Hungry Heffy Crafts

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I was perusing through my photos of our Legoland trip, and I spied some photos of George. George the Giraffe is one of Joshua’s best friends, and joined my brother Roger, SIL Shelly, and nephew Josh on their trip to England in September. Josh and George hang out all the time, and everywhere that Josh goes, George must go too – after all he is one of the family. During his stay, George had a big day out at London and got to see many of the exciting sights of the city – what a lucky giraffe he is! George is also a bit of a poser, and as I spied many a photo of George during his London day trip, I thought that he deserved his own layout.

This layout was really fun and it also gave me an opportunity to try out my latest purchase – Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. Spray mists have been all the rage in the crafting world of late, and I myself have made some of my own sprays using ink droppers or alcohol ink mixed with water in a Mini Mister. But Glimmer Mist is slightly different – because it Glimmers! Imagine that! Mixed with the liquid are particles of mica which give a beautiful pearlescent effect. There are a couple of other manufacturers that make similar products, so watch out for them too, for example Cosmic Shimmers and the fabulous Shimmerz spritz.

The first thing to remember when using these mica based sprays is that you need to agitate the bottle so that the mica pigment distributes evenly throughout the liquid, as it will tend to settle at the bottom. But it is best not to shake the bottle as this will create bubbles in the liquid and then you will not achieve an even spray. Instead hold the bottle upside down between the palm of your hands and roll the bottle back and forth. I’ve already noticed that this is much easier to do with bottles which are cylindrical like the shimmerz bottle, rather than the oval shaped bottle of the Glimmer Mist and the square bottle by Cosmic shimmers.

I started with a piece of Crate Paper called ‘Tangerine’ from the Lemongrass collection, then using a die cut JBD paper as a template, I drew around the outside to recreate this fabulous label shape. Then I took my Glimmer Mist in bronze and started spraying. It looked fabulous, but I wanted to add a little more oooomph to the paper. I remembered a technique video i saw on the Shimmerz Blog about using bubblewrap to create a spotted effect on the paper, so i gave this a try. Unfortunately the bronze colour was quite light and therefore it didn’t show up very well. Then I reached for my trusty Distress Inks. Taking a piece of old bubble wrap, I tapped the distress ink (walnut stain) lightly over the bubbles in patches. I did this four or five times randomly around the bubblewrap, then I carefully lay my piece of scrapbook paper on top, and pressed lightly with my hand. This time the effect was immediate, and the patches of brown was reminiscent of giraffe print – hurray!! You should really try this technique, it is lots of fun and I am definitely going to be using it again and again.

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Once I had the basis of my backgound, I printed my photos and then picked a blue paper from the sparrow collection from Glitz designs to go under my label shape. This introduced another colour to the layout, which coordinated fantastically with the sky in the background of one of the photos. With a strong colour palate chosen, it didn't take long before the whole layout was embellished and completed.

I hope you like it, and thanks for looking. Don't forget you can leave me a little comment here.
Product list below.

oh, any by the way, did you know that giraffes have blue tongues?

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Products used:
Bronze Glimmer mist by tattered angels
Tangerine paper by Crate paper
label scrapbook page by Jenni Bowlin Designs
Sparrow scrapbook paper by Glitz designs
Bubble wrap
Walnut stain distress inks by Tim Holtz / Ranger
Circle punches
Buttons
Felt thickers by American Crafts
Journaling block by Toga
Journaling sticker by Toga
Cork sticker by Herma
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers
Label stickers by Scenic Route
Tags by Making Memories
Flourish rub on by DCWV
Hannah & Henry Remarks Stickers by American Crafts
Dome Stickers from Hobbycraft
Metal Buttons by Inspirations
Girl Friday Stickers by Cosmo Cricket
Dots stamp by Prima