DIY Glimmer Spray

Boy, where to begin?    Since my last post, I have received my Crafter's Companion Ultimate and love it although I can now see that it has some limitations compared to the Scor-Pal for some things because it doesn't have as many score lines but I love that you can make so many projects without really doing much thinking.  The measuring has already been done for me!  I don't know yet if I'll ever use the embossing templates that come with it but like that they're there anyway. 

I have also bought a Cuttlebug from HSN.com and love their exclusive raspberry pink edition.  It came with so many embossing folders but I still have my eyes on a couple of others.  This is an invaluable tool in my burgeoning card making endeavors!

So, now on to the DIY Glimmer spray!  I found a cool little scrapbooking store in my neighborhood.  Literally!  It is a 1300 sq. ft. house in my neighborhood that has been converted into a store but you'd never know it from the outside.  Anyway, I took a Cricut class there and got to experiment a little with some Glimmer Mist.  I wasn't too sold on it then but when I researched it a bit I got more excited, especially when I found out how to make my own.  This stuff is pricey at around $7.00 per 2 ounce bottle!!!  So far I've made 4 colors but plan on expanding my collection and also trying other recipes. 

How I made mine:

Fill a 2 ounce spritzer bottle about 2/3 full of rubbing alcohol

Squeeze in some pearlilzed acrylic paint (or regular acrylic paint with some pearl medium added to it)

That's it!  Shake, shake, shake to keep it mixed as the pearl settles to the bottom and will clog up the works very quickly.  I shake then spray, shake then spray and generously cover my item.  I then blot with paper towels and dry with my blow dryer as I haven't bought a heat gun yet.  This mixture costs just pennies compared to Glimmer Mist and your colors are only limited by your imagination.   I chose to use rubbing alcohol rather than water because it dries faster, I think.

I would like to try a recipe I saw that combines alcohol, alcohol inks, and Ranger's Perfect Pearls.  I just bought some Perfect Pearls and saw that my LSS has some Adirondak inks so I'm good to go.