Week 20: Glitter Paper

I have a weakness for shiny things and for fancy papers. It can become an expensive habit - that thick, shiny, pretty glitter paper you find at scrapbooking and craft stores isn't cheap. So I got to thinking: I've got glittery embossing powder. I've got cardstock. How hard would it be to make my own?

Not too hard, it turns out. With a heat tool (not a hairdryer - you need a craft heat gun) and embossing powder, you can make as much glitter paper as you like, keeping it handy to glam up craft projects and cards. Here's how to do it!

Homemade shiny glitter paper

What you need

• cardstock
• embossing powder
• pigment ink
• heat tool

What you need, clockwise from left: cardstock, embossing powder, pigment ink, heat tool

Let's get started!

Start by inking part of your paper with pigment ink. Use a slow-drying ink: it needs to stay wet long enough for the embossing powder to stick to.

Sprinkle embossing powder over the inked areas of the paper. I'm using a combination of silver and blue powders here. The powder will stick to the damp ink.

Pour off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and save it for later use. 

Turn on your heat tool and point it at the paper, keeping it a few inches above the paper.  You'll see the embossing powder start to melt and turn shiny. As soon as it melts, move your heat tool to another area of the paper, embossing until all the powder is melted onto the paper.

Continue inking and embossing until the entire paper is covered. It probably will look uneven and blotchy. That's okay -we're going to do another round!

Again, working in sections, re-ink part of the paper. It's actually easier to ink and emboss the second time now that the paper is already covered with embossing.

For the second pass, I used only blue powder. The silver powder peeks through, creating a nice shiny contrast.

And here's the finished paper, shiny and silvery-blue, and ready to use in a craft project!