How To Create an Art Journal That Shimmers

Brother Crafts Blogger

I love to use my ScanNCut when I art journal.  I recently created this page in my art journal:
The silver foil stars were cut with my ScanNCut, but not in the way you might think!
Here's the easy peasey technique: STEP ONE: Cut shapes from paper.  For this tutorial I've used my ScanNCut to cut out some cuts of my handwriting.  For the how-to on cutting your own handwriting with the ScanNCut, watch this tutorial: I used my deep cut blade to cut up an old Equal box because I wanted my cuts to be thicker than paper.


I used a "7" on my deep cut blade.  Your machine may be different.  Be sure to do a test cut first! STEP TWO: Place foil tape over your shapes, slightly overlapping strips of tape.

Foil tape (or duct tape) is something you can buy at the hardware store.  I believe it's used for repairing duct work.  You can also buy large sheets of adhesive backed foil from your craft store if you don't want seams. STEP THREE: Rub well, especially down into the crevices of the paper underneath.  Be careful not to pierce the tape.
Usually I start with my finger and then move onto a tool like a bone folder.

STEP FOUR: Paint over the top of the foil and allow the paint to dry.  I used black gesso, but you could use any acrylic paint.

STEP FIVE: Once the paint is dry, sand it.  Where the chipboard is underneath, the foil is raised and you will remove the paint when you sand it.
You can sand a lot or a little depending on the look you want.
Note: If there are wrinkles in your foil tape, they will also catch the sandpaper.  This is why it's important to spend some time smoothing everything down in step #3. Here's the final result:
Pretty darn cool, right?  In person, it really glows and shines! See you next week!