Adding Shine To Your Projects

Adding shine to your projects adds elegance to your design 

There is something about cards that have a little glitter or shine that make them extra special. In my journey as a Altenew Educator, I am learning how to apply some shine to my greeting cards. And the same techniques apply to other paper crafts too. 

Let's start with the flowers. Creating flowers that shine include using die cuts and embossing powder. You can emboss vellum with an embossing powder like gold, copper or any other metallic powder that you like. Make sure to use a powder tool to get better results. 

Once you have embossed the flowers, it's time to add some color. With the vellum, the best results will be by using alcohol markers. Chose two colors in the same color family. Color the flowers and set them aside to dry.

My recommendation on these flowers would be too fussy cut them rather than die cutting. If you used a die, you may lose some of embossed detail.

You could also use some watercolor paper. Emboss that with the same metallic embossing powder. Then color the flowers with watercolors.

In all of these examples, I have used nesting dies to create layers on the cards. Nesting dies are great to use when you want to have a base to add some shine. 

You shine can be in the embossing, using metallic beads, using metallic markers, Using metallic paper and metallic markers. Another of my personal favorites is to use metallic glue drops to add even more shine.

My three examples are showing you how to use the Fresh Bloom stamp set to create these amazing flowers. This set can be used in so many ways, you will find yourself going back to it often. You can use it as a single or double flower. There are leaves to the set and more. I love the delicate petals in this set. There are also layers in this set, so you can layer these flowers as well. They are a very versatile set.

         Supplies Used For This Project

    

Fresh Bloom Stamp Set

Blue Glitter Paper

White vellum

Alcohol Markers in the same color family

Blender Brush

Foam tape

Foam dots

Nesting dies

Cardstock

Glitter Glue

Half gold beads

Patterned paper

Tacky glue

Lots of these supplies you probably will have in your personal stash. If not, they are all reasonably priced. We have included some of these at the bottom of the post. While we may earn some commission at no cost to you, they are used to enhance his community

• Turn up the shine on die cut glitter elements by adding a layer of Glossy Accents over the top.
• Clean it up. Before heat setting your embossing powder, use a dry brush to sweep away any stray pieces of embossing powder. These little specs will expand as they heat and turn in to blobs. Quickly brushing away strays will give you great results every time.
• Once you’ve placed your embellishments, take a step back, and look at your project. Then listen to your gut. Does it feel right? If not, make a small adjustment. I’m a firm believer in going with your gut. It’ll lead you in the right direction.

We hope that we have inspired you to add some shine to your next greeting card projects. I guarantee you will get a lot of satisfaction when you do.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Linda

 

Supplies To Add More Shine