Sarah Jane's Craft Blog

Last week I posted about creating more pages of spray paint marbled paper . So this week, I decided to make some coasters out of the paper. I used the same method I've used in the past with scrapbook paper . All you need: Patterned Paper or Card Stock (I used my marbled paper) A cutting tool (you could use scissors or a paper cutter, but I had my rotary cutter and mat out) Ruler 4 inch Ceramic Tiles Glossy Mod Podge  A Foam Brush Paper plate or sheet of Parchment (to protect your work surface) Sheet of Craft Felt Tacky Glue (or a hot glue gun to glue on the felt) As mentioned in the supply list, I used my rotary cutter and cutting mat to cut the paper and felt for this project. You'll also need a straight edge of some kind. I measured my ceramic tiles at about 4 1/4 inches (they have a slight bevel or slant along the edge). I went through my stacks of marbled paper and chose two sheets that had similar colors and cut four squares (at 4...

A couple of weeks ago, I tested how different alcohol ink blenders/extenders worked in comparison to 91% rubbing alcohol. I started with a simple splatter tile test. I decided the next thing I should test would be how they behave when stamping the ink. So I set up 3 4-inch ceramic tiles to test. The first one used 91% rubbing alcohol , the second used Ranger (Tim Holtz) brand Blending Solution , and the third used Pinata (by Jacquard) Extender . The dark dot of ink on each tile is a control (what the ink looks like without any thinner). Then I tested a single dot of ink with the thinners and stamped them until the ink started to run out/dry up. As you can see--the Pinata Extender allowed for the most stamps, with the rubbing alcohol coming in second, and the Ranger Blending solution coming in third. All three thinners thinned the ink. The rubbing alcohol and the Blending solution created some white overly thinned areas, and the Extender seemed to blend with the ink the bes...

I'm pretty thrifty, so even though I've been pretty obsessed with alcohol inks for the last few years, I've been too cheap to buy the blenders and extenders that the ink companies sell. I use rubbing alcohol to thin my ink and clean up after my projects. It's worked well, but I've always wondered if the specially created thinners would work better. So I broke down and bought Ranger's Blending Solution and Pinata's Extender to compare with my usual 91% rubbing alcohol (70% works pretty similarly if that's all you have at home. I tried that out in another post .). So I laid out three ceramic tiles (all bought at the same time from the local hardware store) and decided to compare how each of these thinners worked. I used Pinata's Baja Blue and Ranger's Sailboat Blue as a basis of comparison. The Pinata ink is in the lower portion of the tile (and has dried) while the Ranger ink is in the upper portion of the tile and has just had th...

Last week, I made a quote tile by printing onto tissue paper and decoupaging it onto a ceramic tile. Well, it's my anniversary week and I made a few extra sheets of card stock covered with the tissue paper....so I decided to make some photo coasters using old wedding photos. I cropped my photos to 4 1/4 inches square--the size of my ceramic tiles from Home Depot. and printed them out onto a piece of tissue paper that had been taped over a piece of card stock. Then I set the photos aside to dry. I cut my photos out while still on the card stock and grabbed my  mod podge  and a foam brush. I painted on a thin layer of mod podge and carefully set the tissue paper photos onto the glue. I squared up the bottom edge and then just tapped it into place from the bottom up. Be sure your fingers stay dry because the tissue paper is very fragile and tears easily when it is wet with glue. Then I set the tiles aside to dry for about an hour. After the glue h...

Shortly after I started this blog (5 or 6 years ago now), I got my first set of alcohol inks. Ever since then, I've been inking up all sorts of things . A couple of years ago I even made a Getting Started with Alcohol Inks guide, but I still found that folks had lots of questions about the actual application of the ink. So I'm starting a beginner's series to hopefully answer your questions. I'm starting with ceramic tiles because I think they are the most beginner friendly. 4 x 4 ceramic tiles are cheap (like 15 cents a piece) and the glossy surface takes the ink really well. They also have the added benefit of being pretty easy to clean off with rubbing alcohol if you feel like your project looks terrible and you want to start over. To start, you'll need: an applicator and felt (explained below) parchment paper (not wax paper--the ink bleeds through) or a craft mat  to protect your work surface alcohol inks ceramic tiles rubbing alcohol for cl...

Earlier this year, I started playing around with starting alcohol ink on fire (a controlled burn). Lighting the ink on fire mixes the ink and makes the ink seem brighter or darker (depending on the color). It's a really addicting process. My first attempt was on a larger ceramic tile . I also tried it out on a mirrored candle plate and plain glass plate . I feel like I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. So, I knew I wanted to do the whole fired ink thing again, but I didn't know what to try it on. I dug through my craft stash and found some old 4 inch ceramic tiles that I had used as experiments in the past. They were in various states of cleanliness. Fortunately, alcohol ink comes off ceramic tiles pretty well (even after sitting for a year or more) with rubbing alcohol. I put the tiles in the kitchen sink, sprayed a bunch of rubbing alcohol on them, left them for 30 seconds, and came back with a paper towel and rubbed them off. They were good as new....