Use alcohol inks to make a dreamy rainbow of color on mica and see how to attach something see through without seeing the glue!

But what if you don’t have mica? You can use anything that’s glossy or non absorbent, like an office transparency.

There are 2 things I love about Marabu’s Alcohol inks.

1. The colors- so vibrant!
2. The bottle- that long tip makes it so easy to get the ink just where I want it or as in this video, all over the mica!

Mica is a naturally occuring mineral so that’s why the pieces I’m using have such organic shapes to them. They came this way. You can buy a variety of sizes of mica tiles and I’ve got 2 that have been good quality linked for you at the bottom of this blog post.

But how do you attach something see through to card without the glue or adhesive showing? Keep reading!

Using Artist-tac you can attach it without anyone noticing the adhesive. What is Artist-tac? It’s a micro adhesive dots. I’ve got a link for this in the supplies section below for you.

To show you what they look like, I put a ton of the on this piece of mica above so you could see what the dots look like.

When I attached the heart shape to the card, I only put a few of the dots on there. So few that you can’t even see them. After all mica is very light weight and doesn’t need much to stick.

I don’t like my handwriting, so I let the Alpha Jumble Small stencil do the heavy lifting.

Using a colored pencil, I added the sentiment to the card. The trick to this is to make sure the pencil is nice and sharp.

These alcohol inks have given new life to the mica I had buried in a drawer. What do have tucked away in your stash that could work with alcohol inks?

Here are the supplies used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. For example, I’m an Amazon Associate & I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!

One of great things about stencils is the flexibility to create a variety of looks. One of the ways you can do this is by “stretching” a stencil – taking something short and making it tall.

Today’s play began with a background in my journal. This was made many moons ago and you can see the video of it here.

I’m using one of the 6 masks that come as part of the Once Upon A Time stencil that I designed for StencilGirl.

This technique allows you to easily fill in an area of any size or shape. You begin by stenciling the towers, then sliding the stencil down part way, as seen in the photo below, then stencil again. The more you repeat it, the longer or taller your towers.

I’m an impatient stenciler so when I want crisper lines, there are 2 key things I do.

First, I use a heavy body or thick paint. Thicker stuff doesn’t run under a stencil as easily as a thinner paint. Second, I stencil in an up and down motion. Well, mostly. Sometimes I don’t because I’m rushing.

In the video, you see where my O.O.P.S. happened when I mixed up the towers. It was definitely an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly! The windows change part way through and it wasn’t planned, but wow I loved it and the variety it added!

The next layer of the page was terrifying for me. Not because the technique was difficult. Because I was using a treasured, hoarded supply. Dresden. It’s just foiled paper that’s embossed but it feels like platinum or diamonds to me.

Dresden is usually in gold or silver, but a different color was needed here. So Aqua Inks to the rescue! This is a watercolor ink so that allowed the shine of the gold to peek through the orange.

The white pen didn’t write consistently on this page and it wasn’t the pens fault. It has to do with the paint on the page. The more matte a paint, the more easily a pen, any pen, will write on it.

Glossy paints or glues make it tougher for pens to write consistently on them.

So next time you’re playing and want to fill in an area with patterns or shapes, try stretching a stencil!

Here are the supplies used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. For example, I’m an Amazon Associate & I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!

No idea where or when I bought that Dresden shape, been collecting for years lol.