3 Ways to Make Your Holidays Sparkle

Ever struggle with ways to make your cards sparkle? Join EH Ambassador, Jessica Frost-Ballas, as she shares three easy ways to amp up the holiday sparkle!

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Good morning! I don’t think it’s any surprise that I LOVE adding sparkle to my cards and I want to share three of my favorite ways to make your cards really catch the light! Plus it’s a great excuse to use the fantastic new Sparkly Christmas sentiment set!

To start I created my background by blending Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Seedless Preserves, and Black Soot distress oxide ink onto a panel of strathmore bristol smooth cardstock. Then I dried it thoroughly with my heat gun (or you can also let it sit for a few hours but you’ll want to make sure it’s really dry before moving onto the next step).

Next I stamped the Sparkly Christmas sentiment onto the panel with versamark and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder. Then I pressed a versamark pad ALL over the background panel making sure it was totally covered with ink. If your ink is wet you’ll risk transferring ink to your versamark pad and then transferring it back to your panel. After the panel is completely covered with ink sprinkle it with Wow clear hologram sparkle embossing powder. You can also use Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder though it’s not quite as glittery.

The inked background and sentiment clearly show through the embossing powder but that glitter makes QUITE the statement! 😉 It’s also really neat because when you move the panel around the reflected colors change!

After I finished being hypnotized by glitter I worked on the rest of the card! I stamped the trees and snowman image from Merry Little Christmas with copic-friendly black ink and colored them with copic markers. I used warm greys and RV90s for the images and then die-cut them with the coordinating dies.

Next I tore some white cardstock to get a rough “snowy” edge. I adhered two of them to my blended background panel to create snowy hills. Then I adhered my image with foam mounting tape for a little dimension. Next I added a light layer of spectrum noir clear sparkle to the snowman’s scarf and hat. This is the subtlest glitter on the card but still gives the images a little shimmer! Then I added Nuvo crystal glaze to the images and one of the snowy hills. I use a cheap paintbrush to apply the glaze so that I can brush it a little thinner over the hills and keep it thicker on the snowman. Then I sprinkled it with chunky and prisma glitter from Lawn Fawn. I find that the crystal glaze does the best job of holding the glitter in place once it’s dried. The glitter also reflects the background colors in beautiful ways!

I really wish I could show this card to all of you in person as the sparkle is just gorgeous and when it catches the light it’s truly spectacular! While this might be a little too much for some of you I hope it will give you some inspiration for different ways to add sparkle and shimmer to your creations! Thanks so much for stopping by today and have an amazing day!