Celebrate with Mandalas

Hello! Alison here. I am so excited about the latest Sparkle Blend release from Doodles Paper Playground. I know, I know....I say that every time there's a release. But they are always so beautiful that it's easy to get excited about them. Today, I have 2 cards that are almost the same. They both use the brand new "Celebrate" Sparkle Blend, and they both use the Mandala Maker and  Large Wreath Builder Template from Gina K Designs and several embossing powders from Stampendous. But, the treatment of the card base is different.

You can see the shine from the different embossing powders on the card on the right, as well as the sparkle from the glitter sequins I used.

The photo above shows how beautiful and festive this Sparkle Blend is. It would be great for New Year's cards, graduations, or really any type of special celebration. I love the different sizes of stars!

I wanted to keep the mandala pretty simple and spaced out. This was more about adding the sequins to it, than having a very full mandala. I used my Tim Holtz Stamp Platform to apply the images to my cream colored cardstock, and I did each stamp on both squares at once, so that I didn't have to reposition the stamp twice. I find that making at least 2 mandalas (or wreaths) at once is a big time saver.

I stamped each image with VersaMark Ink. I did a full rotation of each stamp image before applying the embossing powder. It's not easy to see the VersaMark Ink, but if you count each time you stamp the image, you'll know that when you get to 8 (or 4, depending on your design), you'll have a completed ring. The innermost image was embossed with Champagne PearLustre Powder, the next is Detail Silver, then Hematite PearLustre, and the last is Golden Sand, which is a favorite of mine. I attached all of the sequins with On Point Glue from Imagine. It is clear, dries quickly, and is very strong. Then, for my card base on this version, I inked the edges with VersaMark Ink, and used more Champagne PearLustre embossing powder. My sentiment is from Stampendous and is embossed in Detail Silver.

I should mention that the large silver glitter sequins in the center of both mandalas are from the Bells are Ringing Sparkle Blend. For this card base, I applied VersaMark Ink in more of a messy, streaky fashion, but only to the bottom of the card. Then I heat embossed it with Detail Silver. I can always add a sentiment inside later when I decide who I am sending this card to.

I love the shine and sparkle on these cards. I can imagine making them in various colors to go with other Sparkle Blends. You can even create more intricate mandalas and use even more sequins on them. But this was my first attempt with the Mandala Maker, so I wanted to go easy on myself.

I hope that you will head over to White Rose Crafts LLC to see all of the new Sparkle Blends from Doodles Paper Playground. I'll be doing a live video soon to give you an up close look at each of them. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!