Shimmery Fall Leaf

Hello!

Shea here with Glitter and Bonbons to show you my non-traditional Thanksgiving card.  This seems to be the year for non-traditional colors as I've made some Christmas cards recently using different colors as well.  I just find that sometimes I want to shake things up a bit.  Besides, my garden really does have all of these colors in it in autumn!

How's that for some in-your-face color?  I used spray inks on watercolor paper, and they never fail to wow me with their vivid shades.  And they're perfect for complementing with a little glitz and shimmer.  I die cut the leaf then painted it with four shades of CI Paints - Gold, Burnt Clay, Evergreen and Autumn Wheat.

After the paint had dried I misted the leaf with water and scrunched it up to distress it a bit, then placed it on a bit of ribbon netting.  A greeting, some ribbon and a couple of small stick pins complete the arrangement.

I embossed the edges of the card and sentiment panel with Deliquesce Gilded Gold.  I also sprinkled a little bit of it over the sentiment and heated it from underneath for a slightly different look.

Some gold leaf lines in opposing corners complete my non-traditional Thanksgiving card.  Thank you for joining me and please pop over to the current CI Paints challenge Inspired By: Autumn Colors.

Happy crafting!

Grungy Tag for a Guy

Hello!

Shea here with Glitter and Bonbons with a tag that I made for my son's birthday gift a few days ago (I've already profiled his gift card holder in a previous post).

My gift tags have always been too small in the past, so I decided to cut one on my Silhouette Cameo so I could adjust the size to my specifications.  More real estate for more stuff.

I first sponged the base with three colors of distress inks then sponged over a stencil with more inks.  Then I sponged around the edges of each stencil opening with first Burn Sienna and then Autumn Wheat which gave the stencil some great shimmer!

I stamped the next layer then started adding the embellishments.  Copper ball chain, chipboard brads, some metal photo corners and a fun floral/burlap embellishment all came together to make a fun tag fit for a guy.

The burlap was a little too light, so I dry brushed some Burnt Sienna on it using my finger and used the scraps under the leather-look "flower."  I made the flower by misting and scrunching some circles of cardstock and layering them with a brad in the center.  Then I painted them with Burnt Clay and Autumn Wheat.  The flower winds up looking like leather every time.

The final touch was the leather cord at the top.

Thank you for joining me, and don't forget to play along in our latest challenge, Inspired By: Back to School.

Happy crafting!

Gift Card Holder

Hello!

Shea here with Glitter and Bonbons to show you a cute gift card holder I made for my son's birthday earlier this week.  He gets such a kick out of receiving handmade goodies from his mom.

I cut it with my Silhouette Cameo, the template of which included the shapes for the paper and the stars as well as the basic holder itself.  It even has a little hidden tab to keep it closed.

I stamped the striped paper with little Antique Silver stars and painted the larger red stars with Garnet, then I glittered some of them with Deliquesce Super Sparkle Red and popped up the largest star.  Some red Jeweled Inspirations finished them off.

Thank you for joining me and don't forget our challenge this fortnight is Inspired By: Back to School.  See you there!

Happy crafting!

Last Days of Summer

Hello!

Shea here with Glitter and Bonbons to show you a card that I made for our current challenge Inspired By: "Back to School."  Except I have no one in my world who is going back to school, so I made a fall-themed card instead, and one clear indicator of fall is the apple tree full of ripe apples.

The days are still warm, the sun is still shining, there's still time to play on the tire swing but summer is starting to wind down.

I embossed the edges of the red base layer with Deliquesce White embossing powder and used a popped up die cut frame to frame the image.

I painted the leafy part of the tree with Green Olive and Evergreen, and the apples with Garnet.  Then I covered them with Glossy Accents.  Because shiny apples are the most appetizing.

I used chalks to color in the background.

Some ribbon and an apple-shaped brad finish things off.

 
A little stamping on the inside, and this card was finished.

Thanks so much for joining me, and don't forget to come play with us in our newest challenge!

Happy crafting!

Lacy Box with Shimmer Tag

Hello!

Shea here with Glitter and Bonbons to show you the cute little box and shimmery tag I've made with paints and glitter from the Creative Inspirations store. 

This is a little candy box which I cut on my Silhouette Cameo out of double-sided designer paper, hence the pattern on the inside.

I painted the tag using Sky Blue and Royal Purple CI Paints, then embossed the edges with Deliquesce Gold Crystal.  I didn't love the look as it was a little more gold than I wanted, so I then covered it with Resplendence Angel Dust.  Perfect!

See the pattern on the inside?  I used the same paper for the rose which I then sprinkled with some more Resplendence Angel Dust.  Sparkly!

Some hot pink flourishes finish things off.  Now to put some chocolates into this little box and surprise someone.

Thank you so much for joining me, and don't forget to pop on over to the Creative Inspirations challenge blog and play along.  This fortnight's challenge is Inspired By: Ribbon and Bling.  See you there, and happy crafting!

Friendship Feather

Hello!

Shea here of Glitter and Bonbons with a project I've been wanting to try ever since seeing it done several months ago, and that is to make a feather out of washi tape.  But first I had to make the washi tape itself!  Kendra, one of our lovely CI Paints designers, had a great tutorial on making shimmery washi tape a few months ago.  You can see it here.

I used CI Paints in Green Olive, Pumpkin and Buttercup, brushing them on in random fashion.  (I only had 1" wide tape which makes a wide feather.  Narrower tape will yield a narrower feather.)  Then I stamped a small design on it with black dye ink and folded it over a covered florist's wire before snipping the sides to create the "feather."  No, it's not supposed to look realistic, just feathery.   :-)

See the shimmer on the feather?  There's also a bit of glitz on the largest button that I had gold leafed with some leftover leaf a short while ago.  I always keep a few of these on hand.

The rest of the card was kept simple with some stitching, some coarse textiles, some jute twine and a variety of vintage buttons.  I did, however, spray a bit of my homemade shimmer spray on the two-paper layer.  I make these sprays with various CI Paints as well as a few other ingredients.

Thank you for taking time to visit today, and I hope you'll try your hand at making feathers (and/or washi tape) too!  Don't forget to head over to play in our latest challenge, the theme of which is Inspired By: Anything Goes.

Happy crafting!

Bottle Cap Magnets

Hello!

Shea here with Glitter and Bonbons and I'd like to share today's project which uses some fun products from the CI Paints store, including their newest product, the one-step resin known as Resinesence.  I've needed some new magnets for my magnetic white board, so I thought I'd make my own using bottle caps (the purchased kind)!

I punched out one-inch circles from white cardstock then painted them with two colors each of CI Paints.  Then I stamped them with tiny stamps.  I glittered one of them with Resplendence Angel Dust and added Jeweled Inspirations to two of them (seated in flattened bead caps first).


Here are a couple of close ups.

With a red Jeweled Inspiration

With Replendence Angel Dust

Now as soon as I can find my little magnet circles, I'll be able to attach them and use these babies as intended.  In the meantime, I'll call these "desk jewelry."  Heh.

Thank you for joining me, and please don't forget to stop by and play with us in this fortnight's challenge which is Inspired by Red, White and Blue.

Happy crafting!


Products used:

Paints: Garnet, Aqua Marine, Sunshine, Sky Blue, Citrus, Emerald
Resplendence Angel Dust
Red Jeweled Inspirations
Resinesence

Hearts Aflutter

Hello!

Shea here with Glitter and Bonbons to show you a canvas board I made.  I've never done something like this before and had a lot of fun with this one.  I'm calling it my "CAS" attempt because I can promise that my future canvases will have more stuff on them.

I started out with a layer of sheet music, then gessoed over the top of that.  Unfortunately, I think I applied a little too much as it's now a bit difficult to see the music.  Live and learn.  I then painted the piece with blue and turquoise acrylic paints over which I painted CI Paints in Sky Blue and Aqua Marine.  Instant shimmer!  A brick stencil airbrushed with Copics finished the background layer.

The cheesecloth was painted with Autumn Wheat and Rustic Red with touches of Gold here and there. 

The centerpiece heart is grunge board on which I used the Faux Cloisonne Technique using Rustic Red, Aqua Marine and Royal Purple.  A couple of gold bead caps nestle the red Jeweled Inspiration nicely. 

The little hearts are painted with Rustic Red and the wings were painted with Fairy Dust then glittered up a bit with Resplendence Angel Dust.

Thank you so much for joining me, and don't forget to visit our latest challenge, Inspired By: Red, White and Blue!

Happy crafting!

Keychains? Or Bookmarks?

Hello!

Shea here today with something I was playing around with the other day and wanted to share.  And you may decide for yourself what they really are.  (They're not keychains.)  :-)

 

I know, I know, they LOOK like keychains, and I suppose you could use them for that if you wanted, but I think they'd be really cute bookmarks as well.  At least that's what I'm telling my husband when he opens his Father's Day card and one of these falls out.  Shhh...

They are made with clear shrink plastic, CI Paints, CI Resinesense, and rhinestones (one of which is a CI Jeweled Inspiration).

I cut the shapes with regular dies (the largest of each shape), punched a 1/2" hole in one end, sanded one side with fine grit sandpaper, and painted the sanded side with CI Paints, in this case Gold and Garnet.  Now before I go any further, let me say that some of the pictures don't match the finished products because I wasn't really planning on doing a tutorial per se and just snapped a few pics here and there as I was experimenting.  The pic below on the left was not a keeper.  I tried to use more than one color and it didn't work out.  The one on the right worked fine.

Two colors turned very muddy when shrunk.

A single color worked much better.

After painting the shapes, I stamped images with Staz-On.  Then I put the heat gun on them until they were shrunk.

Here's a confession: I was actually trying to use the shiny (non-sanded) sides of the shapes, but after several failed attempts, it turned out that the painted side looked better - shimmery and glittery!

Tip:  For larger shapes, dust with Embossing Buddy first so the shape doesn't stick to itself when shrinking, like this one did.  It was a challenge to flatten it out.  (Some colorful language may have ensued.)

At this point I  painted the backs of the shapes with the same color paint, four coats.  Then I signed them and topped things off with a coat of clear glaze. 

Now it was time to finish the fronts.  I used CI Paint's newest product, the wonderful one-step resin, Resinesense.  I applied several thin coats to allow the resin to build up into an attractive, full shape.  Of COURSE I goofed and caused one of the shapes to leak resin into the punched hole, but a small drill bit took care of that after it dried (because that was when I discovered it).  The good news is the shimmer from the paints isn't dimmed at all by the resin. 

I applied a rhinestone to one and a Jeweled Inspiration to the red shape.  It just took a tiny bit of glue to hold them until the resin could anchor them in place.  Those babies aren't going anywhere.

And here are the finished products.  There is a lot of room for creativity here.

Needs more stamping.

A little too much stamping.

This one's juuuust right.

Thank you for joining me and I hope you give these keychains er... bookmarks a try.  We'd love to see them!  And don't forget to join our current challenge, the theme of which is Inspired By: Father's Day!

Happy crafting!

CI Paints Supplies:

Paints: - Gold, Garnet
Jeweled Inspirations
Resinesense

Dream

Hello!

Shea here to show you a cute little tag idea today!  I made today's card using a chipboard tag that I had painted a while back with Creative Inspirations Paints in Tutu Pink and Mellow Yellow.  I love pink and yellow together as it reminds me of spring flowers (think roses especially), so I use them together every chance I get.  Once the paint was dry I stamped it with the sentiment and some leafy flourishes.

I also wanted to use a piece of background paper that I had made months ago using the acrylic block technique and waterbase markers on a piece of glossy paper.  The finished product looked so like a sunset and I've been waiting for a chance to use it ever since.  The marbled colors on the tag sort of blend in with the sunset-ty colors, don't you think?

Here a view of the tag and orange mat that show the shimmery qualities, especially of the mat.  It was dark coral, but I brushed the edges with Rose Quartz which turned it a slightly pinker color, then I inked the edges with distress ink.

Look closely at the tag for a sneek peak of a new product that Creative Inspirations is about to release.  Fun!

A satin bow and some rhinestones complete this card.  Thank you for joining me, and I hope you'll head on over to the Creative Inspirations challenge blog and play along.  This fortnight's challenge is Mother's Day.  See you there!!

Shimmer Flowers

Hello!

Shea here with my very first project for you!  Today's card features some fun flowers that I made using several colors of CI Paints and the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die.

Normally I like to use lots of texture and patterns, not to mention glitter and bling, on my cards but this flower is so colorful and shimmery that I decided to let it stand alone (almost).  It was so much fun! 

First I die cut all of the pieces several times each out of patterned CS, then I sprayed them with water and scrunched them to give them, well, a tattered look.  They are very fragile at this stage and easily torn, as you can see on the green flower with the long, thin petals.  Not a problem, the torn off petal can be attached later.

I painted them with multiple layers of paints, first with Tutu Pink around the centers, then Sky Blue, Mellow Yellow, and Sage for the appropriate colored layers.

Then I layered them, centering them with a pearl.  See how the patterned papers show through the layers of paint?

Here's one closeup showing the shimmery goodness...

...and another closeup showing the patterns.

And that was all there was to it!  I have lots of flowers left over for future projects as I got a little carried away while making them.

The rest of the card was simple.  A quick run through the Big Shot for the base layer with a dot embossing folder, a simple sentiment enhanced with pearls from my stash, and some Metallic Inspirations matte brads finish this simple, yet still colorful card.

Thank you so much for joining me and I hope we see you over at our latest CI Challenge, the theme of which is Anything Goes!

Happy crafting!

Colors used:

Sage, Sky Blue, Tutu Pink, Mellow Yellow