Glitter, Glitter Everywhere!!

I promised every one yesterday that I would do a post on glittering. Some of you got a little excited and then I started getting embarassed, because my tips are SO basic and easy.  I had to remind myself that that's what I love to do on my blog!

A year or so ago, I was with three very experienced cardmakers and we were watching one of them do something very basic but in a way that was new to all of us - and the rest of us just shook our heads and said "why didn't I think of that"?  That moment made me aware of the fact that we often get so focused on new tools and techniques that sometimes we overlook the basics.  So here are my basics of glittering.

Here's the card...

First, I am at heart a clean and simple cardmaker - so easy is ALWAYS better.  I almost never glitter small, detailed parts of the image.  I typically glitter the entire image panel or, at most, a large portion of the image.  This keeps it simple.

Second, get a large bottle of glitter (see recipe at bottom).  Then dump your bottle into a flat, square Tupperware.  I don't know about you, but I spent a lot of years carefully sprinking glitter onto my image, then tapping it off onto a scrap paper, then using that scrap paper to funnel the glitter back into the bottle.  Putting it in a Tupperware makes it so much easier!  My Tupperware stays full of glitter year round!

Third, pull out your create-a-sticker machine.  I know many, many crafters have this sticker-making machine, but few of us actually use it. Mine is only ever used for glittering, but it's an inexpensive machine and so worth it for this process!

The steps are simple....

Put your image (or in this case, my patterned paper) through the Xyron UPSIDE-DOWN so the sticky ends up on the top surface.

Roll it through the machine and it comes out face-down on the paper.  (This is terrible paper to demonstrate with because there is pattern on both sides.  I am glittering the polka-dot pattern which is on the other side.)

Peel it off and dump it in your Tupperware of glitter and you have a totally glittered square of paper!



I also glittered the ornament on the Cocoa image.  Larger portions of an image are also quite easy to do using the same techniques.  All you have to do is create a reverse mask.

Put your masked image, face-down, through the Xyron.

Peel off the mask and dump the image into your Tupperware of glitter.

As with all basic techniques some of you have been doing this all along.  Some of you may have even easier ways of doing it.  But some of you just had a light bulb come on.  I know that I did the first time that I saw glitter in a Tupperware!!

I hope you all can find time these last few busy holiday weeks to get good and glittery!!!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy A Cocoa Kind of Christmas
• Paper: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo dsp and CS, Lucky Limeade dsp and CS, Tempting Turquoise dsp
• Ink: copics
• Accessories: silver "pearls" from Michaels, Nestabilities Oval and Lacey Oval, Stampin' Up embossing folder, Creative Impressions snowflake brads, misc white grosgrain and silver cord, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter (4.5 oz. bottle - it's big!), Xyron 2.5" create-a-sticker machine
• Challenges:

          Inkspirations Sketch Challenge:

          Just Add Ink:  (My apologies to the Just Add Ink ladies if you have to remove my link.  JAI has a strict no advertising policy.  I re-read their rules and it says you can't LINK to a product so I made sure not to link anything.  But I did obviously mention a couple of product so I totally understand if you have to remove my card.  However, I was so inspired by the colors and the silver balls in your photo that I definitely wanted to mention the challenge!)

Freshly Made Sketches: Merry Snowflake!

I was playing at a girlfriend's house yesterday...she has more Stampin' Up stuff than I do!!  (But I have her beat on every other brand of stamps.)  I had Serene Snowflakes out and found some paper scraps in her stash.  It all seemed perfect for this week's Freshly Made Sketch.

I go through SO much glitter during the holidays...I LOVE "frosting" image panels.  I do have a post written and scheduled for tomorrow that shows a very simple way of doing this. 

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Serene Snowflakes, Tiny Tags
• Paper: Stampin' Up Real Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, SU dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Real Red
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Old Olive Taffeta, Emaginations Snowflake punch, SU Jewelry Tag, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter

CAS-ual Misting: Heartfelt Sympathy

When this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge came up as using mist, I laughed.  I don't do mist.  I TRY to do mist.  But it's just too uncontrolled and random for me.

Unfortunately for me, right after I laughed, an image popped into my mind.  I need sympathy cards for our church card racks and I imagined a silhouette flower with a mist making it hazy.  I saw a gray card with a white mist - after 4 or 5 failed attempts - I changed to the colors in my current card.  (And I'm not even going to tell you how many times I stamped and then didn't like the misting!!)

The above picture really doesn't do it justice.  The cardstock is Papertrey Ink's Fine Linen which is fast becoming one of my go-to neutrals.  It can be used like a kraft but it's got a warmer tone to it (less gray than this picture looks).  So it seemed natural to use a golden mist.

And once again, I have to say, this is why I love challenges.  My mist NEVER comes out - but I am very happy with this particular card! 

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Just Believe, Close As a Memory
• Ink: Black
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Fine Linen, Black
• Accessories: misc gold balls, Tattered Angels Gold Glimer Mist

Sharing a Cup of Tea

I love the idea of slowing down for awhile during this holiday season and sharing a cup of tea with a friend.  However, that friend would definitely not be a mouse!!  Not even the darling Cocoa Mouse!

My plan for this card is to include a tea bag and to invite a friend for a small break from the holiday madness!!

I used this week's color challenge at Splitcoast: Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi and Real Red.  And I used the The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge.

Cocoa Mouse is this month's focus at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps - the whole line is 10% off through December!!  Cocoa has stamps for holidays, seasons, birthdays, summer vacations and more!  I have some Valentine Cocoa stamps that I will be sharing next week!

• Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Tea Time Cocoa
• Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Candy Cane dsp, Red Glimmer CS
• Ink: Memento black, copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla Taffeta, Spellbinders circle and oval, EK Success Border Punch, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter

Twine, Unique Colors and a Gift Sketch

I generally don't put more than a couple of challenges together - I'm just not talented enough to see which ones work well together!  But today, I saw the CAS Challenge at Splitcoast (use twine) and I remembered the Stamping 411 Sketch which looked like a gift.  Then, as I was scrounging through my Christmas papers for a center panel for the gift sketch, I came across a pack of paper from Stampin' Up then I had not even opened - probably because it had very nontraditional colors - just like was required by this week's Paper Players Challenge!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Just Beclause
• Paper: Stampin' Up Blushing Bride, Candy Cane Christmas dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray, copics
• Accessories: misc baker's twine, Stampin' Up Oval Punch

Freshly Made and colourQ: Reindeer and Ornaments

I like to play along with Freshly Made Sketches as often as possible.  They have a requirement that the card be "clean" - not necessarily simple - and that is exactly my style.

With this week's sketch, I pictured Christmas ornaments.  Then I decided to go a unique direction and pair it withe blues in this week's colourQ challenge.

That's when things started getting out of control!!  Wouldn't the background look nice with some white, sparkly spritz.  Then I should sponge the edges.  Then I needed to add some glitter to the top of each ornament because of the snow.  And pretty soon this card was out of my personal definition of  "clean"!  But I LOVE it - it's one of my favorite Christmas cards this year.

I spritzed it with Mr. Huey's sprays - both Calico White and Calico Shine.

Here's the sketch....

Here's the colors...

So I decided that I wouldn't be posting that card for Freshly Made and I had to make another.  I'm going to show you both of them in this post so you can see how wildly different cards can be made with the same sketch.  (I recently read a blog post...not one of my faithful followers/commenters so no one take offense...that stated how much she hated sketch challenges because they were so limiting.)  Limiting??!!  Check out this card and see how "limited" that I was...

An entirely different look, isn't it??

The reindeer is from an old Stampin' Up set called Holiday Sampler.  I found it when I was rummaging around for a sentiment for the first card - it was literally dusty!!  So I simply had to use it.

I ran a glue pen around the edge of each piece and dipped it glitter for a subtle shine.

Of course, any one who dislikes sketch challenges is obviously wrong...but it's OK that I really dislike inspiration challenges!!

THREE ORNAMENTS:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Oh My Word (ornament), Season of Joy (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Marina Mist
• Ink: Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand, Colorbox Frost White
• Accessories: Mr. Huey Calico White and Calico Shine, Martha Stewart snowflake border punch, Stampin' Up Marina Mist Taffeta, sparkly twine and Decorative Ornament Punch (just the top)

RUDOLPH AND HIS PALS:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Holiday Sampler, Teeny Tiny Wishes
• Paper: Stampin' Up Garden Green, Frostwood Lodge dsp, Red Glitter Paper
• Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Cherry Twine, Garden Green Grosgrain, Oval punch, border punch, label and modern label punch, Cuttlebug snowflake folder

A Techno Play Date!!

Sadly, I need sympathy cards for our church card ministry.  I was browsing challenges and saw soft colors at Play Date Cafe.  I paired it with the sketch at Technostamper.

These are so not colors that I would have put together, but I love how soft and gentle they are.

As I was looking through embossing folders for the first card, I found a butterfly folder that I had not yet used and thought it would look great with these colors.  It seemed a little "cheerful" for sympathy so I made it Get Well.

I also had to share some pictures of a fun moment from yesterday.  We have some very cold, snowy weather.  My oldest is in charge of taking the garbage out to the corner (which when you have 5 acres is quite a haul). He had forgotten to take it out last week so we had piles.  With his new learner's permit for driving, he decided he would load up the back of the car with trash bags and drive them out.  Made sense to us.  Somehow this is what happened...

Front end in the ditch!!  The truly inexplicable part of this is that our driveway is about 20 yards to the left of where he is, so it's not like he shot out of the driveway too fast and ended up in the ditch??!!

Then he had to come get Dad to help him.  Can you imagine how mortified he was to come tell Dad?  Of course, I grabbed my camera.  Andrew is actually walking from our driveway in this picture, so you can see how odd it was that the car is in the ditch almost by the neighbors house??!!

It turns out that after he unloaded the trash, he tried to U-turn so he didn't have to back down the driveway.  You can tell that the road is very icy - so he just slid right off!

Scott just pulled forward a little bit for traction and it came right out!  But it sure is going to be fun teasing Andrew about this over the years.  (And clearly we have to teach some snow driving!)

We are going to head up to our mountain place a little later today so I won't be back until Monday.  We are thrilled because the forecasted high in the mountains is 12F and the low is -9F.  We are a strange family that that excites us, aren't we??

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Kindness Matters (butterfly), Perfectly Penned (Get Well), All That Scraps Sympathy Sentiments
• Paper: Stampin' Wisteria Wonder, Groovy Guava, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
• Ink: Stampin' Up Wisteria Wonder, Groovy Guava, Soft Suede
• Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing (leaves), Darice embossing (butterflies), Stampin' Up embossing, (stripes on fence), Stampin' Up Scallop border punch, Nestabilities oval and scalloped oval, My Favorite Things die (leaf), misc pearls and gems colored with Copics

Technostamper is the fun challenge that lets me show you all the other entrants.  Remember, you have to go the blog if you want to enter yourself.