I’ve been playing with gilding flakes this month. After watching many video’s, I decided to take the plunge and make some cards with them. The shiny flakes look great with the bright colors of Basis Card Stock that is on sale this month. Are you ready to try out something new?
To get started, you need a few special items – gilding flakes of course, tacky glue, an application sponge, and a Scoochy sponge. Let’s look at these special items. First, you need some kind of tacky glue. This glue dries to a tacky finish. I used Cosmic Shimmer Flake and Glitter Glue. Another popular one for this technique is FlitterGlu.
To apply the glue, I used a special sponge and some packaging left over from stamp products. I have an entire drawer filled with plastic packaging. It came in handy for this project. I spread the Flake and Glitter Glue on the plastic packaging. When I’m finished I simply throw the plastic away.
Using either Cut & Dry Foam or IndigoBlu Phat Foam, you tap the glue onto the stamps. Just like inking a stamp. In the photo above, you can see the light blue color of the glue that I applied to the two balloons. When you stamp the images, you have to be careful. The glue makes the stamp very slippery. Press the stamp down firmly but don’t rock from side to side. If it slips, you won’t get a clean impression. You end up with smears of gilding flakes where you don’t want them. I’ve had this happen several times.
After stamping with the glue, you need to clean your stamps pretty quickly. Otherwise, you’ll have a sticky residue on the stamp. Since, you need to let the stamped images dry briefly now is a good time for clean up. I take my stamps to a sink and run warm water over them. Sometimes, I add a little soap and rub them with my fingers to remove all the glue.
Usually by the time I finish cleaning my stamps, the images have dried to a tacky finish. Now you can apply the gilding flakes. I rubbed the flakes in with my fingers. Tap any leftovers back into the jar. To finish, you burnish the flakes using a Scoochy sponge. Gently rub the Scoochy sponge over the flakes and watch the magic as your images appear. A word of caution when using gilding flakes. Make sure there are no open windows or fans on. Don’t even sneeze. Gilding flakes are very lightweight and can end up everywhere.
Below is the finished card. I used IndigoBlu Silver Flakes on two of the balloons. One is Red Basis Card Stock and the other is Medium Blue Basis Card Stock. For the other balloons, I used a gilding flake mix called Autumn Leaves from Cosmic Shimmer and Aqua Basis Card Stock. The card base is Kraft Brown Bag in 130lb. This Kraft card stock is great for card bases. It’s super sturdy and stands up really well.
I made a second card with the same stamps and Autumn Leaves Gilding Flakes. For the card stock, I used Dark Red, Coral and Red Basis Card Stock. For the card base, I used the same Kraft Brown Bag in 130lb.
I have a question for you. Would you send this second card, the red one, to a guy? I’m curious what you think. Is it masculine enough? Or does it look too feminine? Is the look more juvenile and better suited for younger people? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Don’t miss the sale on Basis Card Stock this month.
Thanks so much for visiting.
Until next time. . . . inky hugs!!
Marcia K
