On my personal blog, I love to give tips and hints - but I often focus on the very basics. 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.
A couple of my blog followers asked about glittering - so I thought I would also share my tips here!
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. I use Martha Stewart's Crystal Fine Glitter. She sells small vials in multi-packs, and regular size bottles in individual colors, but also large bottles in the basic colors. (They go for around $10, but during the holidays you can easily find them half off.) 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 Xyron. I know many, many crafters have this sticker-making machine, but few of us actually use it. I have the 2.5" sticker machine which is perfect for almost all glittering. If you don't have one, the go for about $20-$25 at the big box craft stores and that's before the standard 40% off coupon. If you like glitter- it's a great investment!
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!!!
Kim Singdahlsen
Joyful Creations with Kim
2 comments:
LOL! I was JUST trying to explain this to someone this weekend - thanks for the cool tutorial Kim! Gorgeous sparkly Cocoa card!
Thanks for explaining how you glitter. I don't own one of those Xyron machines, but JoAnn's is just down the street and I have a hot gift card just waiting to be spent! I think your techniques would make glittering more manageable and hopefully less messy!
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