New Technique? - PearlEx Under Glass

Is this a new technique? It's one I've never read about if it is, and the new Stampin' Up set, Dragonfly Dreams, inspired it.

Like lots of stamp sets these days, this one has coordinating dies. These are especially popular with those of us who don't like to fussy cut everything. (I do love me some fussy cutting - but not all the time.)

I started out stamping just the solid wings on a white folded card with VersaMark, then I "painted" on PearlEx powder over the wings. The powder sticks to the PearlEx and gently blows off the white paper.

Then I stamped the detailed dragonfly with black StazOn onto a small piece of acetate and ran that image through the die cutter. NOTE: When cutting acetate, I add a piece of tissue paper to aid in the cutting. The sandwich is "die-acetate-tissue paper." I'm sure you can use cardstock or copy paper in place of the tissue paper. The paper gives the die some bite so the image cuts out instead of just making a sharp indentation in the acetate.

I glued the diecut dragonfly only on the body portion, leaving the translucent wings to hover gently over the paper and create shadows. The PearlEx gives the illusion that the wings are colored, but we know the color is under the wings.


I loved the look of this card, and I wanted to try it on other stamps, but this stamp set is pretty rare. It has a detailed stamp and a matching solid stamp and a matching die. So . . . how could I try this technique on any old stamp?

I stamped this Valentine heart from Stampington and Company with black StazOn onto acetate. I used a MISTI to make sure it didn't smear. Stamping on acetate can be tricky.

Then I cut the heart out, being very careful to have a neat "mortise" mask remaining.

I placed the mask over a white folded card, and carefully applied VersaMark in the unmasked area.

I started painting different areas of the VersaMarked heart with PearlEx.

Here is a photo of the painted heart and the stamped heart on acetate . . .

. . . and here they are put together. It's almost too perfect - too flat. When I die cut the dragonfly earlier, the wings of the dragonfly automatically raised a bit due to the die cutting effect. But this heart was cut out with scissors. I needed to do something to make that heart not lie so flat.

The heat gun worked great to make the plastic not lie flat.

Here's a close-up to show the shimmer. It kind of looks like the heart is smaller than the shadow behind it, but actually the left side of the heart is curled up a bit.

Here is the finished Valentine's Day card. And below are two different cards using different color combinations.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cyndi