Happy Saturday! The first weekend of the new year! What are you all up to? Me.. crafting! Finishing up the last of my projects for CHA for Echo Park and Carta Bella. I’ve made several super cute things for the booths and I can’t wait to share! Any of my blog reader friends going to CHA?
So, I got slightly sidetracked working on my CHA projects and decided to make a little ‘chalkboard’ card. I have seen these around here and there and love the look so of course I had to give it a try. How hard can it be? Slap some white ink onto a stamp and go to town on some black paper.
Eh.. not so much.
My Brilliance brand pigment ink is not so.. brilliant. It stamps on the black as a icky grey color. After a quick Google search trying to figure out why my white was not WHITE.. I learned that I should use craft ink. Well, whatever. I don’t have no stinkin’ craft ink! I ended up coming to terms with my inky issues and realized my muted white ‘chalk’ look wasn’t so bad afterall. It was my first try so it is what it is…
… And it’s a wanna-be cool chalkboard card. lol
Meh.
What the heck is ‘craft ink’ anyways. Helllloooooo, people. I used my ‘regular’ ink on crafts.
Ink + crafts = craft ink. Am I missing something here? What kind of confuzzled mess is this world coming to? “No.. you need to use CRAFT ink..” “No.. not that ink you always use for CRAFTING”…”I mean REAL craft ink.. the crafty kind!”
Shut it! Just shut.it.
*currently looking on Amazon for proper craft ink…*
Anyhow, to give myself a littele more credit, it does look better in person! The ‘PARTY’ stamp looks fuzzy in the photo, but in person it’s pretty crisp and looks cute colored in!
So, if anyone wants to make a wanna-be chalkboard card like me with your non-’craft ink’ ink.. here’s some tips!
- 1). Go buy proper craft ink
lol..
OK, really now.. All ya need is some white ink of some sort, light grey ink, a card base, black paper, stamps, and some colored pencils. I used white, pink, teal, and yellow. I really think the colored pencils added in give it a true chalkboard feel.
- Start by laying out your stamps over the black cardstock so you can kinda see how you will fill in the gaps a bit. I didn’t really ‘cram’ stamps onto my card and it still looks cute!
- Using a ruler and white colored pencil, create a border. I found it looks much cuter with a border.
- Ink up your stamps and.. well.. STAMP! (Who woulda thought it, right?)
- Let the ink dry and then add some little touches of color with colored pencils. I drew some confetti and ‘streamers’. Cute, cute!
- Now you’ll add the ‘chalk dust’. The ‘dust’ looks better done with light grey ink. I did white at first and was like, “Did that just happen!? That looks like crud!” (I hate to start over on a project, so to show that card who was boss I had to rip it into a million pieces and slam it into the trash like yesterday’s scraps!)
I am pretty sure I just heard a loud ‘gasp’ from you..”this chick tosses her scraps?!!!!”
No, I really don’t. My kids usually steal them for their projects.
- Use a sponge to lightly rub in some ink.. Be gentle.. the paper is sensitive you know.
Looks nifty!
That’s pretty much it! VERY simple and a funky-cool look! This would be fun for tags, etc. I secretly want to make a few more, but I have to keep priorities straight. Back to ‘work’ for me! CHA is coming up fast!
I hope you all have a great weekend! *waves*
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About Happy Life, Crafty Wife
Wow this is really cute!!! guess I have been too busy I haven’t seen these at all! Thanks for sharing this idea and the how to’s the best white ink I have found is colorbox frost white. not sure I have a grey but probably do. I have to try this and I love the tag idea.. hmmm thinking already.. anyhoo if I could go to CHA I sure would but they would kick me out for sure.. no shop and not a designer.. have a great time. Can’t wait to see what you’ve made.
I kinda like the look of the ink. It looks like real chalk. But if you wanted it really white, you could always use white embossing powder. That would give you a crisp white on that black cardstock! I think it looks great just how it is though. Thank you for sharing your cute ideas with all of us.
Well I think it is perfect. I think it looks really like chalkboard the way you did it. Anymore crisper it would not look chalkboard-y!
Ok where do you get the chalk dust (HEEE HEEEE)
I think these look great, I like the look of the white non craft ink! LOL! Toadly adorable!
Tamara, love the chalkboard look – it’s so much fun and your designs are so much fun! Thanks again for sharing.
That is way too cute! I’m glad that you didn’t have your priorities straight and decided to make a project for us! What a great idea, and can totally see this happenin’ in all sorts of projects! Love your choice of stamps, too!
Your card really turned out cute. I’m glad you took some time to play.
O.K. I have several ink pads but not all are craft ink pads. You have your dye ink which is non-craft. I’m not sure what category chalk ink goes in but probably non-craft as it dries quickly and does not work for heat embossing. Stazon Ink I have heat embossed but not always successfully so guess it would be craft ink. Usually when directions says craft ink they mean pigment inks. Hope that answers the question for someone who is wondering what craft inks are.
LOL! Of course back in the cave days when I first started stamping at least where I lived all that was available was pigment ink and no internet connection to find other inks.
GREAT info in this post Tamara! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge!!! These are really awesome, totally looks like chalkboard and I agree about the colored pencils. Definitely can’t wait to try your technique