What Do You Do With That?

Have you ever been browsing your favorite store, seen something that looked really cool, purchased it, then put it in a drawer or closet never to be seen again? Yeah, I've got plenty of that stuff - in my craft room. Tons of cool, fun stuff that I just had to have, but have never used. Well, today I decided that I was going to do something about that. Today I brought out something I bought years ago, and never used - a box of Melissa Frances™ Mica Flakes.

What the heck do you do with that? Well, they're shiny, so they would be a great way to add some flash & bling to a project. My first thought was of the stamp set that comes with the "Laughing Lola" Card-making Kit from Close To My Heart. I just love that starburst background stamp, and I thought it would be cool to bling-up those rays. My first step was to stamp the image. I chose to stamp in white ink on black paper (figuring that flakes would show up better on a dark color).

Next, I applied Liquid Glass to the outsides of the rays (I knew I would be covering up the middle, so I didn't bother putting anything there).

Then I sprinkled the Mica Flakes onto the glue - just like glitter. I found, however, that when I did this and shook off the excess, the mica flakes were so big that the space between the rays got covered up. Hmmmm. I guess this was not the best image to work with when using the mica flakes.

Soooo...I decided to go a different route and use the mica as some sparkly snow. I pulled out my favorite "Flakey Friends" stamp set, stamped one of the snowmen, and applied the Liquid Glass and mica to the "snow".

This worked much better! I finished the scene off by adding some Stickles™ to the snowflakes (adding several of my own).

How fun! I went back to my original stamped image from "Laughing Lola" and "weeded" through the spaces in between the rays with a paper piercer. This ended up working pretty well for clearing out the spaces (except on the sides - the spaces there were just too thin to bother), so I finished the rays and this is the final card:

Flashy, huh? So the Mica Flakes experiment was a success. Just remember that if you are using them, they are much bigger than glitter, micro beads, or most anything else you would sprinkle onto your projects...just something to keep in mind when planning how to use them.