Tutorial Tuesday - Glimmer Mist with Mandie

Welcome to our very first "Tutorial Tuesday"! To start off the New Year right we decided to try to focus on what YOU the customers of the Cutters Creek Store have questions about. So, if Cutters Creek sells it and you want to know more about it please feel free to post a comment! One product that we got a few questions about in the Cutters Creek Yahoo Group is Glimmer Mist. It's pretty, it's sparkly and it's available in a TON of colors... but what do you actually DO with it??? Well, hopefully this month we can give you a few ideas!


This is a peek at my craft room. You are looking at my rainbow of 1 oz. Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist bottles. I decided that before I invested in the larger 2 oz. bottles I was going to try a few different colors to see what fit my taste so I purchased a few small "sets". I can honestly say I am LOVING my Glimmer Mist and am only going to be buying the large bottles from now on! But don't they look cute all lined up on my shelf? Anyway, I'm going to talk about "Masking" today. Now, there are some GORGEOUS Tattered Angels Glimmer Screens available in the Cutters Creek Store. They are super easy to use, simply lay them on your project and spray the Glimmer Mist and spray the mist. You could also make your own "screens" with your Cricut and some heavy cardstock, chipboard or even acrylic to make it reusable. But today I'm going to share making your own mask with basic tools.


First, grab a piece of scrap paper. This would be a good use for some of those papers you bought or came in a paper pad that you will NEVER use! I'm going to be making a 5" x 6 1/2" card so I cut my scrap of paper to about 6" x 6". Then I randomly cut lines in my paper stopping about 1" from the bottom of the sheet. Then I folded back every other stripe. Notice the Bazzill Splat Mat covering my desk. Surface protection is VERY important when working with Glimmer Mist, unless you want a Glimmer Desk!


Next I cut a piece of Bazzill Simply Smooth Cardstock to 5" x 6 1/2" to cover my card base. You will want a separate sheet to adhere to the card for a couple of reasons. First, the spray can leach through to the other side of the paper. Secondly, the spray can warp the paper a bit so you don't want a wonky card. It kind of straightens back out when you adhere it to the card base. And finally, if you're anything like me some times you need to do a 2nd take and who wants to waste a nice card base? Lay your mask over your paper. Notice I added a paper towel under my paper on top of my Splat Mat. You don't *have* to do this step but I think the end result is a bit neater.


Next a laid another paper scrap across the bottom of where I wanted my stripes to end. Then I grabbed my Purple Pansy Glimmer Mist and shook it up until all of the "Glimmer" mixed in. You can tell it is all mixed up by checking the bottom. Just shake until there is nothing clinging to it! It just takes a minute but makes a WORLD of difference. *Side Note* - it has also been said that you should "swirl' instead of shaking so you can try that too, just make sure it's mixed well.


Now you are going to start spritzing. The above photo is just a couple of squirts. A couple things to remember: try to keep the bottle as upright as possible, keep it moving as you spritz and shake it up every couple of squirts, just to be sure to get as much glimmer as possible. The beauty of this is you can add as many or as few squirts as you want! When I felt that I had the right coverage (about 10-12 squirts for this project) I dabbed it with a dry paper towel to take of the excess and removed the mask....


And here is the background for my card! I used my Heat Gun to quickly dry my paper, just make sure to keep it moving so you don't scorch your cardstock. One tip I can give is to mostly dry the front, it will probably curl a bit... now flip it over and dry it a bit on the back as well. It helps straighten it out a bit. Depending on how picky you are you can also set it under a stack of books overnight to flatten a bit more. I've also heard you can lightly spritz the back with a Mini Mister full of water and that this will balance it out. I haven't TRIED this yet but I WILL for next week's tutoral! I will post posts of different swatches for you all to see.


So I decided to use my Cricut Expression Machine and the Create A Critter cartridge to cut an adorable cat for my card at 4 1/2". I cut the base from Black cardstock, the main body from Silver American Crafts Glitter Paper and the nose and bow from Pink cardstock. Now, I decided that with the glimmery background and the glittery cat body the plain Pink looked... Plain! So I grabbed some Vintage Pink Glimmer Mist and spritzed the pieces. If you click the photo to make it a bit larger you can REALLY see the difference just a spritz makes! And because I didn't really use a lot of spray There was no warping of my pieces.


For the ruffle along the pillow I used my Xyron 150, AKA the X, to add the adhesive to the back. This is one tool that I can't scrapbook without. It's so quick and easy to just add a little adhesive to small pieces!


Finally here is a look at my card all assembled! I like that I could use this card for just about anything. And there is sooooo much sparkle and shimmer with the Glimmer Mist!!!

So now you should head over to the Cutters Creek Store and browse the 72 different colors available in the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Sprays! Just a hint for the future here... you *may* want to have a bottle or two on hand for an upcoming contest..... So, what did you think of today's tutorial? I will be back next Tuesday with another Glimmer Mist tutorial! Also, keep checking the blog because we are going to be posting many more great projects and ideas during the rest of the week too!