Congrats Card (painting dew drops) - A ScrapBuster Sketch

I mentioned earlier how we had a ton of graduates among friends and family this year. So I've been doing some congrats cards lately. Today's is another one, and a great way to use up spare embellishments and random bits you might have sitting around (go ahead and admit it, we both know you've got 'em!).

Do you remember candy dots? On the rare occasion my parents took us to see a movie, I got the privilege of eating them. I always loved them, and even the bits of paper you would get with them.

mmmm... candy dots :)

How does that translate into scrapping you ask?! Well, dew drops always remind me of candy dots. And honestly, I had forgotten I had them and how much I love them. There are a million ways of coloring them, but did you know you can paint them?

And if you don't have any dew drops, I suggest you head on over to the Robin's Nest and pick some up - pronto! You can get them in different shapes and colors and even better, they have dew dew glue to attach them to your projects!

Now... onto the tutorial!

Supply List -
cardstock for card
various embellishments (with lots of different texture)
chipboard letters for sentiment
acrylic paint
foam brush
tweezers
dew drops
adhesive
craft knife (if desired)

First thing you want to do is get all of your painting out of the way. For the card, I put a small amount of yellow paint on a 1" foam brush and ran a single strip down the middle of my card.

I also painted all of my chipboard letters black (not that you can tell they are letters).

Now for painting the dew drops. For this technique you don't want a huge glob of paint, so you will want to spread it around some with your brush. This is what my scrap paper looks like...

Grab your dew drop in your tweezers and gently squish (technical term, right?) the bottom of your dew drop in the paint. I keep constant pressure on my tweezers while I'm doing this. Those bad boys are difficult to pick up if you drop them in the paint.

Keep in mind that you don't want too much paint or you'll have it all over the sides, but you want enough to cover the entire bottom. This is a picture of good coverage...

I also make it a point to wipe off my tweezers before picking up the next one, that way there is no paint transfer. My house has a lifetime supply of baby wipes, but do whatever works for you. :)

You'll want to put them top down to dry, trust me on this. The wet paint will act like an adhesive and you will wind up with paper on the bottom. And I wouldn't suggest putting them on your project immediately because they are slippery and you'll wind up with paint smudges.

Here are some of mine, all lined up and waiting to dry...

While everything is drying, go ahead and gather up some embellishments. This is a great way to use up some older supplies that you might not be interested in putting on your page anymore. I wanted lots of different textures so I grabbed some shaped buttons, mesh, foam, ribbon, cardboard and some wire.

To curl wire, I use linesman pliers (love those things, they have so many uses), a pen with a clip and my fingers. Super easy.

Slide the end of the wire under the clip on the pen like such and wind it around. The clip helps keep the wire from sliding around while you are working.

Keep coiling the wire around and leave a short end piece so you can hold it with the pliers.

From there, slide it off the pen and hold the end piece with your pliers. You can twist the curled end of the coil in deeper if you wish (I usually do just to avoid cutting myself - which happens frequently). Gently pull on the end of the coil to separate it a bit. At this point you can cut the end piece off or leave it. I tend to leave it to give me a spot to adhere it to my project.

At this point, your card and letters should be dry. Go ahead and place your sentiment along the painted stripe on the card and start attaching embellishments of your choice.

Once all your embellishments are attached, your dew drops should be dry. You definitely want them to be dry, so if they aren't feel free to enjoy a cup of tea and come back. Using the tweezers again, place the dew drop on the glue dot (painted side down). At this point I usually switch to a craft knife for better control. I slide the tip of my knife under the glue dot and pick up the dew drop and place it where I want it on the project. I wanted the colors to somewhat overlap into each other, which is what I used the dew drops for.

Take a final look at your card and add any other embellishments you would like to use. Stand back, admire your work... and mail it off to somebody who will love it equally as much!

And don't forget to check out the other cool things at The Robin's Nest and the blog, which has some really inspiring pieces on it!

This is also a ScrapBuster Sketch! Here's the card sketch for you to work with.