Today, I’m back playing with Nuvo shimmer powders to make some backgrounds and turn them into cards. I talked a lot about using these along with tips in this post and I received a lot of great response so I thought I’d play around with them again and use them also in die cutting.
Not all backgrounds are created equal and sometimes you may not like the results you get, so in those cases I use them for die cutting and in this case I will use a couple for the large “Happy” die by CZ Design. It works really well for this particular die because it is a fat/chunky die which comes with the outline and the shadow.
Mixing my three favorite shimmer powders colors: “Storm Cloud”, “Violet Brocade” and “Cherry Bomb”, I made a bunch of backgrounds just sprinkling a bit of the powders onto Canson watercolor paper and spritzing plain water on top. Then, I set the backgrounds to dry. Canson watercolor paper has become my new favorite as I LOVE how it doesn’t curl either even after drying (I didn’t tape down the paper either!) AND, it’s extremely affordable!
After they dried, I looked at each one and I really loved all of them except two of them. The two I didn’t like as much I kept and used them to die cut the “Happy” letters. The shadow I die cut on heavyweight vellum. You can tell from these pics, the different looks I got. So much fun and very addicting! I made 2 of these cards and added the secondary sentiment strip from Simon Says Stamp. Didn’t feel it needed anything other embellishments.
When I shared these cards on my IG account, one of my crafty friends named this collection “Bold and Beautiful”. LOVE IT!
NOTE: Just because some backgrounds don’t turn out as good as you like, don’t throw them away. Let them dry and save them. You can always use them to die cut a large word die and add that to your card base.
For my next two cards, I decided to add different die cuts to the top of the backgrounds. One is a butterfly that comes with the Brother Scan-n-cut and I printed a few of them for dimension. The other is a heart die and I used the 3rd largest size in that set.
I love that I used the sentiment strip that actually matches the name of one of the shimmer powders and it wasn’t planned! Some things just come together!
Unfortunately, you can’t see that the heart die has an embossed pattern on it from the pictures. I also added some purple stitching with my Pentel marker to give it some interest.
I trimmed down some heavyweight cardstock for all my watercolor backgrounds (about 3 per card), this gave them some stability and strength plus dimension. Also, each of these were trimmed to 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″ so that on an A2 card base, you have a really nice border, took that tip from Laura Bassen!
List of Supplies:
Below are links to the products I used and some of them are affiliate links meaning if you purchase through them, I’ll earn a small commission and it is no extra cost to you. Your purchasing helps support our small business and we appreciate that so much! – Kim
- Nuvo Shimmer Powders (Cherry Bomb, Catherine Wheel, Green Parade, Atlantis Burst, Violet Brocade, Storm Cloud, Solar Flare and Blue Blitz) – https://amzn.to/2RPRQw0 and https://amzn.to/2VBLJfO
- Canson Watercolor Paper – https://amzn.to/3j3uQVc
- CZ Design “Happy Die” – https://bit.ly/2FzPQob
- Simon Says Stamp Reverse “Send Happiness” Sentiment strips – https://bit.ly/2CDL8Vz
- Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer (for water splatters) – https://amzn.to/2VLdHpD
- Gemini Jr. Die cutting machine – https://amzn.to/2VjbWAS
- Teflon bone folder – https://amzn.to/2VcfC8
- Tim Holtz Paper Trimmer – Simon Says Stamp – https://bit.ly/2Jb0L7V
- Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat – https://amzn.to/2lawwDO
- Assorted Color Envelopes – https://amzn.to/2OLImiR
- Scor-Buddy Mini Score Board – https://amzn.to/3efxsxr
- Accents 100 lb. white cardstock – https://amzn.to/2XiH9oY
- Teflon bone folder – https://amzn.to/2VcfC8
- Brother CDX 125 ScanNCut – https://amzn.to/2FKbBBW
- Heart dies – 4.7 x 4.7″ – https://amzn.to/2QeFQmm
- Pentel Color Markers (24 colors) – https://amzn.to/2VFnI8K
- Gina K. Designs Connect Glue – https://bit.ly/2BI8Z5Z
- GluePro Tape Runner – GlueGuider Pro Tape Runner – Bought mine on eBay, but it sells at Hobby Lobby >> https://bit.ly/3iv0Xhp or Amazon >> https://amzn.to/3dVVjkL Refill cartridges here >> https://amzn.to/2VMerLX