Hello Lovelies!
It's been a whirlwind of activity here of late - so much so that March snuck up on me, and I haven't even finished my last 2 videos for FTLHK for February. 🤦
I plan to get them done this month along with March's layouts (it's a 5 Monday month!). Quilters Vibe is also coming back and if all that wasn't enough, we are in Phase 1 (of about three, I'd say) of Craft Room reorganization. 😱
In the midst of all that, I was asked to join
The Paper Girls Challenge Blog Design Team!
I love that it has a theme rather than a sponsor each month and has much more of a scrapbooking feel to it even though it had both cardmakers and scrapbookers on the team. I love this too!
The surprises don't end there! When I joined the Facebook group for the the design team, I found
Lori Stroup is also joining the DT this month! I know Lori from CKC and it's so fun to "know" someone already!
When
Brittany asked whether I'd be OK to: "start-on-2-March-and-BTW-the-theme-is-glitter" I was all in! I
love glitter 😍.
I don't use loose glitter all that often, though, It's just that there are so many ready-to-use products which give the look of glitter without the mess (more on that later). It's not the mess that stops me, but my limited energy means rationing it to get the most out of it. If you want to understand what I mean, read about the
Spoon Theory here. Even reaching up for the tub with all the glitter on a high shelf and putting it back later saps energy.
I had several ideas about using loose glitter on my project. I was going to try making a somewhat crude version of enamel dots, but packed with a custom glitter mix to suit my colours and story. I made these first since they would require drying time.
The other way I was going to use the glitter mix was mixing it with embossing powder. I remembered I had some raw chipboard shapes. As I looked through the container, the only shapes remotely appropriate was a butterfly. It doesn't really relate to the story, but I consider butterflies to be a generic shape (maybe slightly feminine)
I started with the "enamel dots". First I made up my mix. I used to do this a lot so I know how various shapes and types of glitter behave. I used the Permanent and Mini Glue Dots as a base. Since the Minis are on a roll, I could leave them on their own backing sheet, but the Permanent ones are in a single use dispenser so I didn't want to ruin it by pulling it apart. I stuck them on a scrap of white cardstock to cut out later.
I pressed them into the glitter and made sure there was a good amount of all the different types of glitter in the mix. Some are heavier than others and consequently fall to the bottom. Then I had to use liquid glue. My nemesis.
To be fair, Glossy Accents is the only one that behaves more or less for me and dries with a beautiful clear shiny surface.
I think I had to add a second coat to some after they dried, Not perfect, but pretty cool actually! They are round and smooth even though the photo makes them look spiky. 😩
The butterflies were definitely less successful. First I attached the butterflies to some plastic I had lying around. Next step was painting with white acrylic paint.
The boxing up of my craft supplies means my Tim Holtz craft sheet
is...🤷. Once dry I used my Tim Holtz Embossing Gloss rather than my Versamark pad in case I ruined it. I dumped some iridescent embossing
powder into the remaining glitter, but it just wasn't sticking properly,
so I tried an old pot of Heat and Stick power which was better. It
still worked after quite a few years! Not ideal and I had to repeat the
process, but at least there was a good amount stuck to each butterfly.
I could have finished by adding clear embossing powder to get a glossy top like the glue dots,
but it likely would have taken multiple attempts and I had well and
truly run out of spoons.*
I really don't enjoy heat
embossing. Too many steps for results which can be disappointing. I used
the Glossy Accents. In the end I didn't use them, Besides not looking
great, they just seemed too random with everything else.
Now onto my actual layout. I had the perfect photos and stoty when I heared the theme was GLITTER. Glittery shoes! 😍
I wanted a light background which still had a pattern because this is how I do my mixed media most of the time. I just like the extra dimension a subtle pattern gives. I used two shades of pink Shimmerz paint. It's quite translucent so with a bit of extra water I could try the "packaging technique", which is basically smooshing. I should have measured where my box of paper was going to sit. Oh well. Nevermind.
Then came the frankenpaste when it was dry. I wanted subtle pink (but I definitely overshot it I think!) It's a mixture of Unicorn glitter paste by Prima, and two Bo Bunny glitter pastes - one clear and one pink.
Then I unleashed my inner Dexter and splattered some deeper pink.
I ended up trimming down the page slightly and sticking it onto a bit of dark grey cardstock which was floating around having been part of a different project before being pulled apart again. My first choice would have been black, but it was there and needed to be used. I used Glue Dots to attach it, so the warping wouldn't pull away too much. It really wasn't too bad actually.
Yep, looks like a hot mess but it will be (thankfully) mostly covered up. I cut my paper to size, inked the pieces and stuck the stack down using Glue Dots since dotted tape runners aren't usually strong enough to keep them in place.
The photos needed matting and in my journey for white cardstock I stumbled upon my drawer of glitter paper. I grabbed the first silver one and tried that. I really liked the way it looked!
Larger embellies inked up, arranged and glued down. Most of the larger die cuts I trimmed down a bit. Once I was happy I did the same with the smaller ones then used some of the words from the sheet of phrase stickers from Shimelle's Sparkle City line.
I was so pleased since I always have a hard time using those. (The phrase Thickers in general, not just this particular set!)
At this point I figured out which space to use for journaling and I didn't have a lot so it flowed well in that spot.
There were stars and circles om the sheet so I used some to sprinkle as well as my DIY enamel dots which ended up looking quite good. As I mentioned before I didn't use the butterflies, and I'm not sure I'll use them on anything. I'll give the technique another go with some refinements. I know I can make it work with a bit of tinkering.
I felt it needed a touch more aqua, which I got with some of Shimelle's enamel dots (also containing micro glitter). These sorts of dots gave me the idea.
So I promised you some mess free ideas?
Well speaking of glitter paper just now, there is a glitter paper (Pow by American Crafts) which doesn't shed even a single flake of glitter! Use punches, manual dies or even an electronic die cutting machine to get any shapes you like.
You could pain chipboard with sparkly paint like Shimmerz, Art Alchemy in the Sparks variety, or shimmery mists. If you aren't fussed about things on your pages being acid free, go ahead and use nail polish! You cam add droplets of it on your page too.
Many enamel dots have glitter safely suspended in their little plastic bubbles so you can have mess free sparkle!
Go through your older supplies. I have found glittery plastic bows by Dear Lizzy, frames and chipboard partially or fully coated in glitter and brads. Washi tape comes in a glittery finish similar to that of Pow paper.
Don't forget about alphabet stickers like Thickers. Some with larger sized flakes do shed quite a bit, but the fine ones seem pretty good.
I'll be honest though, my glitter misadventures mean it's EVERYWHERE! I may have forgotten to shake off excess before turning on the heat gun! 🤦. I have to tell you a secret though, I get this little thrill whenever I see stray glitter flakes (especially on one of my boys) weeks after the offending incident! 🙊🤷🤣
Before I forget, here's the full layout!
Sparkle and Shine
I apologize for less than stellar photography and lack of process video, but hopefully my studio will be in a more orderly state before the next one! (New shelving is being delivered today!!) I will try to come back and edit the post with some pics of the "clean" glitter ideas!
Love and TeamGlitter!
*What's this about
SPOONS??
How are you all holding up in lockdown? Let's look on the bright side and take up the opportunity to get up close and personal with our supplies.
