A Technique & A Shameless Plug!

I have a lot of sticker letters. A. LOT. But sometimes, I just don't have the right colour, or more importantly, I don't have enough of the right colour. This tutorial will give you a tip or two on customizing the colour of your finished chipboard letters.

You will need:

- white (or another light colour) chipboard or paper sticker letters
- ink (Staz On, Distress Ink, etc.) it needs to be a pigment ink, or one that fairly durable so the colour transfers properly and it doesn't rub off right away.
- a blending tool, like a piece of high-density foam (Ranger/Tim Holtz sells these in many forms, or you can just use a makeup sponge)


I'm using American Crafts Thickers because I had some on hand! Keep them on the backing sheet while you ink them...it's much easier this way! Then, when you've finished colouring them you can pull them off and stick them on your layout.



Get some ink on your blender of choice. I'm using the foam sheets by Ranger. Just cut them down to a workable size.



Now you want to blend the ink right onto the letter. I didn't do any prep to the letters before, but if they are very glossy or have a really slick surface give them a quick rub with some sandpaper.




And that's pretty much it. The colour doesn't show up very well in these pictures, but it's the idea that I really wanted to showcase. They have a really neat vintage-y, distressed, aged kind of look to them because the ink is naturally darker in some areas than others.

You could also try:

- using Glimmer Mist, but you will need to sand the letters first
- Crackle Paint
- Alcohol inks...the glossy surface of a finished chipboard letter is perfect for alcohol inks. Just add a couple of drops and let it dry.
- Embossing powder...takes a little more time, and remember to hold onto those little letters with tweezers or something!

And now it's time for the shamless plug! I put these fabby new letters on one of the layouts in my fabulous Calendar Workshop! It is a super-fun class/workshop/kit, filled with twelve awesome layouts and lots of product at a great price!

Here is October's layout, with the new letters on it!

You can find pictures of each layout on the TM Classes Blog (tonight they will be up...I promise!) and I'm doing up a post for the main TM Blog as well. The classes were scheduled to start in November, but if you want to sign up we can still cover a lot in the remaining classes in December (the 2nd and 9th).

The kit itself will be for sale next week, filled with all the instructions and full colour pictures you will need to complete each layout on your own time. There are a lot of fun techniques in the calendar, and by coming to the store to complete it, you'll be able to use some fun product as well. Stuff you might not have at home!

I am really excited about this workshop...a lot of my blood, sweat and tears went into this calendar! And I hope that y'all can get a little inspired by this project and maybe tackle something similar for yourself this season. It not only makes a great Christmas present, it's a great reminder of the wonderful year you had and all the memories you will be making next year!

happy creating!