Shimmer & Shine!

I was saddened to hear that Luminarte is closing up shop - Twinkling H2Os have long been a favorite supply of mine. I have to say, though, the blow was a little less difficult for me since I had found Shimmerz Paints shortly before! These little jars pack a BIG shimmery shine! They are a bit different than Twinkling H2Os in that they're already in liquid form. All that you need is a paintbrush that is watercolor-compatible. A little really goes a long way with these, too. Here are a couple of other examples:







I hope that gives you an idea of what a great visual punch you can give to your cards! I find myself reaching for them on almost every project lately - they're fantastic. ~ Jenn

Spray Mists

Hi!
Lately, I've been having a lot of fun with Glimmer Mists. I just love all of the fun things you can do with them. Today, I have a card to share with you that I created using Glimmer Mists.
First, I started off by spraying the white cardstock with Creme de Rouge and Meadow Green. As that was drying, I decided to try a Glimmer Screen on patterned paper. I placed it on the paper and sprayed with Sherbet mist.


Once that was dried, I assembled the rest of the card. I love the mottled look it gives the paper. It tied in the pinks so nicely.


And here is the finished product.



So, get those Glimmer Mists out and start playing around. They look wonderful on cardstock and create a fun look on patterned paper, too.

Have a great day!
Anabelle :)

Thrifty tips for a chance to win a product giveaway!

With the recent state of our economy, I know I'm not the only one out there interested in ways to make more money, save money, become a bit more frugal, etc.

I'm so interested in your ideas, I'm willing to resort to bribery...so how about a giveaway?! Below is a photo of the goodies! There are 9 patterned papers, alpha stickers, die cut tag sheet, sticker sheet, rubons, scalloped shimmer note cards & envies, brads, flowers, rickrack, faux jewels, and a pack of photo anchors.

Share your tips, blogs or website links that relate to becoming more frugal, stretching those hard earned dollars a bit further, crafting on a budget, making money at home, and so on. Basically, if you have a tip that has a positive impact on your financial life- share it!
You have until Saturday night @ midnight (March 22, 2009) to enter. For each tip, I will enter your name once into the drawing for a chance to win the goodies. Enter a 2nd tip and your name will be added to the drawing twice! Good luck!

Hey! So, as you can tell, there has been much glittering happening at my work table lately. It's all her fault. Because she made this. And I bought it. Except my box has *24* bottles of glitter. Yeah, I know... what does anyone need 24 different colors of glitter for? Everything, I tell you.

I originally bought the box for a set of assignments on glitter. I've since used said box of glitter on nearly every project since. It's an addiction. I first let on about it in this post. However, even I did not know at the time how bad it would get. For this project, I went old school and attempted a glitter puzzle.

The first step (or at least, this was the way I did it!) was to design my card layout. I knew I didn't want to do an entire background of glitter, so I wanted to come up with a design that would feature the glitter puzzle, but keep it from overwhelming the card. For that reason, I kept the puzzle fairly small but prominently featured on the card. Cut a piece of cardstock in the size you want the puzzle to be.

Second step... bust out your handy Xyron machine and run the cardstock strip through it. I used a Xyron because this project requires an adhesive with a backing on it. If you don't have a Xyron machine, you could also use a sheet of double stick tape, such as a sheet of red liner tape, etc. If you don't have a sheet, you could place a few lines of liner tape next to each other to create a larger double stick area. The Xyron machine leaves a backing on both sides of the cardstock. Peel off the side that is not covering the adhesive (that would be the clear backing). (If you're using red liner tape, just adhere the tape down and move on to the next step.)

Lay the cardstock down and draw your design on top of the remaining backing with a pencil. I used a ruler to keep my lines straight because I'm just tedious like that. I also marked which squares would be which color. Again... I'm just tedious.

Go over the lines with a ruler and craft knife. The goal is to cut only through the backing layer, *NOT* through the cardstock.

Now for the glittering! Peel off the backing on only one square! Pour glitter over that square, then dump the excess in a coffee filter (scrap paper, etc.). Continue on until all your squares are glittered.

Now, I will say, I wondered later if I could have just peeled off all the squares of one color and glittered all of them at one time, then moved on to the next color, etc. I didn't try it, so I don't know if the colors would blend a bit or not. Probably worth a try, though!

I used Heat & Stick powder to make the glitter letters, cut them out, and adhered all of it to the card with foam tape.

This project is definitely a bit more intricate than I typically go for, but I am really happy with how it turned out! The glitter has been out on my table for a few weeks now and has yet to be put away... I've used it on nearly everything, I swear. Just bought some paper mache eggs at Hobby Lobby, so those are up next!

Later, friends!

Jessica

Materials:
Patterned paper - Back to Basics Ocean Dot by Bo Bunny
Cardstock - Kraft and White by Papertrey Ink
Rubber Stamps - Big Deal Alpha by Stampin' Up
Watermark ink - Versamark by Tsukineko
Glitter - Feldspar, Aquamarine Crystal, Verdelite, and Turquoise by Martha Stewart Crafts
Tools - Xyron, sewing machine, Heat & Stick powder by Stampin Up
Finished size: 3 3/4" x 8"