Uses for Glossy cardstock1. You can use it just like any other card stock for creating a card. Just be careful when stamping so it doesn't smear. I like using glossy for just plain stamping once in a while, no tricks, no gimmicks. Bold, bright colors look awesome when stamped on this card stock! The colors come out even brighter on glossy and it makes a card look a little more professionally done.

2. I also love layering a piece of glossy cardstock onto a piece of colored cardstock and then onto our standard US white. It really sets off the glossy cardstock and adds a look of elegance.

3. Want a professional looking card? Use your SU! Marvelous Markers to color in an image that youâ€™ve stamped on the glossy card stock.

4. Glossy card stock is great for backgrounds and perfect paper for using your brayer! Use your brayer with a Spectrum pad and run it repeatedly over the glossy paper - you'll end up with a multicolored background. Repeated rolling really blends the colors, unlike with the standard UltraSmooth cardstock where you end up with definite color stripes.

5. Use this paper for the Versamark resist technique. Stamp image onto glossy cardstock using the Versamark pad. Then brayer over the image. (I prefer Spectrum pads but solid colors work just as well). The Versamark areas will resist the ink and show through. I find, though, that I have to wipe with a kleenex soon after I brayer or the brayer'd ink will bleed into my versamark'd images. Or you can use your heat gun to dry the Versamark area. When dry, then brayer over it. the Versamark image will stand out beautifully! Great way to make a "Little Shapes" moon background for a "Lovely as a Tree" foreground.

6. Use the VersaMark resist technique as listed above but this time instead of using your brayer to add color use the Pure Color Pencils and color right over the top of the image. I usually do this for a background instead of my main image.

7. Here's another fun technique that is off the beatin' path (sort of speak) . . . Try the Soot Stamping Technique using glossy. Then turn the flame of an oil lamp up and wave the card front over the top . . . Where the black smoke is. (Be sure to get the kind of oil that is NOT smokeless . . . You want the smoke for this technique.) Soot will begin to form on the glossy surface. You then take a clean rubber stamp and stamp into the soot. The stamp will remove the soot from the surface (negative soot stamping.) Or you may choose to apply ink over the top of the soot (positive soot stamping.) Or do a combination of both like my card here indicates. You will need to seal this when completed with either Krylon workable fixative, an acrylic spray or some aerosol hairsprays will work too. Be careful not to touch the soot until after you have sealed it or you'll end up leaving your fingerprints behind. Kick it up a notch and do the Rainbow Soot Technique by using the brayer to first create a background color. Then just follow the same directions as before except this time when you stamp your color will show through. Cool!!

8. Another great background is Smudging or the "Twist and Drag" technique. Choose a "solid" style stamp that is simplistic in design such as one that is a squiggle, or confetti, or thick dots. Ink your stamp of choice with a light color of ink. Then twist it (or drag it) onto your glossy cardstock. Repeat a few times to create a one-of-a-kind background. You can then clean your stamp and re-ink with a coordinating color (use your color wheel) and repeat the "twist and drag" or smudging method to create a two-tone pattern. You can also create your own stamp tool for this technique using scraps of rubber from your cut stamps. A really cool pattern is to cut nine long, skinny triangles and place them points together in a circle on your wood block (it will sort of resemble a pinwheel). The pattern this tool creates is awesome. Give it a try!

9. A favorite of mine is the Joseph's coat technique. Brayer with a spectrum pad, covering the entire area of your card. Let set for a couple minutes to be sure it is dry. Use your embossing buddy over this rainbow cardstock and then emboss your stamped image using the VersaMark pad and clear embossing powder. (Tip: Use bolder stamps to really get the full effects of this technique.) Then ink your brayer with Black or Navy (the darker the better) and cover the entire card again with this new color. Let the overcoat of ink dry, then buff the card with a paper towel to remove excess ink. What happens is that your K-pad color will shine through. Just think of a great landscape card with stars in the sky and trees) WOW!! A rainbow image . . . named after "Joseph's Coat of Many Colors".

10. Want a spirited way to use glossy card stock? Try the Batik Technique. Simply stamp your image using Versamark and emboss with clear embossing powder. Let cool. Then gently wad paper into a ball or you could fold it into a small square for a different look. Unfold it and smooth it out. It will have crease marks where the EP has cracked. Place cardstock on a towel and mist with water so the paper is very damp. Next ink your brayer with a Spectrum, pad roll across the paper. The image will stay white while the ink will seep into cracks and the rest of the paper will have a batik look. Like far out man!

11. Polished stone background with assorted reinkers, alcohol, and Gold/Silver Krylon or Zig Leafing Pens. I prefer to use a wood block that has felt on it instead of a cotton ball. I like the veining this provides. Spray alcohol on the felt (use a sample size hairspray bottle). Moisten the pad with at least 6 sprays, but don't soak it. Then dot your felt with 3 to 4 drops re-inker on one side of the damp felt. Then dot 3 to 4 drops of another color on the other side. Keep the different colors separate, but not too far apart. Shake your leafing pen and press the tip down on your glossy cardstock letting the ink puddle out. Make 3 to 4 little globs per quarter sheet. QUICKLY "slam" your felt block on top of the blobs of pen. Strike the paper over and over, making the leafing ink "float" in the alcohol dye. If the leafing ink doesn't "float" but dries as spots, you didn't use enough alcohol. Try again. You want the colors to overlap and blend. If you "work" the ink too much, it can start to look muddy, but you want to cover the surface of the paper. After "whacking" you can gently twist your felt pad of a more blended look. Let the piece dry before touching. You can move it by gripping the edge of the paper. I like to wait at least 24 hours before stamping on it.

12. The Heated Pearls technique also use glossy card stock and is fun and easy to do. You just need to turn the glossy card stock to black glossy card stock by using your black pad and a brayer. (Or instead of black select another dark color.) Then you'll need Pearl Ex, white glue (such as Elmers or Aileen Tacky Glue), a stipple brush, and your heat gun. Cut the cardstock into quarters. Put a blob of glue in the middle of a piece. Spread it all over the piece with the stipple brush. Be sure to cover it completely. Sprinkle some Pearl Ex (you can use two complimentary colors of PE) on top of the stippled glue, working the PE into the glue with the stipple brush. When done, put the brush into water, so the glue won't dry up on the brush. Next take your heat gun and start running it over the glue/PE mixture. Watch it bubble up! Now use this as a background for your favorite set. I have tried this with Red Glossy (made with White Glossy and my red Staz On pad) and it works well also. This produces very elegant backgrounds.

13. Crayon Resist is a great way to use Glossy paper to add white highlights to whimsical stamps or those with detailed images. Stamp your design onto glossy card stock. Allow image to dry (if you donâ€™t want to wait just use the Staz On pads.) Then use a crayon or one of the SU! Metallic Pencils to mark areas where you want to highlight (the white card stock will show through.) Be sure to apply heavy lines so they will show up well on the finished piece. Then just use your selected inks to apply ink with sponge or brayer. Allow ink to dry. Using a piece of tissue or paper towel, gently rub in small circles over the areas where you applied the crayon. This will remove the ink and create the resist look.

14. Glossy card stock is perfect for Dry Embossing. Cut cardstock into a small square and then dry emboss an image (try the Snowflake classy brass template). Then use your brayer and a LIGHT TOUCH to apply color to your image. I have found it adds depth to apply several colors. For instance, with the snowflake template I use Bliss Blue and Almost Amethyst. When you color your dry embossed image this way you will still have an edge of white card stock that will show through.

15. Try doing the Alcohol Spray Technique on Glossy Paper. Place regular rubbing alcohol in a little spray bottle. Select a bolder image stamp and ink it up (you may even want to do this using the markers and create a sort of rainbow look on the image or select color variances from the same color family such as green galore, glorious green, forest foliage or baroque burgundy, real red, rose red. Just be sure the whole surface is covered. Then spray the stamp with the alcohol mister and stamp it on the glossy card stock! When you spray the alcohol it must be a very fine mist and hold the stamp further away from the sprayer. With this technique each time you reink, spritz and stamp down will turn out a little different than the time before which provides a very unique look.

16. Shaving Cream Technique also uses glossy paper (to provide the best results). This technique for making unique backgrounds for your special cards is a little messy so I recommend wearing thin rubber gloves and working in the kitchen on newspaper. Spread the bottom of a shallow 9 X 12 pan with a layer of shaving cream (the cheap .99 cent stuff). Spread it out with a spatula to about 3/4â€? thick in the bottom of the pan. Take a couple of coordinating colors (such as Mellow Moss and Pale Plum) of re-inkers and put a couple drops in a random pattern all over the shaving cream. Just a couple drops to start with. You can always add a few more drops. Take something such as a marker, pencil or toothpick or a pop sickle stick to swirl the shaving cream around until you get the look you want. Depending on what you choose to use you will get different size swirls. This will give a marbling effect on finished product. Now press a piece of white cardstock (1/4 sheet is easier to work with) face down into the shaving cream from the center out. Press it to be sure the whole surface is touching. Gently peel the card stock up and scrape off the extra shaving cream with a spatula or wipe off with a paper towel. Dry off the extra bits with a dark colored towel or a clean paper towel. The shaving cream will come off the card stock, but the ink pattern will remain. Donâ€™t be afraid of smearing the ink. It will stay where it originally touched the paper. You now have an awesome background, each one a little different from the next. You can repeat until you donâ€™t like the design you get. When it is dry, the surface is soft, almost velvety to the touch (and it smells nice too.)

Expression Dust Cover Pattern (Click here to download.)

From Custom crops.com

Silhouette Dust Cover

This dust cover is for the original Silhouette

Whip up a quick and easy dust cover, that’s what. And did I mention that you can make this out of a single fat quarter? ‘Cause you can!

Supplies:
Fat quarter
Silhouette Dust Cover pattern piece PDF (the bottom measurement will be 6 3/8″ when printed correctly)
Sewing machine with thread
About 15 minutes

Turn your fat quarter so that one of the 18” ends is at the bottom. Cut off 14″ so you have a piece that is 18” wide and 14” high (the bottom piece in this picture).

Fold the top piece in half and cut out the pattern piece. You’ll have 2 opposite end pieces

Place the end pieces even with the bottom edge of your fabric so that the short end (of the end pieces) points out and start pinning.

Pin all the way around the end pieces and then sew with a 1/2” seam.

Then you’ll want to hem the bottom of the dust cover 1/2” all the way around. I folded and pressed a scant 1/4” and then another 1/4”. Stitch hem in place.

Put it on your Silhouette and feel much better about leaving her out to admire.