Butterfly Glimmer

I actually did some stamping yesterday. I have been so caught up in scrapbooking, that I haven't done very much stamping lately. I love playing with new techniques, but I get in a groove with scrapbooking and then I can't seem to switch. I will have an idea, but I'm almost scared to try it because I'm worried that it won't turn out and I'll be upset and depressed (not seriously depressed, but in a way that doesn't make me want to stamp; maybe more of a frustrated thing). I seem to have a mental block lately about how to finish off a card. OK, I have the main part done; now what do I do because it needs something, but I don't know what. And I'm generally a minimalist, so I struggle with just leaving it knowing I want to do something else.

Anyway, I find the first few cards I make are all right, but then I can generally get back into my groove.

I received my Technique Junkies Newsletter awhile ago and since I've been so busy, I just put it on my craft room desk so that I can look through it later when I have time to play. I love my TJ newsletters as they are always full of cool ideas and often use product I already have (huge bonus!).

The technique that caught my eye yesterday was "Salty Glimmers" and it was kind of a play on what we used to do years ago, but it's beautiful and so I was so excited to try it again. I love that some of the techniques we did years ago keep coming back in various variations.

With this technique, you need to spritz your white matte cardstock with water and then spritz with a glimmer mist. I wanted a blue and a brown (I'll show that one tomorrow), but didn't have the right colour in Tattered Angels or Smooch Sprays, so I created my own with Distress Inks, Perfect Pearls and a mini mister (I've mentioned how to do that before, but if you don't know how, just ask and I can explain it!). When the paper is wet and shiny, throw some sea salt chunks on it. I remember doing this with watercolour paper and water colours. In my memory, the salt chunks pulled the colour so that area was lighter, but in this case, they pulled the colour and made it pool around it and so you got dark areas. It was quite cool!

These do take awhile to dry as they suggested you air dry them (more about how to get around that tomorrow). So, I walked away and came back after the kids were in bed so that I could try to make something out of it.

I also wanted to play with my new Plaid embossing folder from Sizzix. I embossed a piece of Core'dinations paper and then sanded it to use as my background. I love it!!

When my glimmer piece was dry, I stamped my butterfly (Fontwerks) with Silver Staz-On, but it didn't show up well, so I overstamped it in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. The Staz-On will resist the Distress Ink, so it came out like a shadow which I thought was very cool.

Overall, I like this card well enough. It won't make it into my favorite pile, but for the first card back in awhile, it's fine.


The Plaid folder comes bundled with a Snowflake one. I already had a Snowflake folder from Provocraft, but I really wanted the Plaid one. I do quite like the Sizzix Snowflake one though as it has some bigger snowflakes, so I'm happy I got the set.
I did keep playing with this technique and will have more to share tomorrow.

An Order

I received an order on Friday and unpacked it today. It's always exciting to see what is in the box. I know that I should know what is in it since I ordered it, but it's still fun to see new product up close and personal. It's hard, sometimes, to see what something is really like from a small picture online.

I thought I'd give a small peek of a few things that were in my box.

Here it is all laid out. It wasn't a terribly big order, so not a lot of stuff.

I have a bunch of new Shimmer Sheets in stock now. I love the new iridescent colours (purple, dark and light pink, blue and light green). I also have red and green metallic.


I love these new embellishments by 7 Gypsies and Making Memories. I really like the Tim Holtz embellishements and 7 Gypsies has similar gears, except theirs have little gems on them for some extra bling. Then the Making Memories brads are just so sparkly. They're very cool.

I've started making my own glimmer mists. Tim Holtz posted directions on his blog. You put a dropperful of Distress Ink refill in a mini mister, fill it most of the way (leaving some room at the top though) with water and then put some Perfect Pearls in it. Put the top on and shake it up. I have tons of Tattered Angels and Smooch Spritzes, but I like these homemade ones too because they match the Distress Inks. I decided that I would bring in the mini misters in bulk so people could buy however many they wanted. I also got myself a couple more of the Mini Mister blocks so I can house all my new Glimmer Mists.


The new Spellbinders dies are out now too. I had some customers order the Half Moon Circles and Squares and the Beaded Ovals. They're very pretty.


Lastly, I ordered one of the new Tim Holtz Texture Fade sets. It looks like they've changed the packaging which I quite like. The old packaging had a long, tall package which was hard to fit in a box to transport. I like the new pillow pack.
I have some more stuff, but I'll leave it at that for now. I'll be putting a new order in soon and if there is anything you want, just let me know. Hopefully, I can get back to creating tomorrow after I do some invoicing and order stuff. I'm almost caught up to Eric's 4th birthday and I'm feeling motivated. I can see the end of his book in the near distance and I'm gearing up to reach it.