Faux Epoxy Embellishments

In this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #298, Betsy Veldman showed us how to create a faux epoxy looking embellishment using clear embossing powder in a few layers to achieve the look of a store bought embellishment.  I have used this technique many times but with a lot more success than I did for this card.  I guess I was having an off day because I was a mess in the studio yesterday!  I burned myself a few times (not too seriously) before I finally got a small little embellishment done that I could use on my card. I have die cut and stamped a whole big bunch of the berry branches from Betsy's Beautiful Berries: Winter Collection in all kinds of different colors (red, blue, teal, pink, etc.) and I knew I wanted to use some for my card this week.

As I have time, I've been adding touches of glitter to all of the berries on all of my branches and knew I wanted to use some that I had stamped using Pinefeather for the branches, Tropical Teal for the berries, and Enchanted Evening for the shadow on the berries.  I added glitter to that shadow area using Recollections Peacock Glitter.  That small area gives just the right touch of glitter without being too much.  For that type of fine detail, I used a Quickie Glue Pen.  I got started using those about 15 years ago and I still have a lot of them on hand although by now, the glue isn't flowing too well in the open ones.  If they are still new in the package with the protective tip on there, they work just fine. I'm just guessing, but I'd say I still have about 25 of these on hand from my scrapbooking days.

I also knew I wanted to use a white or silver snowflake for my "epoxy" embellishment to go with this so I used a white and silver foiled background paper for my card.  This paper is from a big stack from DCWV called Silver Linings. I use much more gold than silver so I'm pretty sure I have a decade's worth of silver foiled paper in that one pack. I die cut all the different elements I was planning to use like my background, the fancy silver circle, the Aqua Mist circle that goes behind it, the banner for my sentiment, and a few different snowflakes. Truthfully, I really wanted a white snowflake but by the time I got a third or fourth layer of clear embossing powder on there, my white snowflake was no longer white.  I tried several different things and since then have thought of a few more to try.  I just couldn't get the look I was going for without compromising my design so ultimately I did clear embossing over the small silver snowflake that I attached to the banner.  I cut the snowflake from Silver Mirror Board and put three layers of clear embossing powder on there.  That little snowflake is really fragile and it took several tries to get a snowflake that came out unscathed and with no missing parts.  I was having the same issue with the larger snowflake as well which is why I only used the small one as my "epoxy" embellishment in the end. I also heat embossed my sentiment using WOW! Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder with one of the sentiments from Beautiful Berries: Winter and then assembled everything together.

My card base is made from Stamper's Select White.  Next I added a background layer of Hawaiian Shores with the white and silver paper on top of that.  The Circle element is from the 2014 Stamp-A-Faire Renaissance Collection.  I love this little die and use it often as a way to create a focal point.

The branches were attached with Scor-Tape at the base and then some skinny strips of Foam Tape to pop the ends up a bit for dimension.  The snowflakes were adhered using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

Thank goodness, that completes my card.  You can stop by the Papertrey Blog to see Betsy's Make It Monday Video Tutorial.