{Colour Blast DT} Shimmer Spray Fun!!

Hello scrappy friends, Melinda here with you today! 

First up, a big Happy Halloween if you celebrate and if not, happy Monday to you ;)

I am here with you today sharing some fun ways to use some of the beautiful, shimmery, shiny Colour Blast Shimmer Sprays.

I go through a few different ideas in this video but if for any reason you can't/don't watch process videos, read on!!

For this process I did a couple of things before I started filming. First up I grabbed a couple of pieces of (cheap) water colour paper from my stash and cut them down to fit a card front. Then I applied a very light coat of white gesso to some white textured card stock and when that was dry I chopped that into pieces for card bases also. Lastly, I grabbed a scrap of white card and chopped that down to the same size.

I have done a very basic technique in order to see what the colours actually look like on different papers/mediums.

I sprayed (top) and then I used some plastic packaging and smooshed the colour (bottom) onto the paper and lastly I used the nozzle from the bottle to do a few sprinkles.

Here are my 3 samples all together - I have used the Leather Shimmer Spray for this little experiment

I was REALLY surprised at how different all these samples look! Especially the gesso, I thought I would get a much more vibrant colour!

But here are the samples by themselves

Next up I did a little water colouring :)

I had 2 pots of water on hand - one for only clean water and the other to clean to the brushes as I went. First up, I mixed some of the Sunshine, Envy and Deep Water Shimmer Sprays with a little water in a colour palette and then I used a wide flat brush on some water colour paper with plain water to apply a quick coat of water. While that was still wet I applied each colour using a wet, round number 20 brush with the colours over lapping a little so that the colours blended together a little so as not to create a solid line between colours. Be aware, that if you are doing this sort of thing it is super handy to have a basic understanding of the colour wheel so you don't mix colours that essentially make "mud" ;)

Next up I used another piece of water colour paper and again a quick coat of water using a clean brush.

Again, while that was still wet I applied my colour - this time I used the nozzle from the bottle and flicked the colour onto the wet card stock. I have used 3 colours here - Tangereen Dream, Rose Petal and Sunshine. While they were still wet I added a few splashes of water where the colour had hit an area that the 1st coat of water had already dried on.

This is a very pretty effect and I have used this before on art journal pages and it gives such an array of colours when you use more than one colour!

My next technique is very similar to this one but gives quiet a different effect!

This time I have used white card stock with a coat of gesso and rather than apply water and then colour I applied colour and then flicked water on. I used only 2 colours this time - the Tangereen Dream and the Sunshine. I started with the Sunshine, just flicking drops of colour with the hose of the nozzle and then went it with some clean water with a paintbrush and flicked over where the colour had landed. After I was happy with the Sunshine I did the exact same thing with the Tangereen Dream. I did a quick dry with my heat tool and went back in again with some splatters of the Sunshine.

And a side by side comparison of the 2 different/very similar techniques

While that dried I decided it was time to do a little more water colouring with some sprays! I quickly stamped an image on a piece of white card stock with gesso on it using versa mark ink and then applied the Bling Embossing Powder and heat set. I do go more into detail about embossing with the gorgeous powders over on this video so if you haven't seen it yet feel free to pop over and check it out! Once the embossing powder was cooled I grabbed my fave water colour brush, one of my fave colours, Envy and applied a very quick, not not coat of colour directly over the embossed stamp image. I dried that off and decided I wanted a bit more colour so grabbed the brush again, dunked it straight into the bottle and applied a little more colour! I forgot to take progress shots of this technique and the card front has since been made into a card and given out but here is the finished card front. 

I finished it off by wiping off any excess Envy spray on the embossed sentiment with a damp baby wipe, a few enamel dots in purple, some splatters of the very pretty Violet Colour Spray and a very quick outline in purple around the edge.

Next up I decided to have a play with chipboard and some Shimmer Sprays!

First up, chippy with a coat of gesso. I simply sprayed the colour straight onto the chippy and left to dry.

How pretty is that?!

Next up, some raw chippy and THIS is where the magic REALLY happened! I was totally blown away at just how shimmery and shiny the bling Shimmer Spray is on the raw chipboard!!

This photo does not do the word any justice but OMG, it was so so pretty and it got me thinking.... "If the bling looks so pretty on such a dark background, what will the other colours look like on a dark background?" Ok, 3rd piece of raw chippy and my Tangereen Dream Shimmer Spray.

The colour looks alot more flat on the screen on than it does IRL but this totally opened up my mind to what can I try next!!

I hadn't yet tried the Shimmer Sprays on black cardstock (the idea hadn't even occurred to me if truth be told!!) so I grabbed some scrap black card stock and started spraying away!

I started with the lighter colours - Bling, Sunshine and Snow White

Ahhhh! Look at that that shimmery, shiny goodness!!! Oh my stars!! Ok, so that worked a treat! I wonder what happens with the other colours!!

Here you go:

Some of the colours change quiet a bit on the black while others stay very true to their actual colour so if you haven't already discovered this magic grab your sprays and some black cardstock!!

I did have some other fun ideas of how to use the sprays but got so side tracked by the effect on the darker surfaces that I thought I would stop here otherwise the blog post and video would be WAY too long!!

I hope I have inspired you to maybe use your shimmer sprays in a way you perhaps hadn't thought of before and if you do please come over to our FB group here and share away all of your beautiful Colour Blast projects!!

Have a fabulous day!

Melinda

{Colour Blast DT} Playing with Embossing Powders

Hey there Colour Blast fans, Melinda here with you today sharing something a little different to normal! Today I am going to share with you lots of different ways to use the ever so sparkly, beautiful embossing powders available in the Colour Blast range!

There is also a process video that shows you how I created each of the different techniques which you can watch here or read on for close ups and details on each! Oh, there is also a little extra at the beginning of the video showing my little sample book with all the different colours and mediums that I currently have and this helps me to choose colours for projects!

So, onto the techniques!

First up, you will need embossing powders (obviously!!) which you can pick up here in the store, some embossing ink - there are lots available but I use Versamark and a Ranger ink in a dabber bottle. Oh, and a heat tool! I would also HIGHLY recommend a big dry brush to dedicate to "clean up" for use with embossing powders. You will find that you are left with (an oh, so sparkly) a very fine layer of sparkle from the embossing powders - it's like there is finely, finely blended up glitter in each little tub - and personally I've found the easiest way to clean up each surface and after each heat application (when embossing is COMPLETELY dry/cooled) on papers etc is with a brush ;)

Now, onto the FUN stuff!

First up I decided to use the gorgeous Tangereen Dream on some Dusty Attic chippy pieces :)

You can see that I have gessoed one piece and left the other raw.

You do get a different look if you gesso first so I wanted to make sure that you saw the difference!

After the gesso was dry (probably with a heat tool knowing me!!) I applied versamark ink by smooshing the chippy into the pad and then applied a layer of powder, shook the excess off and heat set. For both pieces of chippy I applied 2 coats. I did do the ink twice but if you are fast enough you can skip the ink for the 2nd coat and just dunk the piece straight back into the powder and heat set!

And the finished product

The next technique I did was using some wood veneer. I've done 2 different things with the pieces I chose.

I only wanted part of the frames embossed so I used some washi tape to tape off the bits I didn't want covered, then applied ink using my mini ink pad, some Rose Petal embossing powder and then heat set.

And then for this word I wanted the whole thing done so I just inked up the veneer, applied the Leather coloured powder and heat set. This piece actually has 2 coats as well :)

And the finished pieces

Next I pulled out a stamp and probably my most fave colour, the bling. Oh, it's so pretty and sparkly! It's really hard to see in the photo's but honestly, if you need a gold sparkly embossing powder in your life THIS is the one to get ;) If you get the chance to watch the video as well I was mesmerised watching the powder set so I left that part in the video ;)

I inked the stamp up and stamped it straight onto some textured white cardstock. I will say here that IF you do use the textured side you will not get a perfect stamped image but I am totally ok with that and LOVE how this turned out!

I loved this so much that I decided to do it again but this time with a little twist! So I stamped and embossed the image on another corner of my cardstock and then pulled out my Deep Water Colour Shimmer Spray for a little water colouring fun!

Really simple technique! After the powder was set, dry and COOL I simply sprayed some of the shimmer spray onto a piece of packaging, took my big watercolour brush that was wet and applied a really quick, messy coat of colour. I dried that off with my heat tool and applied a second, darker coat - this time I just dunked the brush straight into the bottle. And then a blast with the heat tool and finally some splatters with a smaller brush. This is just BEAUTIFUL! I love it so much and even make a card with it!

And here is the card!

That little orange veneer frame received a quick couple of coats of the Tangereen Dream embossing powder for a little extra pop of colour!

My next technique is using a stencil! I grabbed a small stencil (a recent fave!) from my stash and applied some ink using my ink dabber through the stencil. I removed the stencil (more carefully the second time!) and then applied my embossing powder. First time was Lovely Lilac and after I applied the powder I realised there was a fair bit of ink behind the stencil so I cleaned my stencil and tried again this time using the steel powder.

The very imperfect Lovely Lilac

And in saying that I really like the messiness of this!! And the steel is a little "cleaner" but again not perfect but so, so pretty!

And lastly, I tried something I had not done before and am super happy with how it looks! I have seen lots of other people do different colours on the same piece and wanted to give it a go myself so I grabbed my 2 faves - bling (of course!) and rose petal and a couple of veneer pieces.

Using my dabber I randomly applied some ink. I then started with the rose petal and heat set that and then back in with the ink again and then applied the bling powder. Love how these turned out and I think they will make it into our wedding album - our colours were pink, silver, black and white!

So, that's it for me and my embossing powders today! I hope I have given you some fun ideas of how to use your own Colour Blast embossing powders and we would love to see your creations over in the facebook group Colour Blast Creative Corner!

Otherwise, have a fun, messy, inky kinda day!

Melinda

{Scrapping Clearly DT} Some (not love!) cards with WRMK Crush

Hi there scrappy friends, I'm here with you today sharing some really cute cards that I made using mostly the WRMK Crush range available in the ScrappingClearly store.

I was totally inspired to create a little stack of cards when I saw these adorable layered tags in my DT pack from Kylie and couldn't wait to get them out and used! 

Here are the 5 cards I created in 2 photo's :)

Just secretly these 2 are my faves ;) Isn't that little hedgehog just ADORABLE?! 

I'm super pleased with how these all came together and now I will give you a quick run down of each card :)

Before I do that however I will say that I started with the tags and the 6x6 paper pad. I started out by matching the tags with a patterned paper from the pad and then cut each 6x6 page down to the size of a card front :) 

This first one is a pretty simple design but I really do like how it came together with just a few bits and pieces. So, after the tag and the paper I picked that gem sticker from the WRMK Crush sticker sheet and these Heidi Swapp alpha's for a sentiment. Those alpha's from bright also came from the sticker sheet in the same collection. Oh, and a few Studio Calico sequins from the Red and Pink mix ;)

I would be lying if I said I really understood the trend of the cactus in scrapbooking but oh man, this little guy had me the second I opened up the sticker sheet!! I LOVE it!!. As you can see peeking out in the background is some washi tape also by Heidi Swapp. This is from the Marquee collection and is really wide so I just used one strip which I tore through the middle for the uneven edges along top and bottom. A couple of banners from the off cuts of the 6x6 paper pad, some of this gorgeous Heidi Swapp lace ribbon, the tag (of course!), the cactus and the "hello fabulous" sticker from this Heidi Swapp chipboard sticker pack. This was actually a speech bubble but I didn't like the little taggy bit so I simply chopped it off!! And, a few sequins, of course ;)

Ah!! Isn't he just ADORABLE??! Sending you Hedgehugs, I mean seriously, how cute can you get?! So this card is using mostly scraps as the layers behind the tag - and I mean scraps - none of those pieces actually stretches all the way behind that tag!! That gold tissue paper is what Kylie wrapped my beautiful goodies in this  month so I thought, heck, Im gonna add some in and machine stitch through it! And add some sequins ;)

This is a really quick and simple one! More of that tissue paper which I cut into rectangles, 3 to be exact; I layered them in a messy, interesting way and attached them together with my tiny attacher. I attached that layer to my tag and then that whole piece using foam adhesive to the card front over the top of more of that super pretty Lace Ribbon. I felt it was lacking a little something so I grabbed my black pen and did a quick doodled outline around the card front. So effective! And more sequins!!

And, last but by no means least, this little beauty! With all of this busy patterns I decided straight away that it needed black outlining on all the pieces and it made so much difference! So, more paper scraps, a tab sticker, lace ribbon,  one of these gorgeous WRMK Crush paper clips and yet more sequins. I figured that leaving that tab blank would give me the opportunity to personalise the card when the time comes to send it if I feel like it or I can just leave blank, either way, I love this card too!!

So, I made 5 cards from a very "love" themed Valentine's collection and none of them really scream I LOVE YOU or Happy Valentine's Day, in fact I think they are all quiet versatile. Yep, a little feminine, I can't see me giving these to the men in my life but that's 5 cards for my stash none the less!!

I hope that you feel inspired to use the products however they speak to you. I saw the layered tags and knew straight away they were destined for cards so ran with that idea. And just because a collection is geared towards a particular theme doesn't mean it has to be used for that theme :) Have fun with your products and make sure you head over to our FB group here to see all the inspiration from not only our DT but also from all of our awesome followers who share their work there!!

Happy scrapping and until next time,

Melinda

{ScrappingClearly DT} Hello 36

Hi there friends! Today I'm here with you today sharing this page I put together using the gorgeous Pink Paislee C'est La Vie collection and a silly SnapChat photo of myself from my birthday this year for ScrappingClearly!

Isn't this collection just beautiful?!

I started with a stencil from my stash, some white cardstock and some Faber-Castell Whipped Spackle for some interest in the background and then grabbed my sushine colour shimmer spray by Colour Blast and also my bubblegum colour spray and sprinkled those across the page in a diagonal from top left to bottom right.

You can see here I have layered a couple of the frames from the ephemera pack behind the photo along with one of those cute tabs from the same pack which I used my machine to a little stitching through. A doily from my stash and I fussy cut some of those gorgeous flowers from this paper from the collection. Oh, and those GORGEOUS mirror acrylic pieces which I have used in 3 places also along the diagonal.

For the title I used the word hello from the mirror acrylic pieces and also the big acetate 3 and 6 from the ephemera pack. Love how this looks and that you can see the little details through the 36!

And my little cluster on the bottom right :) I used some of the off-cuts from pushing the frame out of the paper it was in and a little tag (the mint and gold) as layering pieces from the ephemera pack under the tab. More fussy cut flowers and the 3rd mirror acrylic piece. Some more machine stitching, again with just a white thread.

When this was all assembled I cut down 2 sides and stuck this beautiful to the top and left hand side of the page for a little more interest, colour and texture. I then machine sewed around the 2 edges and distressed the card stock a little.

I am really happy with how this page came together and can't wait to get the chance to play some more with this beautiful collection! 

You can see my process here on my YouTube channel! (if it doesn't load straight away, it is still uploading as I press publish here!)

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy, scrappy day!!

Melinda

xx