Shimmering Itoh Peony

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone is having a great kick-off to summer.  It was graduation weekend here in Maine and it has been a simply gorgeous day!

Today I'm going to show you how I made these stunning Itoh Peony cards with tons of shimmer!  My supply list included the following:

• Itoh Peony Stamp from Technique Junkies
• Tattered Angels Glimmer mist in: Precious Metal, Lobster and It's Orange  (you could use another brand of mica spray or make your own by mixing Perfect Pearls with water in a mini mister).
• Watercolor paper trimmed to 6 x 6
• Emblossing ink
• White Embossing Powder
• Antistatic Powder Tool
• Heat Tool
• Layering papers for backing
• A2 size card base
• Embellishments such as sequins and/or pearls
• Either a stamp for a sentiment or a die/foam tape for mounting

I have had these glimmer mists for quite some time and I admit, I really didn't know how to use them.  The color is very intense (the labels are actual samples) and it's quite watery.  But, first things first.  I prepped my watercolor panel with my antistatic powder tool and stamped my image with clear embossing ink.  This is a big stamp, but I did use my stamp positioner so I could stamp it more than once if need be.  I used super detail white embossing powder from Hero Arts (my fav) and melted it with my heat tool.  At this point you can tape down the panel to a board or just set it on paper towels which is what I did.  I used the darkest color first which is the Lobster.  This is REALLY RED!

  I tried not to cover the entire image with just one color.  I had an idea in my mind of where I wanted the darkest tones and where I wanted the lightest.  Immediately after spritzing on, I dabbed it a clean paper towel.  I didn't wipe it, I just dabbed up the excess.  After I was done with the Lobster, I added the It's Orange which definitely had lots of yellow in it!

As I worked along adding color, I mopped up the excess with the paper towel.  I spritzed with my right hand and mopped with my left!  When I had these 2 colors to the point where I was satisfied, I went in with the Precious Metal.  This is an odd color, it's very light and not quite pink and not quite flesh tone, but it had a toning effect on the Lobster and It's Orange.  By working on the 6 x 6 paper I had a place to hold on to and it gave me a nice border to use for my sentiment.

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice this looks and the shimmer is incredible.  I trimmed the panel to 4 x 5.25 and retained the left side for mounting my sentiment.  I used a Lawn Fawn die and plain white card stock and popped it up on foam tape.  I backed the panels with a piece of silver linen paper from My Paper Wishes and mounted it on a white card base.  I added a few Simon Says Stamp Moonshine sequins and some Nuvo Jewel drops to the centers of the peonies.

I had made another panel and actually watercolored it...this is the pink one in the opening photo.  I took a chance and sprayed it with the Precious Metal mist using the exact same technique of spritzing with my right hand and mopping up with my left hand.  I really didn't know if this was going to reactivate the watercolor and totally ruin the card or not, but it did not effect the watercolor at all.  It just gave a wonderful shimmer to the whole panel.  I had heat embossing this panel using Silver Pearl embossing powder from WOW.  So I backed the panel onto some pearl cardstock and covered my card base with a pink specialty paper which I also used for my sentiment which I heat embossed white.  I used Pearls for  embellishments and Limoncello Nuvo Jewel drops for the centers of the peonies.  The soft shimmer of this card is really pretty!

I hope you enjoyed today's card tutorial and that you'll give it try when you are in the mood from some shimmer!

Just for a teaser...I'm close to 1500 on Instagram....and yes, there will be a giveaway!!!!!  Stay tuned!

Happy Paper crafting and remember...it's just paper!

Betsy