Cheating on My Homework

I was thrilled when Tammy of Daisy Yellow asked me to be a hostess in her Index-Card-a-Day (ICAD) challenge, and I chose "alphabet stamps" as my theme to share with you.

After all, when it comes to graphic elements, the alphabet is one of my favorite things!

This project is all about low-pressure:  optional prompts, start when you can, play around, and if today's index card doesn't turn out so great, there's always tomorrow.

All that changes when you are asked to be a hostess!  Suddenly, your index card isn't a playground, it's a museum piece; people are going to come by and look at it!  Yikes! 

However, not only was I able to bring myself back to a sense of play and experimentation with this index card, I got so comfortable with the process that I even cheated a little bit!  Let me explain.

Going to the StampArtScrap Tour event on Saturday brought me back to trying various supplies that I have owned for awhile but have not really used.  Something about all those Tim Holtz products for sale lured me into trying the little bottles of alcohol inks that have sat unopened in my studio for months. 

I used Adirondack alcohol inks in earthtones, and just smeared them around on a couple of index cards. 

Then I pulled out a slightly glossy white tag and played around with them some more.  They blend and mix a lot better with the slight gloss.

Another supply I have that I never seem to use is my Versamark pad.  That's when the alphabet stamps came into play.  I stamped the tag with A to Z, then back to A to E to finish filling in the space.  I used an alabaster chalk pad to rub over the top of the tag surface.  I guess I expected the tag to turn alabaster while the ABCs remained the colors of the alcohol inks (being a Versamark pad, and all), but the letters turned lightly white and the inked surface retained its color.  It still looked good to me.

Then I used a new stamp from Stamp Camp, this awesome dragon that is showing up in everything I am making these days because I love him so much, along with a flourish from Stampin' Up, which I used as his fiery breath.  I outlined the tag, the dragon, and the flourish with my new Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen, et voila, my alphabet index card.

Oh, wait...but I did all this on a white tag. 

And here is where the cheating comes in.  In spite of the fact that the tag is just the tiniest bit larger than an index card, I glued it onto one of the cards I had initially smeared with alcohol inks, and am hoping that I won't be in trouble with our illustrious teacher Tammy for bending the rules a bit!

And just because I had an additional index card smeared with alcohol inks, I stamped the ABCs on that second card with plain black ink and outlined the letters with the glitter pen for another shimmery alphabet card!

The shimmer doesn't quite show up here!

I am having great fun playing along with you all in this ICAD project; thanks for coming by today to see my experiments!