Monday, April 18, 2011

Ice Crystals technique




This was one of those "OH...cool" things for me! I was not expecting my cardstock to look so cool after it dried! I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this! It reminds me of a thick layer of ice on a window. The first picture is of my finished card. The second picture is of the plain cardstock after it dried. See the sort of glazed look of it. I used the Concord Crush piece of cardstock for a different card. This is one of my new favorite techniques now! And, again, it's really quite simple. Basically, you need a bowl, 1 cup of boiling water, 1 cup of Epsom salt and a paintbrush! EASY! Most folks have Epsom salt but if you don't it's quite easy to find at your local drug store and it's not expensive! For me, that is a BIG plus! You pour the boiling water into a bowl and then add the Epsom salt. Stir until the Epsom salt is all dissolved and then "paint" it onto your cardstock. Then, let it dry! You can also use white or cream colored cardstock and add some reinker to the Epsom salt/water mixture for a more subdued color. The hardest part about this technique is waiting for the cardstock to dry! You won't see the effect at first but as it dries you start to see the frosty effect of the drying Epsom salt. Here is a list of the items I used to make this card.

Stamp set: Cute by the Inch

Cardstock/paper: Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Sunny Garden DSP

Ink: Poppy Parade

Other: Poppy Parade 1/2" Stitched Poly ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, other items mentioned in paragraph above.

All products made by/sold by Stampin' Up! (except the water and Epsom salt and such!)



5 comments:

  1. So cool! Thanks for the new technique idea! Going to try it for sure!

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  2. Great looking technique! Thanks for sharing. How did you keep the cardstock from curling as it dried?

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  3. Sue (see comment above) asked how I kept the cardstock from curling. Basically, I did nothing! The picture of the "plain" two pieces of cardstock is exactly how they dried. Maybe it has something to do with the Epsom salt? I have NO clue! But, it did not curl up like you would expect wet cardstock to curl.

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  4. This is super cool. I hope to try out this technique this weekend.

    TFS

    Cheers
    Sonia

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  5. Very nice, thanks for posting, I tried this last night and am going to show the results to a few ladies today. I had cut several colors of c.s. into pieces, and 2 don't show the crystals at all! It was just absorbed I guess. so the others turned out great. I have stored the rest of the liquid in a plastic tub with lid, hope it keeps, cause there is lots left.

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