Technique Tuesday Video: Creating the look of distress stickles using glitter & Crystal Effects glue

In today’s Technique Tuesday Video I wanted to share with you a fun technique that allows you to create the look of distress stickles on chipboard letters using glitter & Crystal Effects glue. It’s a fun way to add a little bling to your projects with several advantages: it’s less messy than just using glitter (it doesn’t come off on your hands or your recipient’s hands when handling it) AND you get a much less intense look than you would if you simply applied glue to your project and then sprinkled on glitter afterwards. I find too that when you look closely at the letters (as you can see in the picture below), they have a bit of a distressed look to them – pretty close to the look you would get if you actually used distress stickles. 

To see exactly how I got this look you can watch the video below.  You’ll find written directions and a full supply list at the end of this post:

Here’s how I made the card:

1. Place some Dotto adhesive on a scrap piece of grid paper.  Have a small strip of Dotto for each chipboard letter in your title. Stick your letters to the Dotto on your grid paper.
2. Take an Elegant Eggplant craft Stampin’ Spot and press it all over your chipboard letters until you get the desired coverage.  Set aside to dry.  Alternately you could use a heat tool to speed up the drying process.
3. Mix a little bit of Crystal Effects with Orchid glitter from the Fine Cosmo glitter collection in the well of a palette or in a small container. Use a toothpick to mix the glitter into the glue – make sure it is well mixed.
4. Brush a thin coat of the glitter glue you mixed over the chipboard letters using a foam brush. Set aside to dry.
5. Take a 4″ x 12″ piece of Old Olive CS (I used textured) and fold it in half using a bone folder to create a 4″ x 6″ card.
6. Take a 2-1/4″ x 5-7/8″ piece of Cast-a-Spell DP, flip it over and place a 1″ strip of Snail adhesive on the left and right edges on the back of the DP.
7. Flip the DP back over and lay a 7″ piece of 5/8″ Black Grosgrain ribbon across the DP, bring the ends of the ribbon around to the back of the DP and stick them down to the Snail adhesive.
8. Center and mat the DP to the top of the Old Olive card.
9. Take the second 7″ piece of Basic Black Grosgrain ribbon  and tie it in a knot around the first piece.  Trim the ends with your scissors.
10. Position and stick your chipboard letters to the Old Olive card underneath the DP.  Use Tombow Multi-purpose adhesive to stick them down.
11. Stamp the owl and bat from the Halloween Frights stamp set onto a scrap of Whisper White CS in Basic Black Classic ink.  Stamp the pumpkin in Pumpkin Pie classic ink.  Cut them all out leaving a very small white border of CS around each image.
12. Position and stick your images to the card as shown using Stampin’ Dimensionals. You’re done!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)

Stamps: Halloween Frights (111766)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant Craft Stampin’ Spot (Part of the Rich Regals Craft Stampin’ Spots - 105437), Basic Black Classic ink (101179), Pumpkin Pie Classic ink (105216) 
Paper: Whisper White CS (100730), Old Olive 12″ x 12″ CS (106544), Cast-a-Spell DP (115677)
Accessories: Bone Folder (102300), Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), Crystal Effects (101055), Tombow Multi-purpose adhesive (110755), Dotto adhesive (103305), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), 5/8″ Basic Black Grosgrain ribbo (115605), On Board Lots of Letters (109182), palette or small container (non-SU), toothpicks (non-SU)