Creative Chemistry Day 5

Already on day 5 and I am really enjoying these classes filled with creativity and information. Today was about spray inks and stains. I have never used the stains before so this was a fun learning experience for me and I want more colours!!

Stamps used are Rubber Stampede, Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous), Inkadinkado, Penny Black, Stampscapes and Posh Impressions.
The techniques were Stained Kraft Resist, Stain Stamping and Marbled Stains; my versions are below.

Creative Chemistry Day 4

On to day four!! This class is about reinkers- maintenance and storage as well as techniques for using them.

Again, a lot of valuable information in this class for all levels.

The techniques were Reinker watercolouring, Layered misting  and Custom Stamping

These are my versions using stamps by Jill Meyer and Tim (Stampers Anonymous) and a plastic doily.

4 X4 Puzzle Swap

On AFTCM we are doing another 4X4 swap. This time we are to use jigsaw puzzle pieces on the item.

I started by colouring a piece of 130LB cardstock with various colours of pigment inks. I then stamped it with a Hero Arts  stamp then embossed it with the matching embossing folder, colouring the flowers with Smooch ink. I adhered a picture from moonlightjourney.com in the centre of the wreath.

 I took some puzzle pieces and embossed four with Opals embossing powder and two with blue pearlised embossing powder. I reheated each one and stamped on them with silver metallic ink. When they cooled I glued them around the image.

Creative Chemistry Day 3

Day 3 was a discussion relating to archival inks, the different types and uses. Tim again discussed this in a video and went on to teach 3 different techniques using the inks and other mediums such as alcohol inks and mixatives and distress inks.

The three techniques for today were Alcohol Ink Agates, Archival Resist and Stamping with Reflections.

Below are my versions of the tags. I had to improvise on the third tag as I only had a couple of the supplies that were required for the technique. Stamps for these techniques are by Tim (Stampers Anonymous), Hero Arts, Tin Can Mail, Wordsworth and Posh Impressions.

Creative Chemistry Day 2

On Day 2 is all about Distress inks, blending, stamping and layering and a discussion on the properties of water based dye inks. Tim started this class with a video on the history of distress inks and how he came to work for Rangers. Thoroughly enjoyed hearing all about this.

He had two more videos which covered the different properties of the inks as well as techniques to use them.

We did the Blended Distress/Spritz and Flick, Brushless Watercolour and Wrinkle-Free Techniques on tags.

These are my version of the techniques using stamps from Stampendous, Penny Black, Impression Obsession, Hero Arts and of course, a couple of Tim's.

Acohol ink Butterfly ATC's

I signed up for a swap on AFTCM with the theme of Alcohol ink background and butterflies.

I decided to make mine with Tim Holtz alcohol ink splatter background. The bottom  one is very colourful and I stamped a coloring book (open) butterfly (Pedlars Pack) with Ancient Page permanent ink. I then masked the butterfly and stamped a Tim Holtz background stamp over the top.

After stamping it I felt the image did not stand out well enough so I stamped it again on acetate, cut it out and adhered it on top of the stamped image with Glossy Accents.


The one on the top left was stamped with another Tim Holtz stamp and some German Scraps added to the edges.

The one on the top right is a stamp by The Old Island Stamp Co. and I added some Glossy Accents to the butterflies to give them dimension. To complete it I stamped a saying on vellum and attached it across the ATC.

Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101 - Day 1

I signed up for Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101 and am really enjoying the journey. The class is packed with information and techniques. Although I have been stamping for about 17 years I have learned so much from this class. Whether you are "newbie" or a "seasoned" stamper I highly recommend Tim's class. The cost is certainly reasonable and you can access the videos and PDF's for a lifetime. Tim explains the difference in all the mediums and the vehicles used for the techniques and makes it all so easy to understand.

Day 1 was all about understanding the characteristics and properties of inks and paints, how to use them, the different effects and applications. He also stressed the importance of reading the labels on the products to determine that you are using the right  type of medium for the application or to go to the company website to obtain the information.

Tim provided a chart for all the different mediums as a reference as well as a blank form for the participants to enter information on mediums from other manufacturers.