Card Backgrounds with Gold Alcohol Splash and Color Splash

Hello everyone! It's Juhi, and today I'll be showing you how I made these 2 gorgeous cards using Gold Alcohol Splash and Color Splash.

I know both the sprays have been around for some time and the Design Team has created the most amazing creations using these. Check out a couple of them  here and here. Being a Clean and Simple Card Maker I don't usually use color sprays on my projects but ever since I saw these beautiful  creations from the rest of the Design Team I knew I had to try them. I am so glad I did!!! They turned out to be so fun and easy to work with!
Here's how I created the gorgeous card backgrounds.

I started by spraying 3 colors of Gold Alcohol Splash onto the craft sheet. The colors I used were Frosted Pool, Midnight Blue and Citron Breeze. I then spritzed water onto it and placed a piece of white cardstock, front side down onto the spritzed ink. I moved around the paper a bit so that the ink reaches the entire cardstock piece. This technique is know as Ink Smooshing. On turning over we can see that there are some white spaces remaining, so I sprayed some more water on the craft sheet to activate the remaining ink on the craft sheet and repeated the process. Now the entire card stock panel was inked.
Gold Alcohol Splash inks are just amazing! All colors have a beautiful, shimmery gold hues mixed with them which in this case created a gorgeous patina effect. The shine is hard to capture on camera but is just breathtaking in real life!
After making the first background there was enough ink remaining on the craft sheet for me to make another background.

I used my favorite leaf stencil on one of the backgrounds and sprayed on it with Paprika Color Splash. I used Chipboard Embellishments and die cut flowers to embellish my card. Once I was happy with the arrangement of the embellishments I sprayed Citron Breeze over them.

For my second card I sprayed Midnight Blue and Citron Breeze Gold Alcohol Splash on a chipboard ornate heart.

Added some flowers and sequins along with a sentiment to complete my card.

Supplies Used:

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Gold Alcohol Splash - Citron Breeze Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Gold Alcohol Splash - Frosted Pool Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Color Splash - Paprika Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Leaf Stencil Shop at: Itsy Bitsy
Non-stick Craft Sheet Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Thin Cut Die - Leaves Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Thin Cut Die - Fairy Flowers Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	CHIPBOARD SHAPES Shop at: Itsy Bitsy
Card Stock - Bright White Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Card Stock - Thick Cream Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Sequins - Gold Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Clear Stamps - Say It With Flowers Shop at: Itsy Bitsy
Dream Cut Machine Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Acrylic Stamping Block Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	Pigment Ink Pad - Black Shop at: Itsy Bitsy	CHIP BOARD SHAPES THANK YOU Shop at: Itsy Bitsy
ADHESIVE SCRAPBOOKING GLUE Shop at: Itsy Bitsy

Crafter in The Spotlight 56 - Itsy Bitsy

Hello arty-crafty folks,

It’s Thursday and as usual I’m back to share another crafter’s story with you. This week the talented Crafter to be in the ‘Spotlight’ is Shefali Agrawal, who originally belongs to Rajasthan but now is a resident of Bangalore.

Shefali is a true crafter at heart as she not only loves crafting but also enjoys shopping for craft supplies. What was earlier summer holiday fervor, turned recently into serious crafting passion for Shefali. She adores the art of decoupage and is also keen to try out different card making styles.

How did Shefali get into crafting, what inspires her, what are her tips for fellow crafters, her favourite quote, how would she contribute to the crafting world if she had magical powers? Read answers to all these questions, discover more about her interesting journey and catch a glimpse of a step by step project by Shefali in this interview. Don't forget to leave your comments for her.

Rashmi Closepet, MD, Itsy Bitsy:   Tell us a bit about yourself & your background?

Shefali Agrawal:  Hi, I am Shefali. I am from Beawar, Rajasthan, but I am staying in Bangalore for last 3 years. I am a software engineer by profession and a crafter at heart! I also love reading, travelling and shopping, especially for craft supplies.

RC: How did you get into crafting?

SA: I used to do a lot of art and craft during school summer holidays- like painting, ceramic clay work, up-cycling stuff etc. I got into serious crafting a year and a half back when I attended a stained glass mosaic workshop in Bangalore. That inspired me to try out other forms of crafting as well.

RC: What is your favourite type of craft?

SA:  I love decoupage. I am also trying my hands at card making.

RC: What are your favourite products at Itsy Bitsy?

SA: All the lovely stamp sets and the chalk paints.

RC:   If you had magical powers, how would you contribute to the Crafting world?

SA:  I would definitely create infinite storage space for crafters. I am always looking for space to store new supplies and searching for the ones I know I have kept somewhere J So, I guess, creating huge storage space for crafters would make them utterly happy!!

RC:  Your prized possession in your craft stash from Itsy Bitsy?

SA:  Chalk Paints and Shaker elements.

RC:  How would you describe your style of crafting?

SA:  Whimsical. I like to try out whatever catches my fancy at that time and I am always looking for new things to learn.

RC: How do you organize your time for crafting?

SA: During the weekdays, it’s mostly in the evenings after work. Even I don’t have time to create something, I love to sit and watch videos of my favorite crafters on YouTube. On weekends I spend most of my time crafting J

RC: Tips for people who want to craft

SA: I would suggest that you don’t wait for something to strike your fancy. Start small if you will!! Make time for it as you can and keep trying.

RC: Your all -time favourite quote?

SA: “One day, or day one. You decide!”

Here is a gorgeous project by  Shefali  & step by step procedure:

Shaker Grid card using Happy Bird-day clear stamps set

Step 1: Take a white cardstock and draw a grid on it.

Step 2: Use a pair of scissors or a craft knife to cut out the inner squares to get a grid frame like this. I created two grid frames like this. In case you have a grid die, you can use that to combine step 1 & 2.

Step 3: Take the Clear Stamps - Happy Bird-Day stamp set from Itsy Bitsy and stamp 2-3 images of all the birds on a white card stock. Then color the images and cut them out. Also stamp and cut the happy bird-day sentiment from the stamp set.

Step 4: Cut out a background for the card. I used the green paper from chevron in Aquarelle cardstock and cut it slightly larger than the grid.

Step 5: Now its time to assemble the shaker card. I stuck one of the grids on the green base, and added double sided tape on it. Then I used some scrapbooking glue and used it to stick some bigger shaker elements to the base of the card.

Step 6: Next I added shaker elements from Shaker Sprinkles in red, green and silver and sealed them off using a piece of acrylic sheet slightly smaller than the grid window size.

Step 7: I used the other grid cutout to finalize the placement of the little birds on the card.

Step 8: I used some double sided tacky tape to stick this window on top of the acrylic sheet and then used foam dots to stick the little birds on top of that. Foam dots provide a nice raised look to the cut outs and I love the effect. At the last minute I also remembered to make space for the sentiment banner and added that as well.

Close up shots of the card:

Here are a couple of  Shefali's other awesome creations:

Many congrats  Shefali for being the CRAFTER IN THE SPOTLIGHT – ITSY BITSY!!

You will receive Rs.500/- Itsy Bitsy gift voucher 😊😊 & a Crafter in the Spotlight badge, which can be proudly displayed on the side bar of your blog and other platforms. Looking forward to many more creations, Happy Crafting!

Nautical theme Clock makeover with Itsybitsy 3D chipboards

Hello crafty souls! 

I am Angela Jose, back again for another crafty session after a pretty long break! Today's  featured product in my project is a versatile 3D chipboard shape from Itsy Bitsy. These  3D chipboard shapes are unlike the normal chipboards that come in a single layer. These come as a 3D structure with multiple layers of chipboard giving them a 3 dimensional look. Most of the time whenever we use chipboards in our projects, they seem to lay flat and either we have to paint them appropriately or add dimension over it with texture paste. That is saved here wherein the chipboard itself has a 3D structure and gives the much required multi-dimension to your project.

I have chosen the compass 3D chipboard from the new collection and revamped an old table clock.

 Nautical theme Clock makeover with Itsy Bitsy 3D chipboards 

I have been having this table clock from over a year now, gifted as a part of our "palli perunnal" at Angamali St.George Basilica. I  kind of "hid" it on my crafting table because I didn't like the advertisement it had on itself. I am sure many of you might also have many gifted items which  you don't want to throw away but also do not want to keep.  But, it is surprising how they turn into lovable decor pieces with just a little tweaking. 

So today I decided I was going to make this presentable on my living room coffee table and I thought of ways to revamp it. I had these compass 3D chipboard from Itsy Bitsy which represents adventure, ocean, all things nautical and travel. I remembered the pinterest globe revamp projects which had :"adventure awaits" hand lettered on it and I decided that it was going to be the theme of my clock ;) Do you know I still don't have a passport? I'm waiting to get my passport and also saving some money to start my adventure across the globe ;)

Take the clock that you want to makeover and check for the screws that hold the frame to the base. Remove them and peel off the background that you want to replace. The needles of the clock will be fixed to the battery set up at the backside with the help of a screw type arrangement which you can easily remove by twisting them. I wanted to have a map background but then my table clock is already a bit too small so I felt it might congest the view. I instead went for a water colored background with green, blue and brown shades to resemble a vague map.

My clock was rectangular in shape with the needle sweeping the area covering only the right half. So I drew a compass outline on the left hand side which otherwise would've remained too blank/plain. I wanted to give an olden age hand-drawn map sort of feel, so I did a rough sketch of compass with not so perfect circles and lines. 

Once it was done, I wrote with a brush pen " adventure awaits" at the bottom portion where the needles would sweep. I was too eager to letter it without waiting for the water colored part to completely dry - hence the little spreading of ink happened:( 

Coming to the 3D chipboard which is the highlight of the project, the size of the chipboard was just perfect to fit inside my clock - not too small, not too big. Instead of using the chipboard in its raw form, I decided to make it blend with my background. Using some watercolors, I painted the compass with green, blue and brown shades, a little darker shades than the background so as to make them stand out against the background.

The chipboard itself does a lot of work as it is 3D and has a lot of details as such. I simply knotted a jute chord at the handle part of it and put it inside the clock. I checked if the lowest needle in the set would be hindered if the chipboard was freely roaming around and it was not. So instead of fixing it steady, I left it to roll around - just because its a table clock and I might keep shifting it, so just a little happy feature ;)

I glued the background to the base first with red tacky tape and then fixed the needles. Inserted the compass 3D chipboard and fixed the glass and frame back. Tada!!! Such a simple tweak but the meaning that it has is so nice. Now I love this clock. Cant wait to show it off to my guests :D If you have any such souvenirs gifted by clubs/institutions etc which have a lot of advertisement right on its face that you do not like, think of such tweaks. Just remember to choose the best chipboards that match to the revamping theme, Checkout the ones Itsy Bitsy has.....they ;) 

Hope you liked the project. See you next time ;) 

Supplies Used for the Project : 

Chipboard - 3D Pocket Compass

Artist Water Colour - Cerulean Blue Hue

Artist Water Colour - Camlin Green

Artist Water Colour - Sepia

DOUBLE-SIDED TACKY TAPE 

Jute Twine - Blue

Card Stock - Bright White