The Whole World: An Acrylic Smash Tutorial

I’m excited to share today’s project with you.  It’s another “grateful” card, but it also showcases a really cool technique I found on Splitcoast Stampers last weekend – I just had to try it, and I really love how it turned out.  Here’s my card: World Map, Chalk Talk, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, Acrylic Smash Tutorial

Can you see the texture of the green acrylic paint behind the window sheet?  I’m going to walk you through the steps for how to recreate this look (is it egotistical of me to assume you like the look and want to recreate it?), but the quick-and-dirty is that I stamped on a clear window sheet and adhered it to card stock with green acrylic paint.  The picture doesn’t fully capture the essence of the card – the shine of the window sheet or the rustic texture of the acrylic paint.  This still doesn’t give you what you’d see if you held this card in your hand, but it gives a better shot:World Map, Chalk Talk, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, Acrylic Smash Tutorial

I love the mix of “modern” and “antique” in this technique.  The window sheet is shiny and clean, while the roughly painted acrylic paint gives a distressed, aged look.  I think the combination of the two creates a unique appeal.

Acrylic Smash

Here’s how I created this look – it can be recreated in lots of different ways.  For simplicity, I’m sharing the steps I performed:

  • I cropped a window sheet with a Circles Collection Framelit.
  • I cropped a piece of Very Vanilla with the same framelit.
  • With Jet Black StazOn, I stamped the World Map on the window sheet and let it dry.
  • On the back of the window sheet, I randomly painted celery green acrylic paint (the point is NOT to cover the entire sheet) and then pressed it down on cropped piece of Very Vanilla.
  • Here’s what’s cool – when the acrylic paint dries, it serves as the adhesive to hold the window sheet to the card stock.
  • I then layered the combination on a circle cropped from Basic Black paper.

If you want to see the full tutorial (as if my description wasn’t enough) click here.

Stamp sets:  World Map, Chalk Talk  Inks:  Jet Black StazOn, Marina Mist  Papers:  Basic Black, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla  Accessories:  Circles Collection Framelits, Ovals Collection Framelits, Deco Labels Collection Framelits, Extra Large Oval punch, Window Sheets, 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon (Basic Black), Stampin’ Dimensionals

Thank you for stopping by my blog today!

Brian

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November’s “Best of” Stamp Set.  Every month this year, Stampin’ Up! has released a new stamp set that features themed images from the past 25 years.  This month’s theme – Best of Snow.  And it’s a super-cute set.  Click on the image below to order this great set:

17 Comments

  1. this is amazing! like you said modern meets antique – what a fantastic card!

  2. Oh, what an awesome technique!! This card looks fantastic, Brian. You just created another masculine masterpiece!!!!!
    Thank you so much. On it goes into my absolute favorite masculine cards file.

  3. What a fun project to do . I like it ! I think I will poke around in my stamps to see if there might be another stamp that I have that I can use also for this technique . I am on a November card making marathon at the present . Love the sentiment with this image . You inspired me ! Thank you !

  4. Wow! It looks fabulous! Love it! Thanks so much for the tutorial!

  5. Very cool technique. Thanks for the how-to.

  6. Laurie Burns Gachewicz

    Woah Brian, this is pretty amazing!! Thank you for taking us through your steps!! The sentiment is perfect with your layering and that worldly stamp!! 🙂

  7. This is fantastic…I can hardly wait to give this a try…I just love all of the incredible ideas out there!!! You are truly the “KING” – thanks for another dose of inspiration!

  8. Very cool, Brian! LOVE the look!

  9. Oh Brian – you hit one out of the ballpark this time! That is an amazing card! How long did it take for the StazOn ink to dry on the acrylic? I’ve tried stamping on different kinds of surfaces before but had no luck with the acrylics. Perhaps I’m not patient enough?

  10. Awesome card. I love the antique look. I have lots of acrylic paints so am going to have a try at this.

  11. Hi Brian, You certainly are getting new ideas out there. This is beautiful. You make it sound so easy to. Thanks a bunch. 🙂

  12. I have a crafting sidekick, my nephew’s 9 year old daughter, and I think she would love doing this technique. Thanks so much for sharing

  13. Neat technique Brian! Thank you for sharing.

  14. Brian, this is outstanding! You’ve done it again! I had no idea that acrylic paint could look so good on a card! I’m going to your tutorial and printing it out! I can also see this for a female card, maybe using a nice open flower, like the ones that match the punches. The names escape me right now, but it’s another idea. You rock! 🙂

  15. Beautiful! I am going to have to try this when I get some window sheets.

  16. Brian, what a stunning card! I can hardly wait to try this technique. Thanks for the how-to.

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