my favorite tim holtz alcohol ink projects

Hi there creative friends…I have a very photo heavy post for you today! With the release of the new Alcohol Pearls and Alloy, I have been getting some messages and questions about Alcohol Inks, Pearls and Alloys. Many of you wanted to know how to get started (or have expressed your fears about diving in – just go for it is what I say!), what supplies you need and what colors to you use not to make mud…if that is not your thing. I create with Alcohol Inks regularly, so if you are not following be sure to sign up for my newsletter or follow me on Instagram. If you try any of these techniques, I would love if you tagged me on Instagram (@cheiron)

I have compiled a post today with what basic supplies you will need to get started with Alcohol Inks for making cards (along with some nice to haves too) and linked to a TON of inspiration for you on some projects that I have made with Alcohol Inks, Alcohol Pearls and Alloys including a fun tutorial that I did for Ranger on how to make 8 cards from one large sheet of Yupo just using a few supplies. Most of these posts have colors and combos listed as well!

Let’s get started with the basics. What do you need to get started? Not much really. You can experiment and play and make some beautiful card backgrounds with just a few supplies. I know the Yupo paper is a bit expensive, so when I am experimenting, I sometimes cut the sheets in half. These are the basics that I use:

If you have these and want to add a few other things consider adding:

Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Alloys
Tim Holtz Alcohol Pearls
Snow Cap Alcohol Ink (works great on dark papers)
Alcohol Lift Ink Pad
Alcohol Lift Ink Re-Inker
Alcohol Ink Splatter Brush
Black Alcohol Ink Cardstock
Silver Sparkle Alcohol Ink Cardstock
Brushed Alcohol Ink Cardstock
Alcohol Ink Tool Set (contains brushes and a sprayer – DO NOT USE SPRAYER TO SPRAY BLENDING SOLUTION)
Felt Blending Tools (for applying Alcohol Ink)
Foam Blending Tools (I use this to work with the Alcohol Lift Ink and stencils)
Alcohol Ink Palette (for painting techniques)

Let’s get to the projects! My most popular Alcohol Ink project by far has to be this set of heart cards using Alcohol Inks and Alloy. There is a step by step tutorial on the Ranger Blog on how to create these Alcohol Ink Hearts Cards…and they would be perfect for Valentine’s Day!

Here is another fun tutorial I did for the Simon Says Stamp Blog using the simplest of Alcohol Ink Cut Out Leaves Cards for a super vivid effect…

A mixed media panel created for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge using Alcohol Inks as a background for my piece….

Easy cards using Alcohol Ink Backgrounds from my stash from a post back in 2018…

Some more backgrounds like this to make a bulk stash of holiday cards, but you could do this for any occasion! This post has a step-by-step tutorial and used Alcohol Inks and Alcohol Pearls and the color combos are listed in the step outs…

A rainbow inked panel covered with a simple die cut. This is a great idea for all those panels that you think may not have come out “perfect”…

Alcohol Ink on Silver Sparkle Cardstock…I love this look, it is so beautiful in person!

Another background with Alcohol Ink and a flower embossed on vellum and lots of gems 🙂 …

Using Alcohol Lift Ink through a stencil…I layered multiple stencils for this one…

And lastly, one of my favorite backgrounds of all time, to me it looks just like candy…I am not sure I could recreate it if I tried!

I hope you enjoyed this recap of some of my favorite Alcohol Ink pieces and will try some of these for yourself! I hope you will dive in, experiment, play and just have fun!

You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture of shop icon to get taken directly to the product. I use affiliate links which means if you use them to make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you 🙂 I truly appreciate your support.

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