How to Use Alcohol Inks and Stencils

In this week’s project I will show you how to use alcohol inks and stencils to create this beautiful card. I originally created this card for my husband’s birthday in July. The idea came from watching videos by Tim Holtz on some interesting ways to use alcohol inks. This inspired me to add them to my own creative practice.

Card Making as a Self-Care Practice

I use card making as a self-care practice in my life. Making handmade cards brings joy to the people around me. I enjoy coming up with new card designs, and it is also a great way of trying out a technique on a small surface. The nice thing is sometimes the designs I come up with in a card also work well in my art journal.

Starting with a small surface makes for a project that is easy to finish, which is why it can be such a great self-care activity. By doing an activity that will be used to bless another person, reduce my own stress, and give me a place to show come creativity, there is no downside. I have been using card making in my personal self-care practice for quite a few years.

What are Alcohol Inks?

For those of you who may not know what alcohol inks are, they are basically ink in an alcohol carrier. Alcohol inks are very vibrant, quick drying and work on non-porous surfaces. They are great to use on glass, metal and plastic, but my favorite surface to use them on is yupo.

What is Yupo?

Yupo is a tree-free synthetic paper made from polypropylene pellets. It is not a traditional paper product, but ideally suited for use with alcohol inks. You can get it at your local art store and it also available in some craft stores.

Project Tutorial

In this week’s step by step project tutorial I will show you some basic ways to use alcohol inks through a stencil. I will demonstrate how to overlap images when your stencil is smaller than your piece of paper so you can still get a consistent look to your card.

I also give some ideas about how to create and alter gears and chipboard shapes to create embellishments. Using paint and inks you can alter embellishments to better match your project and style.

Project Supply List

• Leigon Yupo
• Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks: Rust, Sienna, Stream, Sepia, Bottle, Gunmetal (Mixative)
• 99% Alcohol
• Ranger Blending Solution
• Distress Ink Blending Tool and Felt
• Chipboard Gear
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Gearhead Dies
• HVAC Foil Tape
• Staples 90lb White Cardstock
• Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Metallic Platform and Die
• Impress Happy Birthday Stamp
• Tim Holtz Stamper Anonymous Gears Stencil
• Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black
• Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo
• Golden Acrylic Paint: Quinacridone/ Nickel Azo Gold, Micaceous Iron Oxide, Iridescent Gold (Fine)
• US ArtQuest PPA (Perfect Paper Adhesive) Matte
• Heat Tool