Hey crafters! I’m back with another card as a member of the Poppystamps design team! This time I am showcasing a colorful, easy rainbow card using only a few products. What’s not to love about an impactful, unique card that you can make with only a handful of my supplies?! Disclaimer, I am an alcohol ink newbie. These cards are probably the third time I’ve ever pulled out my alcohol inks, and I love it. If I can do it, I know you can too!
On two pieces of 5×7 inch yupo paper, I worked one color at a time. I dropped 3 to 4 drops of 99% isopropyl alcohol and then 2 to 3 drops of ink. I used the Ranger air blower to move the ink back and forth until dry. Moving the ink back and forth with the blower helps to create texture and wispy-like edges. Usually, when working with alcohol ink, people use isopropyl alcohol and alcohol blending solution together. In general, the isopropyl alcohol lifts the ink and softens the color, and the blending solution helps mix the colors together. I did not want the colors to blend so I could keep the integrity and full value of each color in my rainbow. Once a color was dry, I added another 3 drops of isopropyl alcohol on the edge of that color and then 3 drops of the next color in the rainbow. I continued in a diagonal direction with all seven colors.
For finishing touches, I splattered isopropyl alcohol with a synthetic watercolor brush. Because it lifts ink, it made those tiny bubbles on top of the color. I loved the added texture. I also added isopropyl alcohol to the edges to help fade out and soften the outer edges. See the picture below for an example of both techniques. You can see the top left corner to see how I faded out the orange and yellow inks around the edge.
On one background, I added an extra step of adding foil on top of the alcohol ink. Ideally, with the foil side up, you lay the foil on top of a semi dry panel, smooth it, and peel back the foil to reveal a pretty marbling effect. I waited too long with my second panel (it was too dry) so it did not foil very well, but I wanted to share in case you would like to try this technique. I used rainbow foil below, but any color of foil will work the same way. Silver or gold foil would look pretty with the rainbow inks.
The last step to completing my card was die cutting the sentiment. I die cut the shadow layer from vellum and the ‘thanks’ die twice from heavyweight, white cardstock, and once from silver foil cardstock. I popped both the panel and the sentiment with foam tape for dimension, and that’s it! Each time you make this card, it will be unique so a set of cards would make a very nice gift.
I hope you enjoyed my rainbow alcohol ink card and are inspired to try something new! Please don’t forget to check out the Poppystamps Instagram for a reel I created on this card. Happy crafting!
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