I was never a really into shiny, sparkly stuff like glitter on my papercrafting projects, until someone introduced me to Stampin’ Up! and their Glimmer Paper and Stampin’ Glitter.  Since then I’ve not used it a whole lot but it has made an appearance from time to time, and probably more and more often as time has moved on.

So I was a little surprised to feel real disappointment when two of the three Stampin’ Glitters and all the Glimmer Paper appeared on the retiring list this year.  Of course when I saw the 2018/2019 Annual Catalogue there was new Glimmer Paper, it’s thinner so it can be die-cut more easily, and it’s designed to shed less.  As yet I haven’t managed to get my hands on any of it, but I know I want some.

So that left me with one very lonely pot of Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter that was begging to be paired with the sentiment on today’s project.

It was the sentiment from the new Letter Board Messages Stamp Set that started it all.  I wiped a piece of Blueberry Bushel Card with an Embossing Buddy to remove any oils and static and then stamped the sentiment using VersaMark ink.  The sticky ink was then sprinkled with Silver Stampin’ Emboss Powder, the excess tapped off and the rest melted using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

Next I took the little starry image from Letter Board Messages and used Gray Granite ink to stamp the image all over a layer of Whisper White Card.  I really like this little image,.  So much so that I carried on stamping, all over the flap of a Whisper White Medium Envelope, and along the top and bottom edges of a second layer of Whisper White Card.

Silver seemed to be the order of the day so I cut a length of Silver 3/8″ Metallic-Edge Ribbon to wrap around my star covered Whisper White piece, securing the ends of the ribbon on the back with a little Tear & Tape Adhesive.

I liked the blue, white and silver combination so used my Stampin’ Trimmer to cut and score a piece of Blueberry Bushel Card.  Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create the card base, before using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach my ribbon wrapped layer to the front.  More liquid glue fixed the piece with the stars stamped along the top and bottom edges to the inside of the card base.

Putting the sentiment straight onto the ribbon didn’t look right, it needed something to ‘anchor’ it to the front of the card and I reached for my pack of very pretty Pearlised Doilies.  Nice, but now I thought the sentiment needed to be round, so with my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform I cut it out using the #4 plain-edged die from the Layering Circles Framelits.

The round sentiment was definitely an improvement, but it still wasn’t quite ‘right’.  Then it hit me.  Sparkle.  What the card needed was real sparkle.

I found my Silicone Craft Sheet and squeezed some liquid glue in the corner, then placed the Pearlised Doily face UP on the sheet.  Using a piece of Stampin’ Sponge I tapped onto the puddle of liquid glue and then tapped all over the front of the doily to cover it with a thin layer of adhesive.  Once done I moved it to a sheet of scrap paper with tweezers, pulled out my Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter and covered the entire doily with glitter.

It was then I got the urge to sneeze!

Fortunately I managed to race across the room and avoided covering me and my craft studio in a layer of sparkly dust that would take weeks to clean up.  I’m sorry, it doesn’t matter how much you like glitter, there have to be limits.  Anyway, disaster averted I went off to do something else for a little while.  It was probably time to hang out the washing, or make another coffee, or both….

When at last I returned to my desk I was able to safely tip the excess glitter onto the scrap paper and then into the pot.  I was left with the sparkliest doily I have ever seen, exactly what I wanted for my project.  I used liquid glue to attach the doily to the front of the card, then the die-cut sentiment was added with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  One final touch of bling in the shape of three Rhinestone Basic Jewels completed the sentiment and I was done.

So what do you think?  Too much?  Not enough?  Just right?

While you decide, I’m off for breakfast.  For some reason I suddenly fancy a bowl of porridge…