Hi all! Happy Wednesday! Three days ago I posted a pink alcohol ink background card. As promised, I’m back with more ideas for alcohol ink backgrounds! This time, I’ll talk about Alcohol Lift Ink on metallic Krafstock paper. This is going to be LOOOOOONG, so please make yourself comfortable 🙂

My mind was completely blown away by Tim Holtz’ Facebook live a couple of days ago. He shared so many great ideas about metallic Kraftstock papers, that I just had to grab them and start crafting!

I decided to use alcohol inks on the beautiful, shiny papers. First, I made a bunch of backgrounds. I ALWAYS get carried away when I’m playing with my alcohol inks. They’re so much fun!

Backgrounds & Alcohol Inks Colors

The shine of the backgrounds is stunning, but there’s a catch to it – you really can’t capture it in a photo… but I did my best.

Below are photos of the different backgrounds that I made. Under each photo, I mention the exact colors of Ranger Alcohol Inks and the paper that I used.

 

The Pink & Purple Line

Colors used: Wild Plum, Raspberry, Flamingo and Watermelon. Paper: silver Kraftstock.
By the way, it’s my reflection in the center! I told you, these papers are so shiny it’s ridiculous!

Colors used: Amethyst, Purple Twilight, Wild Plum and Currant. Paper: champagne Kraftstock (from the Confections Metallics pad).

 

The Blue Line

Colors on both of the backgrounds: Aqua, Patina, Clover and Sail Boat Blue. Paper: silver Kraftstock.

 

The Green Line

Unfortunately, it seems I haven’t took a photo of the background before turning it into a card 🙁 But, here is the card just to give you an idea:

Colors used: No idea LOL <facepalm> 🙂 Paper: champagne Kraftstock.

 

The Golden Line

Colors used: Sandal, Butterscotch, Sunset Orange and Ginger. Paper: gold Kraftstock.

Colors used: Pebble, Slate, Ginger and Sunset Orange. Paper: gold Kraftstock.

Once I had my backgrounds, it was time to turn them into cards! I have to admit, they were so beautiful that I secretly considered just keeping them untouched forever in my stash… but after some deliberation, I have decided to “sacrifice” some of them and make cards.

I thought it would be fun to try to use Alcohol Lift Ink on these backgrounds. I’ve never used Alcohol Lift Ink before, and thought it might work well on the Kraftstock. I have to say, I wasn’t sure it would work, because in every tutorial they used yupo paper and not cardstock. But I do enjoy experimenting every now and then, so I went along with the idea.

For the sake of the experiment and science, I took photos of each step, so there you have my

Alcohol Lift Ink over Metallic Kraftstock Tutorial !

If you have never used Alcohol Lift Ink before, I recommend watching Jennifer Mcguire’s tutorial. Her tutorials are always great with tons of tips and inspiration!

Because the Alcohol Lift Ink lifts the alcohol ink from the paper, it allows you to transfer the ink to a regular (porous) cardstock! In order to stamp well and accurately, I used my MISTI stamping tool. You don’t have to use it, but I found it very helpful.

First, I arranged the stamps on the alcohol ink background. The flowers are from Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous “Wildflowers” stamp set, and the bee is from “Little Things” stamp set:

Then, I inked the stamps with the Alcohol Lift Ink. Note: the stamps must be very clean, or your ink pad will be contaminated with ink smudges!

Then, I stamped the images over my alcohol ink background. I opened the MISTI door, took out the alcohol ink background and set it aside. At this point, it doesn’t look like much, but Jennifer promised on her tutorial not to worry, so I trusted her on this: 🙂

Quickly, I’ve put a white cardstock in the MISTI and stamped again. The alcohol ink images have been miraculously transferred to the paper!!

After that, I went back to the alcohol ink background. Using a clean and dry paper towel, I dabbed it on the paper until the images were almost clean, and then I buffed it in circular motion over the stamped areas. Again, the effect is almost magical:

After that I did some trimming and stamping, to finish up my cards.

Finished Cards Photos

First of all, here is the finished card from the tutorial:

As you can see, I trimmed the stamped panel, added a strip of the alcohol ink background, and used the same alcohol lifting technique to stamp the sentiment. It is from Avery Elle’s “Butterflies” stamp set.

Check out this adorable bee – amazing details!

Next are some photos of my other two cards. In case you’re wondering why there are only three cards if there were seven backgrounds, it’s only because I’m still working on the others 🙂

Here is my green card – the shine really in incredible:

This is how it looks from a different angle:

And here’s the adorable bee again!

I’ve also turned the super golden background into a card. I used the same sentiment stamp, but this time I used the peonies from WPlus9 “Pretty Peonies” to create a pattern:

Tips & Final Thoughts

1) Alcohol inks are awesome, but don’t use them on the same day you do a fresh manicure!! I got mine totally ruined and had to make another appointment right away. <facepalm>

2) Make sure your stamps are sparkly clean before you apply the Alcohol Lift Ink. I didn’t, and my ink pad looks like a mess. It still works, but can contaminate your work with strange inks.

3) Because the backgrounds are so bold and shiny, it’s a good idea to keep the rest of the card simple. I also recommend to trim the background for a more “elegant” look.

4) I really need to buy more pads of the metallic Kraftstock papers. They are awesome.

I hope you find this helpful! If you have and questions, don’t hesitate to comment! 🙂 Also, if you want to see updates about new posts, please like my Facebook page (and configure it to See First), or follow me on Pinterest.