Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous - Retro Flakes

Hi my friends, I'm back again to share another card I made for the Facebook Live launch of Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Christmas 2020 release. There are so many fabulous stamps and layering stencils in this release, something to cater to everyone's taste, whether you're in to traditional or whimsy Christmas makes and if you missed the Facebook Live and all the amazing samples from my fellow makers, you can catch up over on Tim's blog HERE. I created a card using Retro Flakes, sentiments from Tiny Text Christmas, Ranger Alcohol Ink and Alcohol Lift Ink.

I began by spritzing a 5" x 7" panel of Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink White HeavyStock Yupo with Isopropyl (Rubbing Alcohol) and added drops of Pitch Black, Cobalt and Alcohol Inks. I added a few drops of Alcohol Blending Solution and moved the inks around with the Distress Air Blower until I was happy with the background, added a light spritz of Isopropyl to finish and set aside to air dry. If you're unfamiliar with Alcohol inks or haven't been happy with your results, I would recommend you pop over to Tim's Blog and watch his Facebook Live Q&A demos on Alcohol Inks, Part 1 the basics HERE and Part 2 with lots of tips and techniques, including using Alcohol Lift Ink HERE.

I arranged the images from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Retro Flakes on the panel in my Stamp Platform so that I could stamp them all together. I inked the stamps with Alcohol Lift Ink and stamped.  I dabbed the images with kitchen towel, moving each time to a clean section of the towel until there was no ink showing on the towel, buffed with a soft cloth and gave myself a minute to take in the magic.

I inked one of the smaller images with Stazon Metallic Gold and stamped on the panel to fill some of the blank areas.

Finally, I inked the small snowflake image with Distress Embossing ink, sprinkled with Ranger Superfine White Embossing Powder and heat set. Yupo is a synthetic plastic substrate and will warp and distort if heated but I find that by using my Ranger Heat It Tool as opposed to an embossing gun and continuously moving the Heat It Tool over the surface, heating from underneath and on top, there is very little or no warping. It does take a while to heat set the embossing powder but hey patience is a virtue my friends and if you want that pop of white on your Alcohol Ink backgrounds, in my opinion, worth it.  I would also suggest using an Anti-Static bag to ensure the powder doesn't stick where you don't want it. I inked the sentiments from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Tiny Text Christmas, already one of my favourite stamp sets from the release, with Distress Embossing Powder, stamped on to Idea-ology BlackOut KraftStock, heat set with Ranger Superfine White Embossing Powder and trimmed.

I fixed the sentiment strips in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte, trimmed the panel down to be slightly smaller than a 5" x 7" white card blank covered with Idea-ology BlackOut KraftStock and added small sequins from Sizzix Rose Gold Tower to the centres of the snowflakes, using Distress Collage Medium Matte. I confess I'm not a sparkly sequin type of crafter but oh boy, I am totally smitten with the colours in this particular little pot of Rose Gold magic - watch this space for some Christmas shaker cards, just saying.

I'll be back soon to share more makes from the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Christmas 2020 release. In the meantime, Happy Crafting my friends and have fun with whatever you are making.

Hugs Kath xxx

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