it's all about glitter!

 

I like glitter just a little - okay, a lot - and I know there are more of you out there who feel the same way. I am completely tempted by anything glittery - glitter cards, glitter scrapbook papers, glitter brads, etc. Glitter just adds that perfect touch to so many projects. It is a staple supply that I keep on my desk and bring with me when I stamp with friends. Of course, when you use it on your projects you will end up covered in it or at least have a little bit of sparkle for the rest of the day... but to me that is a bonus. I don't mind at all! There are so many ways to add glitter to your hand stamped projects and with the holidays and snow (nature's glitter!) coming soon I thought it would be fun to share a few glittery techniques!

 

You know I love to stamp with paint and did you know that it is a great adhesive to stick glitter to? Here I stamped a polka dot background with white acrylic paint...

 

and then while the paint is still wet, sprinkle glitter right over the top of it. The glitter will stick right to the wet paint. Let the paint dry completely before using it on your project.

For the glitters that I use most often, I transfer them from the small containers they come into bigger plastic containers. Then, I can either just dip the piece that I am working on right into the glitter or for the pieces to big for the container (like this one) I use a spoon to sprinkle the glitter onto my project.

 

Next I wanted to create some glittery snowflakes images for the main image of my projects. I stamped  snowflakes from my Rustic Snowflakes set to glitter. You will want to choose something of a fairly simple design.If there is too much detail it will get lost when you add the glitter. There are a couple of ways you can adhere the glitter: stamp the images in Versamark and emboss with a heat & stick powder to stick the glitter to (which is what I did here) or stamp your images with glue or a glue pad and sprinkle the glitter right over that.

 

Not only can you glitter just your images with the heat & stick powder, you can do an all over glitter look. After I stamped my images onto the cardstock, I covered the entire piece with Versamark ink.

 

After embossing with the heat & stick powder, I sprinkled the glitter right over the whole thing.

 

Here's the whole glittery piece! Make sure that when you have added the glitter, that you go back and heat your piece just a little bit more. That will set the glitter into the heat & stick powder.

 

I added more glitter to the edge of this snowflake piece by running a glue pen around the edge and sprinkling glitter over that.

 

I love to add glitter to punched/diecut pieces using my Xyron machine. First, run a piece of cardstock through the machine. Make sure to remove the plastic film from the top of the cardstock before you punch your shape.

 

For this project, I punched a square out of the cardstock and then cut that into a triangle to make corner accents for my cards. When you have the shape you want, peel off the sticker backing paper...

 

and dip it right into the glitter! So easy!

 

Here are the cards that I put together with all the glittery parts that I created!

I can think of so many ways to add some sparkle to your projects in addition to the few that I shared here. Some of them include: mixing glitter right into your paint, sprinkle glitter onto embossing powder while you are heating it, using stickles on your projects, glitter pens and markers, adhering glitter to clear tape to create a glittery transparency, etc.

I would love to hear any more glittery ideas that you have - please add them to the comments area! I can never have too many ideas for using glitter.

 

Glittery Snowflake Cards

stamps: Rustic Snowflakes, Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)

ink: Spring Moss, Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink), Versamark ink (Tsukineko), Jet Black Archival (Ranger), white pigment

cardstock: white, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink)

accessories: Aqua Mist stitched ribbon (Papertrey Ink), 1 1/4" square punch (EK Success), glitter, white acrylic paint, buttons, linen thread, dimensionals