Never Enough Sparkle!

Inspiration
I received a card order for a woman who could “never get enough glitter, all the sparkle you can put into it!”, and this is what I designed.  A little over the top for me, but I do think I achieved the goal!  All the glitter is “embossing glitter” from PK Glitz, as well as the “sticky paper” I used for the small flower centers.  I’ll explain how it works below.

This card has a ton of ingredients, but is still pretty easy – just lots of steps.  Stick with it through the list, and I think you’ll like it, too.

Ingredients

CARDSTOCK: Pink Pirouette (SU!), Whisper White (SU!), Rose cardstock from Core’dinations

STAMPS: Looks Like Spring (SU!), Warm Words (SU!), Flourishes(Clear Art Stamps)

INK: Pink Pirouette (SU!), Certainly Celery (SU!), Tempting Turquoise (SU!), Emboss It (Ranger)

ACCESSORIES: Impressabilities Flowers(Spellbinders), sandpaper, Cuttlebug, Perfect Pearls (Ranger), mister bottle, heat gun, Xyron 5” sticker maker, pink sparkle ribbon (Michaels), Scallop oval punch (SU!), Small oval punch (SU!), Spring Flower Bouquet punch (SU!), 1/8” circle punch, Embossing Glitter: colors are Squash blossom (blue), Burgundy, Honeycomb (gold) (PK Glitz), Quickie glue pen (Sakura), Clear Star Gelly Roll pen (Sakura), Sticky paper (PK Glitz), gold brads, scissors, Scor-Pal, Adhesive Transfer Gun 714 (Scotch), Rotary trimmer with straight blade (Fiskars)

Instructions

BASE CARD: Cut a light pink card measuring 8 1/2” x 5 1/2”, and score it in half at 4 1/4”.

SANDED BACKGROUND LAYER: Cut a rectangle of the dark pink core’dinations paper, measuring 4” x 5 1/4”.  Use the Impressabilities to emboss the flower pattern in the paper (I use the Cuttlebug, but any die cut machine that embosses will work).   Then use the sandpaper to lightly sand off the top layer of the embossed image.

Mix a small amount of Perfect Pearls with water in a mini mister bottle, and lightly spray the sanded paper.  This will give the background an overall glittery shine. Let this layer dry thoroughly – I slipped mine between paper towels and inserted it in the middle of a large stack of magazines to make sure it was nice and flat.  Unfortunately, this is pretty subtle – it doesn’t really show in the photograph.

After it is dry, stamp flourishes in two corners using the embossing ink. Cover one corner in burgundy glitter powder, and the other in squash blossom powder, then emboss with a heat gun.

LEAVES: Stamp the leaf image in green ink on white cardstock.  Outline the veins of the leaves with the glue pen, and cover in the honeycomb glitter powder, and emboss with the heat gun.

After cooling, run the cardstock through the Xyron machine, and closely trim the images.

FLOWERS: Stamp the large flowers in blue and pink on the white cardstock, closely trim the images.

Using the flower punch, cut 3 small flowers to use as the centers from the PK Glitz sticky paper.  For two centers, peel the protective paper off, and sprinkle with squash blossom embossing powder.  Emboss carefully with the heat gun to adhere the glitter to the shaped flower.  Repeat with the third center, using the honeycomb powder.

For the brads in the center, these are made with embossing glitter, too!  But BE CAREFUL – they get HOT!  Use tweezers or an alligator clip to pick up the brad.  Heat the top with the heat gun, then stick it in the embossing powder – it will stick right on.  Then heat it again from the bottom to seal it in.  Don’t heat it too long or it will lose its color.  I made one in blue, and two in burgundy.

After the brads are cool, assemble the flowers by punch an 1/8” hole in the middle of a big flower and the glitter flower center, and joining them together with a glittered brad.

RIBBON LABEL: Stamp the “sparkle” sentiment on white cardstock in the clear embossing ink, and sprinkle half with burgundy powder, and half with blue.  Emboss with the heat gun, and punch it out using the small oval punch.

Punch a light pink scalloped oval, and decorate each scallop with the glitter pen.

Mount the sentiment oval on the pink scalloped oval.

FINAL ASSEMBLY: Tie a bow using the sparkly ribbon around the sanded layer above the embossed flourishes.  Secure it on the back with a small piece of tape. 

Mount the ribbon label to the right of the bow using a piece of foam tape. 

Mount the sanded layer on the base card.

Arrange the leaves and flowers until you find a pleasing layout.  Then peel the backing off the leaves and mount them.  Add the flowers using foam tape for dimension.

Hope you give the embossing glitter a try – it’s not nearly as messy as regular glitter, both for the card maker and the recipient.

Thanks for stopping by!