No glittery substances spared

I know this was World Card Day but it's been so long since I have done a layout I needed to do something about it. Starting with the sorting, labelling and printing of almost 2 years' worth of photos! Prompted by the Impression Obsession challenge, I chose a photo taken in October last year, just as the leaves were turning, on one of those crisp and clear mornings where the sky colour takes on a deep blue shade.

I started with a blank page and used 2 stencils with sprays and Distress inks.
Using CAC Grunge (CC076) I distressed all 4 sides of the page and partially stamped CAC Branches (CC031) for some interest.
I created a mat for my photo with a MStewart PATP, without the corners as the size was incompatible, and a label with Flags Die Set (DIE015-F).

I punched out a leaf to make a stencil and applied texture paste through, when dry I used pigment ink and mica powder on top.

Some embossed vellum and a scrap of washi tape serve as embellishments to break up the fall colors.

Now for the glittery stuff... I wanted to have another go with foiling with the Sticky Stuff powder (Judikins) as the last time I tried it was an out and out disaster. For those unfamiliar with this, it is a powder, used like an embossing powder over a versamarked image, which turns sticky after heating with the embossing gun. When I got it I thought it was a better way than to use a glue pad,  less clean-up and no drying pad before it has even been used!

BUT.... it doesn't work as well. Below are detailed pictures of the areas I used as testing grounds. The stamp is a solid image, Rose Leaf Branch (F8199).

On the left, I stamped with the glue and applied the flakes before burnishing. As you can see the whole surface of the stamped has been covered. (and what a shine!)

On the right I used the powder and gilding flakes; when it failed I overstamped with Versamark and gold embossing powder. Only a small area was sticky enough to grab some flakes.

Powder 0, Glue 1. But would the powder work with glitter at least ? Below the result:

Definitely better than with the foil but even though the whole image was stamped, embossed and glittered at the same time and in the same manner, you can see the top leaves had a lot less stickyness to them. I surmise that the area has been overheated which means that the powder is VERY sensitive and a fraction of a second turns it into a useless mess.

My advice : don't use my powder! As well as being finicky the grain is quite large (larger than standard embossing powder) so the sticky surface is not as flat as it should be, particularly if you want to use detailed stamps.



I am also entering this layout in the Pan Pastel UK challenge.

If you do know a powder that does work (I know there are other brands out there) please let me know in your conmments!