The DIY craft supplies I’ve rounded up here can save you some cash or a trip to the store, and help you get more use from the supplies you already have.

I have to start by saying that these are not my original ideas.  I pretty much found all of these on Pinterest.  But in the interest of showing you how easy these are to make and what they look like when they’re done, I’m sharing them again here (along with any tweaks I made).

DIY Alcohol “Ink”

1/2 tsp. liquid RIT dye, diluted with
up to 1 tsp. water (opt.)
1 Tbsp. vodka or 99% isopropyl alcohol

The original recipe I found called for 99% isopropyl alcohol.  I didn’t have any (I only had the 70% variety), but I did have vodka, so I used that, and it seems to have worked fine.  Supposedly you can also use powdered dye, too; you just don’t dilute it.  I didn’t have any, though, and I did have liquid dye.  (I’m not linking to one particular recipe here because I researched a handful and kind of combined them based on what I had on hand.)

I used golden yellow, fuchsia, and kelly green. What you see in the background image for the title of this post is the result of spritzing those onto white card stock.  (The spray bottle for the green malfunctioned, hence the weird splatters.)

I’m pretty happy with it, but I’ve never used store-bought alcohol ink, so I really don’t know how it compares.  I tried spraying it on aluminum foil and it took a long time to dry, but it did eventually dry and gave a bit of a colored tint.

I found this stuff hard to stamp with.  It definitely didn’t work to dab the ink onto the stamp.  However, I could “puddle”  the ink on a craft mat or piece of waxed paper and dip the stamp in the puddle.  That worked, but gave less-than-perfect stamped images as a result of the puddly ink.

Personally, I like it best as a spray.

You can use this by:

• Spritz it onto the paper
• Spritzing it around a shape on a piece of paper, which you then remove (“masking”)
• Spritzing it onto cotton ball or dabber and rubbing it onto the paper
• Spritzing it onto waxed paper or a craft mat to “ink” stamps

 

DIY Shimmer Spray

2 Tbsp. rubbing alcohol (70%)
8 drops metallic acrylic paint

Shake vigorously.  (Warning: This stuff stinks!)

The site where I found this said that 90%+ alcohol does not work well; the 70% is better.   It called for some fancy shimmer paints from a well-known stamping brand, but I just used acrylic craft paints.  (I reduced the number of drops a tad because I think my paint was thicker than hers, so the drops would be larger.)  Fair warning, this stuff stinks until it dries.  It works well, though.  I really like it!

It doesn’t result in a “glittery” look, but in more of a “sheen.”  I spritzed it right over top of the alcohol inks you see above.  The result is a subtle metallic sheen that’s visible even after I’ve laminated the page.

I used gold, but I’m looking forward to trying silver and bronze, too, to see if I get a slightly different cast. Pearlescent glazes or something along those lines would probably work, too.

 

Spritzer Bottle, Mini Frosted Plastic (10ml)30 Pack 20ml Plastic Fine Mist Spray Bottles plus Pipettes20pcs Spray Bottles (15pcs 10ml and 5pcs 20ml) plus extras(10 Pack) Empty 20ml Plastic Mist Spray bottle plus extras

Shimmery “Icicles”  for a Card

I saw a picture of this on Pinterest, but the original page seems to be defunct and I can’t find it to see how it was made, so I guessed/experimented. I used a shimmer glaze (from the craft acrylics department) and “drew” this on a craft mat with a cotton swab.  You could use a paintbrush, too, but my kids destroyed my paintbrushes and I haven’t had a chance to replace them yet.

You’ll want to be sure you make it good and thick.  Then let it dry thoroughly.  Once it’s dry, you should be able to carefully peel it off, and then just adhere it to whatever card you want to use it on.

DIY Envelope Glue

6 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 oz. unflavored gelatin (2 Tbsp.)
1 Tbsp. peppermint extract (opt.; or a few drops peppermint essential oil*)

Bring vinegar to a boil.  Add gelatin and stir until completely dissolved.  Add extract/oil and stir until well mixed.
TO USE: Brush on and let dry.  Then lick (or moisten with a sponge — it tastes pretty bad) and stick!

Do not lean over the pot to stir this!  Boiling vinegar fumes up the nose = not good.  And you don’t want the peppermint oil steaming into your eyes.  So just stand back a little instead of bending over above the pot. 🙂

Be sure you wash up right away with hot water or the gelled-on stuff could be a pain to clean up.  That’s especially true of any paint brush you use to brush the stuff on.

(Years ago I used a similar recipe that tasted much better, but I’m not sure what recipe that was.  I’m thinking this one probably keeps a bit longer, so that’s the trade-off if you choose to use one that uses some sort of sugar instead of the vinegar.)

DIY “Enamel”  Dots

glue gun with glue
acrylic paint

I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with these except for the DIY version.  For me, I found that “circling” the glue gun tip around did not work well to produce perfect dots.  I had more success just “pressing” straight down while the glue was coming out.  Then, only after I’d finished dispensing glue, did I “circle” with just the little bit of glue that trailed.

You simply make dots of hot glue on a craft mat and let them dry.  Then peel them off the mat, flip them over, and paint the backs with acrylic paint.

(Melting plastic beads seems to be an alternative option, although that doesn’t seem all that healthy to breathe in.)

 

*You could use spearmint oil instead, if you prefer it, but do not use wintergreen essential oil for anything you will put in or on your mouth.  It’s highly toxic orally.