Mica Powder Masking....

Hi Gang, how's it going? I hope you all enjoyed your Bank Holiday Weekend?, despite the weather!... Never mind if not, there'll be another one along very soon.. I've been asked by a couple of people if I could go over the technique I used on this project.. It's one of the ones I prepared for our Demo day a week or so ago now.. I was in a bit of a rush to get those cards made, that I didn't take my usual step by step pictures, so my posts may have seemed slightly different from the norm.. But, with plenty of time to "play" over the weekend,

I can now show a similar project using the same technique in full.. So, grab a cuppa, and let’s begin shall we?!!

To start off with, I cut a shape out using the Memory Box Die Catalina Wreath (98189) onto a medium weight card stock.

After spraying a piece of Acetate with some Stick and Stay Spray, I placed my die cut shape into the centre; this will form your mask..

Next, take your chosen Cosmic Shimmer Mica Powder and, with a Paint Brush, cover all of the exposed, sticky Acetate.

Next, peel back your Mask; this will expose areas untouched by the previous application of Mica Powder, therefore allowing you to add different colours.

Before adding my second colour of Mica Powder, I cut the flowers off of my Wreath template and stuck them back onto the Acetate.

This was so that I could add one colour for the Wreath itself,

and the another colour for the Flowers. It's very subtle at this stage, remember it is on Acetate and it's this subtleness that "makes" this project I think. If it had been done on solid or darker card I suspect the colours would be much stronger..

Finish this part of the project off by sealing the Mica Powder with a cheap generic brand of Hair Spray. No, this is not from my own personal hair care regime!!

Once the Hair Spray is dry, adhere the Acetate to your chosen backing paper. I prefer to spray my backing paper with Stick and Spray as opposed to spraying the Acetate. The backing paper seems to "soak up" some of the "wetness" of the Spray Glue and doesn't show through the Acetate. The other way round, the Acetate will hold onto the "wetness" as it is not porous! By the way, this is all done on the back of the Acetate, the side that you applied the Mica Powder. This way the front will be as smooth as a baby's, well, you know the rest!

I repeated the application of the Mica Powder onto another piece of my backing paper, matt and layering the pieces with some Gold Mirror card. I also stamped my sentiment into the centre of my "masked" image

and applied the pieces to my base card.

The Mica Powder colours I used have certainly turned this project in the direction of "Vintage". So, I added some vintage Blossoms and Leaves which were cut from The Spellbinders Die Bitty Blossoms (S5-086). Now, with my chosen sentiment, I guess it would be wrong not to actually add a Butterfly or Two!

These were cut from The Memory Box Die Vivienne Butterfly (98265) in Gold Mirror Card.

Sticking the pieces together

and then applying them to the project to finish it off... There you go ladies; I said I would post this for you. I hope you can now put all of your Mica Powders to good use.. Thanks for checking us out. See you soon. Andy.