My friend Andi asked this about my alcohol ink background (she's referring to this card):

"Which colors did you use? What is your secret to get 'that look'?????"

The alcohol inks I used on the background are Butterscotch, Eggplant and Wild Plum. The secret?

Hrmmm...

Well, I can tell you what I did: I put several liberal drops of all three colors on my felt (I used one of those applicator tools), then applied the alcohol blending solution on top. With an 8-1/2" x 11" glossy white cardstock as my canvas, I then dabbed the felt in random patterns all over the paper. As the alcohol dried, I added more (but not more ink) and kept on, going over areas that I thought were too blank still.

I continued doing this until it looked right. That's my secret!

I still had ink on the felt - and I don't like to waste anything - so I made another sheet. On the second sheet I did two backgrounds. The first half is a more lightly-patterned background that used up almost all of the ink left on the felt; the second half I added more alcohol and swirled until the ink was gone (this part of the photo looks muddy; it looks much better in person). This is what I ended up with: