Easter Eggs - Shaving Cream Technique

Don't you just LOVE pinterest? I do! I was browsing through Pinterest and saw a pin about coloring your easter eggs by rolling your eggs in shaving cream topped with food coloring. I realized how similar what was the to the shaving cream technique in paper crafting. I knew immediately that I had to try it for my team meeting swap last week.

I set to work looking for what colors I thought would be good Easter colors and decided to stay in the brights family of Stampin' Up! colors - Melon Mambo, Old Olive, and Pacific Point! Then I decided I wanted one more spring color so I opted for Wisteria Wonder from the 2011-13 In-Color Collection.

I don't know why I didn't take pictures but this is how I did it - I took a paper plate and sprayed a small layer of shaving cream (the cheap kind works great!) and smoothed it out with a spatula. Then I added drops of Melon Mambo reinker sporadically over the shaving cream. The more reinker you use the more intense your project is colored. If you use less reinker you will end up with more white space. I probably used 15-20 drops.

Then I took a bamboo skewer (you could try it with a metal skewer or fork or any other implement you have sitting around your house!) and swirled my reinker through the shaving cream. You can swirl in any direction - circular, side to side, or any other combination of movements. I did try a toothpick at first instead of the skewer but I didn't like the results as much as with the thicker skewer. Be careful not to swirl too much or you will just end up coloring your shaving cream and not have that "marbling" effect. This is really important if you are using more than one reinker color at a time - you could end up with a brown mess!

Then I took a piece of Whisper White card stock from my scraps - no need to measure - and laid it on top of the shaving cream mixture. Now is the time to have lots of paper towels torn and ready for use - this is the messy part! Lightly press down on your card stock making sure all surfaces are touching the shaving cream mixture, then lift it up. Take another piece of card stock and "kiss" them together (shaving cream mixture from 1st card stock till transfer to 2nd piece of card stock and you can get 2 pieces of card stock colored for the effort of 1!)

When Whisper White card stock gets wet or moist it will curl (I think glossy paper will not have the same effect in this technique but I haven't tried it yet!) Lay the card stock on a paper towel or another paper plate and lightly blog the shaving cream off until you are sure the color isn't going to bleed when you wipe it. Eventually you will wipe your card stock clean. Try to work quickly so the card stock doesn't continue to absorb moisture. 

I used my XL Oval Punch (2" x 1-3/8") to punch out my "eggs". I did find that the punch would stick if the paper was still moist. You could use your heat tool to dry the paper or let it sit overnight and dry. It's amazing that no 2 eggs are alike because of the random patterns created in the shaving cream! 

After I put the card together I thought at least 1 egg needed something else so I used my two-way glue pen to draw lines and/or dots on my eggs and sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds over the egg (after it was mounted to my card). None of my cards were alike!

Here's one with glitter over the ENTIRE egg!

 

One more final look....what do you think? I would love to hear what you think!

Supplies used for this project:

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Pacific Point, and Wisteria Wonder reinkers; Daffodil Delight and Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pads

Paper: Daffodil Delight and Whisper White card stock

Accessories: Melon Mambo 3/8" striped Organdy Ribbon, XL Oval Punch, Two-Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds

Non-SU:  Shaving cream

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