Monday, March 9, 2009


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"

2 comments:

Linda Beeson said...

Oh so pretty and of so clever!!! YUM!

Anabelle O'Malley said...

What a great project, Jess! I'm addicted to my glitter, too!