Confetti is running rampant on the crafty front, so I wanted to take a moment and share some tips/tricks and techniques for adding confetti to your scrapbook pages. I had two projects in my gallery at Studio Calico this month using this technique:
I've experimented with confetti a bit, and found a great adhesive to use to adhere confetti, as well as some fun punches to use as well.
The cast of characters:
You need:
punches - I have two different sized hole punches here. I also have some really great punches I found at Walmart for less than $1. They are by Studio G (which can also be found at Michael's), and one is a circle, the other a heart punch. They worked great on my Valentine layout above.
Other popular punchs are the Swiss Cheese punch from Fiskars but I'm also seeing some great options with the knockout punches from American Crafts, specifically the star border and this one.
I like these individual punches because I can use them on small scraps of paper to get my shapes and don't have to start with a fresh 12x12. Making confetti is a great use of scraps.
You also need adhesive. Elmer's Craft Bond = fabulous.
After I have punched my shapes it's time to get out that adhesive and my misting box. It's going to get messy.
This Elmers adhesive is AWESOME. It will soon be making it's way to a Studio Calico shop near you. ;)
Some things to note:
This adhesive is sticky.
It's a spray, so be in a well ventilated area.
Cover your whole project. Don't just spray it where you want the confetti to be. I say this because when it dries, you will be able to tell where the adhesive was when you hold your project at an angle in the light. It also changes the texture of your base paper just a little bit. But this is NOT like Super Seal. Your project will not be hard and shiny. It's fabulous because it works and almost disappears when it dries. It just doesn't disappear completely.
For this example I used my card. I sprayed the entire thing with Craft Bond, and then sprinkled confetti. After sprinkling it, I was able to rearrange things to get them where I wanted. I'm a perfectionist that way. It doesn't dry so fast that you can do this. I sprayed it, added my confetti, rearranged, and then walked away from my project. It is repositionable at first, but when it dries it's stuck. But it takes a while so it's best to leave it alone for a few hours.
Additional tips:
If you sprinkle a lot of confetti and the pieces layer on themselves, those top pieces wall fall off because they aren't on the card base. Keep that in mind as you sprinkle, and reposition pieces until you are satisfied and then leave your project alone until the glue is "cured".
When you come back to your project later, it'll be dry and it'll be fabulous. As I mentioned, you can somewhat feel a change in texture, and if you hold your project in the light you will be able to tell where you missed with adhesive, but just barely. I just wanted to make sure all the perfectionists out there knew that. :)
Here's a closeup of my Valentine layout that included heart confetti:
Just want to add a few accent pieces to your project? I'd suggest a Martha Stewart glue pen and a pair of tweezers.
You can also add confetti to a page protector and sew it shut, just like I did on my Note to Self layout.
When you do something like this you can add fun things like bigger punches and even fun veneer shapes like those asterisks. This type of confetti floats around your layout which is fun.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Davinie
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