Sunday, October 19, 2014

Shaving Cream Tutorial - FMS158

As promised yesterday, here's the tutorial on how to do the shaving cream technique… it's a super fun way to create your own patterned paper. And the great thing is that when you use your Stampin' Up! reinkers, you'll have coordinating cardstock on hand too!

Before you start, gather the following items:

  • Shaving cream (a dollar store can will work just fine if your spouse isn't keen on you stealing his ;)
  • Reinkers: you should choose 2 or 3 coordinating colours. You may wish to have them all handy though, cause it does get addictive!
  • A container or paper plate to contain the shaving cream
  • Popsicle stick, piercing tool, or paint brush for mixing the colours
  • Pre-cut cardstock that you'll be using as your canvas
  • Piece of stiff cardstock/box board to wipe the shaving cream off the card
  • Paper towels for easy clean up


Spray some shaving cream into your container. You really don't need a lot - the more you put in, the more you'll have to remove when you want to make a new pattern/change colours. 
Smooth out the shaving cream using the popsicle stick. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, and even having some peaks can contribute to a varied pattern. Experiment :) Drip some drops of reinker onto the shaving cream. I found it was better to squeeze the bottle a bit and then flick my wrist to that the drops were smaller .. it made more opportunities for colour mixing with an equal amount of ink used.
With your mixing device (popsicle stick, piercer, or paint brush), swirl through the colours a few times to get the effect you're looking for. It's a balance, but you don't want to over-mix or it'll look too muddy. The larger the device you use, the bigger the strokes will look. In this pic, I used the piercer. See below for when I used the paint brush. 
Place your pre-cut cardstock on top of the shaving cream and press down gently to make sure you have contact with all the ink.
Lift the cardstock out of the shaving cream. 
With your boxboard piece, scrape the shaving cream residue off the cardstock. Wipe any excess off with paper towel.

Repeat with different colour combinations :) You will need to set your masterpieces aside to allow them to dry. 
Another option when you've pulled off one sheet and want to make another pattern conserving shaving cream is to smooth it back out mixing the colour as you go. This will give a deeper colour as a background. 
Once it's smooth, add in some more reinkers, and mix again slightly .. this is where I used the paintbrush to give some broader strokes.
These are the two sheets that were made with the same 'batch'. The first one was just mixed with the piercer and the second was made with the paintbrush (and the coloured shaving cream). These are the two sheets I used for yesterday's card.
And tada! Here's the finished project with one of my other designs.
I used the sketch challenge over at Freshly Made  Sketches to put it together.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial - I'd love to see some of your creations! I will say that it was incredibly fun and the next time I play, I'm going to make a 12x12 background paper!! 

Supplies used:
Stamps: Four FeathersGorgeous GrungeKinda EclecticGood Greetings
Ink:  So SaffronChocolate ChipAlways ArtichokeCrumb Cake
Reinkers: So SaffronChocolate ChipAlways Artichoke
Paper: Very VanillaSo SaffronChocolate ChipAlways Artichoke
EmbellishmentsGold Baker's Twine 
Tools: Bird PunchFeathers FramelitsSnowflake Card Thinlits

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2 comments:

  1. That is a very cool look and what a great design. Thanks for sharing the how-to! And thanks for joining us at Freshly Made Sketches!

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  2. That is such a cool effect! I still haven't tried this technique but you've inspired me to give it a go. Thanks for joining us at FMS this week!

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