styrofoam flowers...

Hello my fabulous friends!

Ready for some snow in August? 

No? 

Me either!

Ok... what about flowers?

Stamps: Magnolia Tilda & Wiola; Altenew Oriental Orchids

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Uniball Signo; Adirondack Lettuce, Current; Chameleon Pens VO4, BV2, NU00, NU3, PK2, CG9, CG8, NG4, OL3, BR1, BR5, RD5, BL4,BL7, BL2, CB, D

Dies: Spellbinders A2 Scalloped Borders 1

Other: colored pencils, styrofoam balls

This is an old stamp (not even sure if you can still buy it... but I wanted to practice coloring fabric with the Chameleon pens...)

After coloring this girl, I noticed that her bunch of flowers (all little itty bitty flowers) just didn't pop like I wanted it to... So I decided to try something I heard about years ago, but never really tried... 

Styrofoam flowers. 

YEP, styrofoam. 

I love how they turned out, and the little extra texture and sparkle they give the card. 

Here's how to make your own...

Start by rubbing two cheap styrofoam balls  (like THESE) together... This is the simplest way to 'grate' the balls into a beautiful pile of sparkling styrofoam snow dust... (perfect for a snow scene!)

Now, put that snow into a zip bag (or a container with a lid would work too...) and add a couple drops of alcohol ink. I used Ranger's Adirondack, but if you have alcohol marker refill ink, that would work too. Just make sure it is alcohol based.

Shake up your bag... You can add more ink if needed, but a little really does go a long way!

Once you like the color, open up the bag for a while to let all the ink dry. You can spread your snow out on a piece of paper to dry if you want... It doesn't take long at all. 

Once dry, you can make color mixes by putting some of several colors into a bag and mixing them up... That's how I made the flowers for my card.  Because styrofoam is non porous, I used Glossy Accents to attach it to my card.  

Simple, cheap, and effective! 

Enjoy!

~Kassi