DT Special Assignment Day!

Make your own transparencies with Stickles

by Michèle (Mimita) Harris

Who doesn't like Stickles?? We all see Stickles applied to just about anything. But you can make your own ornaments with Stickles too!!

This is a very easy way to create your own fun transparent ornaments.

I have to give credit where it's due and so I must tell you that I learned this technique from Joanie Guillemet a few years ago.

You will need:

- Clear plastic (I use packaging for this (what's underneath on the picture below), the plastic from packaging is nice and sturdy and I help the planet by re-using it.)

- Alcohol ink pad (think Archival... only archival alcohol ink will stick and dry permanently on plastic... Water based dye ink won't dry, it will smudge)

- Stamps (anyone you like but don't choose intricate designs for this, simple ones are best)

- Stickles (any Stickles works well)

- Scissors to cut the plastic pieces

Now cut pieces of plastic to fit your stamp(s) and stamp your image(s) onto them:

Be careful not to press too hard because your stamps might slide over the plastic. If your plastic is too slippery, one little trick that helps is to sand very slightly over the plastic first. Your stamp will not slide as much after this. But you know, after you stamped over plastic a few times, you get good at it and you won't need to sand at all.

You see that it did slip a little bit on the darker circle-wheel stamp, that's why I made more than one. But with using a simple stamp design, you will see that it doesn't matter, the piece will still turn out pretty good. So don't overly worry about that.

Now you are ready to fill in areas with Stickles.

With circles, I find it easier to start on the outer edge and work my way in:

I don't go all the way in, I stop at about this point...

 

And I finish spreading the Stickles with a needle and I also make sure that I did not leave any space uncovered on the edges:

I just put one or more drops of Stickles in the middle for more delicate designs and I spread to the edges with a needle... The needle is so much more precise than the nozzle of the Stickles bottle!!

Let dry overnight and the next morning, turn your pieces to reveal the lines of your stamp and this is what you get!! Ready to use on layouts or cards or any fun project. The beauty of tranparencies is that they can be placed anywhere, even right over photos!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I hope to see your Stickles transparencies on your projects!!!