Crystal Medallion Spinner (and tutorial)

When I first saw the new Crystal Medallion rubber stamp set from Sparkle N Sprinkle, it reminded me of a kaleidoscope.  That thought process led me to create this Penny Spinner card.  (You can find the technique here).  This is a very photo intensive post, so grab a drink, sit back, and I hope you enjoy (and maybe learn a new technique along the way).

I stared off by stamping the image and coloring it with Copic markers.  I picked my colors by random and just started coloring various sections.  Next, I covered it with Super Adhesive Sheet and fussy cut out both layers.  Once it was fussy cut, I peeled off the backing from the Super Adhesive Sheet and covered the entire area with Cloud Nine velvet glitter.  This gave each individual color of my kaleidoscope lots of shimmer.

Following the directions in the tutorial, I stamped my sentiment into the punched area using VersaMark and heat setting with Gold Coast embossing powder.  The top panel was liberally spritzed with Dylusions Ink Spray (London Blue) and pop dotted above the panel cut to the same size as the top panel.  (This white cardstock panel is where you stamp your sentiment.)


To create the corner piece, I started out with white cardstock.  I adhered a Dreamweavers metal stencil to the cardstock and applied embossing paste over it.  While the embossing paste was still wet, I covered it with Gold Coast embossing powder.  I set this aside to dry completely (over night) before I heat set the embossing powder with a heat gun.  Once it was dry and the embossing powder was heat set, I spritzed this with more London Blue.  The cool thing about this embossing paste/embossing powder combo is that it acts like a resist.  So, once I was happy with the coverage on my spritzing, I took a paper towel and wiped off the excess ink from the raised image.  Since I wanted it at an angle, I fussy cut out the design and adhered it to my focal panel with my Crystal Medallion spinner.

Since embossing paste and stencils are making a comeback at the moment, I thought I'd create a tutorial for this embossing paste/embossing powder technique.

To get started, you'll need to gather the following supplies: embossing paste, spatula (or a used hotel key card), brass or plastic stencil, cardstock, removable tape, embossing powder, and a container of warm, soapy water.  Once you begin, you'll need to work relatively fast, so have everything ready ahead of time.




You want to start off by taping down your cardstock to your craft mat.  Lay the brass stencil on top in the position you'd like it.   Then I like to tape off all four edges so everything is secure.  You don't want the stencil to shift while applying the embossing paste.

Take the back of the spatula, or anything that you can easily spread the embossing paste with, and apply over the stencil.   It's like icing a cake.  I start off with a thick layer of paste, and then as I'm smoothing it out, I'm also taking off the excess.  Just place any excess back into the jar so you can use it next time.  Even though it looks like you're using a lot of paste, most of it goes back into the jar.

You can have the paste as thick or thin as you'd like.  The thicker it is, the longer it will take to dry.  Once you're happy with it and all the openings are covered with embossing paste, carefully begin peeling off the tape in the reverse order that you put them on.  This helps to keep you from jarring the stencil and ruining the design.  Use the last piece  of tape like a hinge and gently swing the stencil up off the cardstock and then peel away from your cutting mat.   (Be sure to scrap off the stencil and place the excess embossing paste back into the jar too.)

The design should have crisp,  defined edges and look something like the photo above.  As soon as you've taken the stencil off, drop it into your container of water so that the embossing paste does not dry onto the stencil.  (It's extremely hard to clean once it's dried on.)

While the embossing paste is still wet, cover it with your embossing powder.  (You can go ahead and shake off the excess embossing powder and put it back into your container.)  The next step is the hardest - you have to set it aside and let it dry completely before moving onto the next step!

While it's starting to dry, you can clean your stencil and spatula.  I just take it to a sink and clean it with soap and a soft rag.  Since it was already in the container of water, the paste stayed moist and clean up is easy-breezy.

Once the embossing paste is dry (anywhere from several hours to over night, depending on how thick a layer you put down), take your heat gun and heat set the embossing powder.  It shimmers and shines and the embossing powder doesn't rub off.   As I mentioned earlier, this works as a great resist too.

Hope this tutorial helps spark some creative juices and encourages you to try it too.

I'm also entering this in the Dreamweavers challenge.