Faux Alcohol Ink Background using Bold Inks

Good morning! If you've been to my blog recently you know that I'm on a bit of an alcohol ink kick these days. But I've gotten a few comments from people who aren't quite ready to make the commitment to purchase alcohol inks and were wondering if there was a way to achieve a similar look. So I did a little experimenting and discovered that you can create a faux alcohol ink background using hybrid inks on yupo paper! Today's card pairs my background with the beautifully intricate new City Skyline Fancy die!

Of course it's not quite the same...but it's a great way to try out some basic alcohol ink techniques without alcohol inks! ;) To start I took a 5x7 piece of yupo paper and placed it on my craft mat. I started by swiping my Rose Madder Bold ink pad over the paper from left to right until it covered the paper. Then I used the short edge of the ink pad and swiped Strawberry and Crimson Bold inks in thick lines across the yupo paper. Since yupo paper is technically plastic the ink sits on top of the paper rather than soaking in and it gives me a little more time to work. First I tilted the yupo paper and squirted rubbing alcohol across the top of the paper to allow the inks to blend and flow across the paper. Then I took the blending felt and swiped it across the paper to keep the ink moving. It created an ombre look that looked to me like a hot summer sunset! I let the paper sit for about an hour to give the ink time to dry and then trimmed it down to an A2 card base. Once it was totally dry I didn't have any problems with the ink smearing. Honestly, I'm not quite sure how it dried but it did! :)

While the background was drying I worked on the rest of the card. First I die-cut the City Skyline Fancy Die from black cardstock and shimmery gold cardstock. I reserved the bottom of the black die-cut and stamped the sentiment from Enjoy the Journey across the bottom with versamark and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder. I adhered that to the bottom of the ombre background and then puzzle-pieced the gold cardstock above it. Next I applied foam mounting tape to the black cardstock, slightly offset it, and adhered it above the gold cardstock to create a shadow effect. I finished the card with a few Champagne sequins!

I really love how the background turned out...I'll have to do a few more experiments using hybrid inks in place of alcohol inks and I'll make sure to share my discoveries with you! ;) Thanks so much for visiting and have a fabulous day!