Serene Shaker

This post is a combination of a lot of things. . . . It started as a mini tutorial for the shaker card I posted (HERE or just scroll down to the previous post) and grew. :-) Now it also includes a mini tutorial for shimmer paints.

You can find Shimmer Paints in the Holiday Mini Catalog. Shimmer paints come in 3 different colors: Champagne Mist, Frost White, or Platinum. Today I'll be showing Frost White.

So how do you use Shimmer Paints? There a several ways to use these versatile paints. Also note that this is a "little goes a long way" product. 1. The easiest is to shake the bottle, take off the cap and use a sponge dauber to apply it directly to your project. 2. Or, use the sponge dauber and gently apply it directly to your stamp.

3. Or as I've shown below, you can ink your stamp with a color, then apply the shimmer paint on top, and then stamp--giving you a colorful and subtly shimmery image. Easy huh? Just be sure to clean your dauber in between stamping so as not to mix color into your shimmer paints.

4. If you want to stamp several of the same image, (without cleaning the dauber in between each stamp) just mix a little shimmer paint and a drop or two of reinker. You can see the leftovers here of my shimmer paint/Night of Navy reinker mix in the top of my ink pad. (Please just be sure to clean out the top of the lid--baby wipes work well--before you close the ink pad.) I used the sponge dauber to apply the mix directly to my stamp. Very pretty effect! I have a feeling I'm going to be using these paints a lot!

Ok, so now I have an image--I stamped one of the snowflakes from the set Serene Snowflakes from the Holiday Mini Catalog. I tried to photograph the 'shimmer' part of the paints; this is the best I have.

Now for the shaker part. . . . I used my Circle Scissors Plus to cut a 2" circle. Without moving the cutter, I cut a 2 1/2" circle. That gives my my 'frame'. I then cut out a 2 1/2" circle of Window Sheet (medium). Tip: Before you adhere the frame and the Window Sheet together, make sure to clean the Window Sheet with a window cleaner (such as Windex). This not only gets rid of any smudges, but also leads to less static (ie beads sticking to the window sheet) inside your finished shaker. The next step is to add the dimensionals.

I don't remember exactly how I figured this out, but now that I have, I always save the long sides of my dimensionals sheets--as seen below. I take those long strips and carefully put them around the edges of the 'frame'. Next I put in the Micro Beads. Note: I used less than 1/4 tsp of beads. The last step is to peel the backing of the dimensionals and put the stamped image (image side down) on top of the dimensionals--like making a sandwich. Your 'shaker' is now ready to be added to a project using Sticky Strip.

The card at the top was inspired by a Sketch Challenge found at Splitcoaststampers. All of the stamping on the card was done using the shimmer paint/Night of Navy reinker mix. The sentiment is from the set Best Wishes & More. Finished card size is 5 1/2" by 5 1/2".

The card below uses the exact same shaker element but was made for the CAS31 challenge also over on Splitcoaststampers. As you can see it is a very simple card--but still fun because you just can't resist shaking it. :-)

Stamps: Serene Snowflakes, Best Wishes & More

Ink: Night of Navy

Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White, medium Window Sheet

Accessories: Shimmer Paint, Circle Scissors Plus, Glass Mat, Micro Beads, dimensionals, Corner Rounder punch, Whisper White Organza Ribbon