Each month I hold a technique night focusing on some different product or crafting technique.  Well, this last Tuesday night we focused on Crystal Effects.  I think Crystal Effects is one of those products that I often forget on the shelf but when I pull it out and start playing around I have so much fun!  I took this evening to show some of the different ways you can use Crystal Effects starting with the simple:

In this case, we stamped the card and then added Crystal Effects over the butterfly image to create a fun 3D effect:

Similar to this idea, we also made some chipboard accents to use on a future project.  This was the thrifty person (aka hoarder) in me.  I saved the white cardboard piece that comes with our designer paper packages.  We adhered some DSP to the cardboard and then punched out a heart using the Small Heart punch.  Then we punched that out using a 1” Circle punch and also punched out a 1” circle of Poppy Parade cardstock.  Glue the Poppy Parade piece to the back of your chipboard and then fill in the cutout with Crystal Effects.  Its a fun way to make custom epoxy-like accents.

Next, we added some sparkle to the place… cause who doesn’t like glitter with your pizza?  🙂   (We were meeting at Round Table Pizza and only got a little bit of glitter on the table)  Coat the top of the brad with Crystal Effects and dip into some fine glitter to create your glitter brads.

Now, I will warn you, unlike our Glimmer Brads in the Holiday Mini, the glitter will tend to rub off a bit with these brads.  You want to shake off what you can when you first glitter them up and then be prepared for a little to flake off after its dried.  I think it is pretty enough to be worth it.  Oh, and when you are letting your brads dry after dipping them, just set them gently on the table with the prongs pointing up.  It won’t mess up your brads and then you can have your hands free to do other stuff while it dries.

We also used Crystal Effects as glue on the back of the clear Itty Bitty Buttons, using the matching Punch Pack to punch out paper in the same shape as the button.  I made this card a while back and used it as my sample.  But it shows you basically what we did.

Finally, our last fun technique was the Stained Glass technique.  I love using this stamp set for this technique.  If you want to see details on how to do it, check out my post from last year.  But here is the card we made:

And yes, my tree ended up a little “artistic”. 🙂  I was showing how to color and paint on the Crystal Effects and when showing how you would attach the window sheet to the Whisper White paper once the Crystal Effects was dry, I accidentally put them together.  So, I now call it artistic shading.

It was a fun night and I loved seeing the creativity in the room.

Thanks for taking the time to view the projects we made.  I’d love to hear what your favorite use is for Crystal Effects.  Leave a comment sharing what tips and techniques you use, I’d love to hear from you!

In the San Francisco area? I’d love to show you and your friends how to make these projects!  Contact me at jennifer@nwstamper.com to learn how you can get a free private class for you and your friends!