Glittered Easter Card

One ginormous benefit of (finally) getting my craft room cleaned up and organized this month?  I rediscovered tons of craft and card-making ideas and supplies!  Yes, we are only twenty months into our twenty-four month assignment here in Wisconsin and I finally have everything just how I want it in my craft room.  Oh, well.  I took photos of how everything was arranged in our house in Washington, so when we move back there, it shouldn’t take me so long to get all set up again, right?

Anyway, one of the cards and supplies I found way back in the shelves uses a fun, fun, fun technique…with glitter! 

It’s exceedingly difficult to capture in a photo how glittery this card really is…the glitter is on the back side of a piece of transparency, so the surface of the card is smooth and almost magical-looking. My kids pronounced it super cool. And tried to put their dirty little pawprints all over it.

To make this, or a similar card (I’ve done fall foliage, pumpkins and an American flag this way, with gorgeous results), you’ll need just a few supplies:

• a large detailed stamp
• glue that dries clear with a very fine tip on the bottle
• various superfine glitters
• a transparency, like for an overhead
• Stazon or other permanent ink

I bought the stamp, glue, and some of the glitters at a stamping store in Kansas where I took a class on this technique several years ago. Or maybe it was in Missouri. Anyway, if you don’t have a stamping store near you, all of these supplies can be found at a craft store. Or maybe right in your own stash that you’ve forgotten about!

1. Cut a piece of transparency to 4-1/4” x 5” and stamp the image on the back of it (the textured side, if it has one).  If your image has words (I made one with conversation hearts once), stamp it on the front so the words won’t be reversed.  Then the glitter will go on the back of the transparency. Let the ink dry for a few minutes, just to be sure it won’t smear.

2. Pick a color of glitter to start with, and apply the glue, using the fine tip, to the areas you want to be colored with that glitter.  Remember, the glitter will be on the back of the transparency when you assemble your card.

3. Continue to glue then glitter with each color.  Remember to put a piece of paper under your work, so you can tap the excess glitter off the card and then pour it back into the glitter bottle. Of course, you’ll still have glitter all over you and your freshly cleaned craft room, but at least you’re saving most of it for other glittery fun!

4. Continue to glue then glitter until the entire design is covered. Then let it dry at least 4 hours, and preferably overnight. It’ll probably take you that long to get all the multi-colored glitter off your clothes, hair, and face, anyway. This did take about half an hour to glitter, so this is not a card you’d want to mass produce.  It is stunning, however…so send yours to someone who’ll appreciate it. Say, another stamper. With a blog. That has the word “Chaos” in it.

5. When the glue is dry, you’ll be left with a gorgeous focal point for your card. I used some silver glimmer paper and cut a frame using my Big Shot and the Labels Framelits.  Then I simply stamped the sentiment and punched it out with the Modern Label punch. You could also just frame it with strips of cardstock or designed paper, or trim it neatly and use brads or other embellishments to adhere it to your card front.

I’m so happy to have found this technique again…the results are so impressive, and no one can figure out quite how you did it!