Celebrate freedom!

Happy 4th of July, Independence Day. Today I headed to the studio to create a special tag book for a dear friend who happens to be born on the 4th. Additionally, Tim Holtz's 12 tag challenge is all about Alcohol Ink Splatter this month. I played with the technique to to see how the inks would move and layer. I also came up with my own take on how to get the most from your inks. I hate to waste all that lovely color on my craft sheet, so I devised a way to do just that.

The figure on the right demonstrates the splatter technique. Be sure and watch Tim's video to show you how this works.

This is the cover of the book. I used my own technique to do this. (more to come on that)

After you get done with the splattering, you have a good deal of ink left on your craft sheet. I spritzed the leftover ink with alcohol and picked it up with a tag the way you would do winkle-free distress. I stamped a few images and wanted some pizzazz. I then stamped the star and embossed with a sparkle powder, die-cut the star for layering and added the letter box 4.

I completed both sides of the tags to make the book come together better.

a different view

and another

close up of splatters

the tags before binding

I used a Roll A Binder to punch and fasten the tags together.

I really love it when the splatters kind of do what you want.

This is the gloss cardstock after making the backgrounds.

These are the backgrounds I made with the leftover inks on my craft sheet.

I found out the white ink did not work well on this. I tried again with silver pigment.

I really liked the subtle color backgrounds I got from the leftover ink.

So I hope you all have a clear night to enjoy the fireworks. Have a great holiday!