The beauty of PM is that the painting usually isn't engraved in stone.  If you make a mistake, or the color dried 'wrong', you can just paint over it and start again.  If the wrong color was medium to dark, you'll probably have to paint over the damage with either white paint or a primer.

Multiple thin coats are better than a single heavy coat.  If the first coat is wrong, covering it up is easier.

You should usually apply a primer for the base.  This seals the porous surface so it doesn't absorb either the moisture or the color too much (unless you're going for a watercolor effect).  Let dry well.  Remember that any base coat with water in it will be absorbed into the PM, and you don't want to encourage mold under the surface.

Think about your color combination before you start painting. Look at things around you for color ideas:  magazine ads, clothing, fabrics, etc. Are you contemplating light, medium or dark colors?  Go to Google Images and type in something like 'color combinations with pink' and see if anything there strikes you as attractive.

Think about the background color.  Pink?  Yellow?  Lavender?  Blue? Screaming purple?

What goes well with the background color?

Then the design... 

Right off, I can tell you that lines and geometric designs are extremely difficult.  Lines require a very finely finished surface, and most PM isn't that smooth. Lines require a steadier hand than most people have.  If you REALLY want lines, consider applying them as tape. 

If you want to try geometric shapes, try applying tape to outline the shapes, then paint inside the tape, brushing AWAY from the tape to the center with a very dry brush with no excess paint on it.  Make every effort to avoid letting any (ANY!) paint ooze under the tape.

Some of the easiest and best-looking 'designs' are irregular daubs or splotches (see Google Images again), large or small.  Splotches can be applied with a brush, a sponge, or your fingertip.  They can be clearly defined, or they can merge together. 

They can consist of a million tiny dots a la artist Seurat, or close together on one part of the piece and scattering out in a buckshot pattern (see the red patterns at http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph … part-two/.  They can be multicolored, single-colored, or groups of dots that merge from one color to another (see http://resqen.deviantart.com/art/Awesom … -177687404), or from dark to light.

Larger patches can consist of similar, yet different, colors in patches that all merge together in a sort of light-on-rumpled-suede effect.  See http://www.home-dzine.co.za/decorating/ … -faux.htm.

You can daub on patches of color with either a natural sponge or a torn commercial sponge.  If you overlap colors, it is usually a good idea to let each subsequent layer/color dry before applying the next.  With practice (even on paper), you can apply multiple colors while wet, then meld them together with light daubing with a dry or paint-free damp sponge.

One of the most gorgeous effects is a few similar colors, with a light daubing of metallic gold or silver added as the final touch before sealing. Think patches of three similar colors of royal blue with light sponge daubs of silver, or a hot red/orange combination with glints of gold.

You can get some extremely sophisticated results using these effects.

Sue

I have never even heard of alcohol ink.  I guess I need to have a word with Mr. Google....

Sue

Wow!  That turned out great!  Is that glassy finish part of the paint, or did you add something afterward?

Sue