March 11, 2022 Jessica Vittek

Shimmery Backgrounds with Galaxy Powders!

OMG Check out that sparkle and shine! I used the Galaxy Powders on Aqua Pigment paper to create this beautiful shimmery, sparkly, purple background.

What you will need to start with for this background is some watercolor paper, and I LOVE the Brutus Monroe Aqua Pigment paper, a few colors of the Galaxy Powders (make sure you choose colors that blend and mix well together - for this I chose Planetary Pink and Spatial Purple), a spray bottle of water, and a slick surface to work on (I used a glass mat).

To start off, I generously sprinkled the powder onto my dry worksurface - I just tapped the bottom of the bottles as I shake them, I wouldn't squeeze because that might cause too much to come out at one time.

Once you have a good amount of powder on your work surface, spray generously with water.

And place your aqua pigment paper face down into the shimmery goodness! I also moved it around a little bit as it was sitting on the glass to help move some of that pigment around.

Look how pretty that is! I love how random and varied the color placement is. And it is also super shimmery when it is dry!

I actually did the powder + water + smooshing step a few times to get the intensity that I really wanted. I used my heat tool to dry in between layers. You definitely want to let it dry in between or instead of getting a layered look, it was just keep blending. And that's not a bad thing! If more of a soft, blended look is what you are going for, then keep adding layers while it is wet!

Next, I added the sentiment. I LOVE this sentiment from the Monster Bash die set! You can use it so many different ways. There is a shadow die as well as the letters. You can die cut them together at the same time and the letters will be cut out of the shadow layer - you could just use it like that, or cut out the letters again and place them into the shadow piece for a die cut inlay look!

For this card, I cut the shadow layer out of vellum and the letters out of purple cardstock. I used the piece of purple that I cut the letters out of as a guide to help me place the letters perfectly onto the shadow layer. Since I was using vellum, this was easy! I laid the purple template under my vellum shadow piece so I could see through and know where the letters belong.

Once I had all the letters glued onto the vellum, I flipped it over and put glue on the vellum only behind where the purple letters were, so that the glue doesn't show through the vellum on the other side.