax crayon, a stamp, and a piece of white card stock. The idea was that you stamped a certain image onto the white card stock and used the white crayon to cover up the area you did not want colored. I tried with an owl stamp. I covered up the face and began rubbing the stamp with purple and yellow ink. I found that the ink did not quite work as well as I thought. The purple bled and the yellow did not.

What I realized is that I REALLY enjoy the technique without using the crayon. I began experimenting with just a piece of white card stock and pigment ink. The result was a great, bright background. Here's some examples:

If you would like a photo tutorial, let me know!

Do you have any unique techniques involving ink?

Sarah