Valentine's Treat n Sparkle Bag by Candy Spiegel

Everybody loves to receive valentines. The best ones have a little sparkle and come with a little treat.

I created this one to be simple enough that you could easily make enough for an entire class (or let the kids make them) — but interactive enough to make it stand out.

I started with a little white bag that I’ve been carrying around for years. I don’t remember where I got it from originally.

I added a piece of Bo Bunny paper to the front and then used my Big Shot to cut out a heart and foldable strip from QuicKutz/Lifestyle Crafts.

I used Close To My Heart alphabet stamps to stamp the sentiment on the inside and another stamp from CTMH to stamp the Happy. (It was part of a Happy Birthday stamp, but I only inked the happy portion).

For the heart, I spread a bit of Designer Dries Clear Adhesive with my finger and then covered it in Ultrafine Transparent Glitter #147 Pink Azalea. When dry, I adhered it to the front of the folded strip. Then, using Designer Dries Clear Adhesive again, I attached the strip and the string (from My Mind’s Eye) to the bag. Tying the string into a small bow keeps the strip closed and invites people to untie it and read the sentiment inside.

I tucked three Smarties into the bag, but you could put in a sucker, a few Hershey’s Kisses, or any wrapped candy.

Sparkle Heart Necklaces by Cassandra Midkiff

My daughter is having a birthday tea party and I have been trying to come up with special things to put into favor bags besides overdosing them on sugar. I’ve come up with these very simple but cute heart necklaces. I picked up some 1” glass charms from Wal-Mart for a few dollars.

I took one of the glass pieces and traced out squares of scrapbook paper.  Then I traced out some hearts in pencil and filled them in with my Designer Dries Clear adhesive.  Next I sprinkled on my Art Glitter! I used mostly Ultrafine Opaque and Ultrafine Transparent glitters in shades like #14 Lavender,  #144 Miss Muffet, #98 Amethyst, #202 Pansy,  #87 Hot Kiss,  #16 Blackberry, Ultrafine Hologram #247 Moulin Rouge, and many more.

Once they were dry I put the glass over them and slid them back into the charm pieces then strung them on some ball chain necklaces. I may end up adding some Glass Beads as well.  These would make easy and sweet Valentines gifts too!

Goodwill's Gliitter Gala with Art Glitter

The Seattle Goodwill had a Glitter Gala fundraising event recently that Art Glitter was happy to be a part of!

Photo by Storms Photographic

Jahna Hildebrandt, Goodwill's Events Manager, tells us about it:

We received so many complements that the décor was the best it has ever been and we owe it all to Art Glitter and Barbara! Thank you! I know the guests loved the glittery centerpieces because at the end of the night there weren’t any left – they took them off the tables and took them home! We had 16 volunteers from Amazon that came and glittered all the flowers for a corporate volunteer day. They had so much fun they offered to come back and do it again next year. And not just because they were volunteering indoors while the rest of their co-workers were clearing brush in a park in the rain.

Photo by Storms Photographic

Photo by Greg Banasek, PSAV

The Fantasy Film looked amazing on the backdrop and really pulled the entire room together. We went a little glitter crazy. Kenneth Horne, our amazing volunteer did some additional fabulous arrangements for the lobby that combined glittered flowers with fresh. We also glittered hair ornaments for the models.


The event was a smashing success. We raised almost $280,00 for our Job Training Programs and had a record 661 guests. Thank you again so much!

Photo by Storms Photographic

Photo by Storms Photographic

Photo by Storms Photographic

Heart Sun Catcher by Cassandra Midkiff

This is one of the first projects I was able to really play with Fantasy Film. For this project I used Fantasy Film in Aurora.

I cut out two heart shapes and crumpled them in my hand, then using the flame of a candle started melting them together. I knew I wanted some holes so I held some parts on the flame longer to create them. When I was satisfied with the shape I took some tulle and glued it to one of the larger holes. I cut out a tiny heart from some pink scrapbook paper then covered it with my Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and sprinkled it with Ultrafine Transparent glitter in Miss Muffet #144.  Once it was dry I glued it onto the tulle. I also smeared some adhesive onto the fantasy film and sprinkled on Ultrafine Transparent glitter in Sea Shell #100.

Once everything was dry I took a needle and poked a hole on the bottom of the heart where I placed a jumpring and my strand of vintage glass beads. I poked another hole at the top of the heart and placed another jumpring and then threaded it with some clear fishing line. So happy with the finished piece, the Fantasy Film looks almost like an iridescent glass and it sparkles so beautifully in the light. I plan on making more to give out for Valentine gifts.

Art Journaling that Shines - Part 2 By Laura Fraedrich

Hello again! Welcome to the second part of Journal Pages that Shine. This time we're going to use some of my favorite products in the whole world...Fantasy Film and Fantasy Fiber from  Art Glitter. These products are so versatile that you can use them on all your mixed media projects. All you need is an iron and some parchment paper and you're ready to go! I always thought it was more complicated than that, but was pleasantly surprised the first time I used them. It's so quick and easy!

Again I started my pages by using watercolors, markers to doodle with, spray inks, collage elements, and craft punches to make little windows. For the left side, I used Fantasy Fibers for hair. I mixed together a pinch of purple and yellow, spread them out into my desired shape, then sandwiched them between two sheets of parchment paper and ironed briefly. It doesn't take much heat or pressure to get the fibers to fuse together. I recycled a white circular shape that I cut out of one of the pages below for the face. I used collage medium (Collage Pauge) and a foam brush to adhere the hair and the face to my page.

To make the small squares down the left side of the page, I used a craft punch. Then I cut 1/2" strips of different colors of Fantasy film. I arranged and overlapped them randomly on one sheet of parchment, then covered them with another and ironed briefly. It came out having a nice striped effect. I cut the fused film into squares slightly larger than the punched out squares and glued them onto the back of the page. I covered them with a strip of white paper so they can't be seen from the page behind.

For the left page, I used the same technique for the earth as I did for the face above. For the sun on the right page, I fused together 2 layers of Fantasy Film and added a pinch of pink Fantasy Fiber on the top. I glued it onto the back of the page but left it translucent instead of gluing white paper over it like I did for the above squares. I wanted to let the design from the page behind it in my journal peek through.

This is what was on the page behind the sun.

The colors of the paint were so similar to the colors of fibers I used that they just gave it a subtle luster.

You can see the design behind the film better here.

Next on my list is to incorporate these products into a small art quilt!

Art Journaling that Shines...Part 1 by Laura Fraedrich

I have never been one to keep journals or diaries. I had a diary when I was a kid and I think I wrote in it twice, probably about a boy I had a crush on when I was about 8 years old. I tried to keep one when I was in college, and that ended up being a glorified day planner. I've tried several other times in the past and spent a few hours writing down my deepest thoughts, just to read them again months or years later and tear them up because I thought they sounded so stupid. I hated the things I wrote about and I hated my handwriting. So I gave up.

Being the huge mixed media fan that I am, I started to see this art journaling craze materialize in magazines and online. I was definitely intrigued, but not completely sold on the idea because I knew my journaling history and figured I would never commit to it. Over the next year or two it became harder and harder to resist. How could anyone look at the beautiful and colorful journals of Teesha Moore, Ingrid Dijkers, and Pam Carriker and not want to do it themselves?

I tried art journaling a little bit but was frustrated because my pages weren't even close to as cool as theirs were. It wasn't until I took a journaling class with the Journal Fodder Junkies last year at Art Unraveled that I finally gave in to the temptation and started keeping an art journal. The biggest things I learned from the workshop were pretty obvious facts, but I never thought about it before then. Every journal page doesn't have to be a masterpiece, nor does if have to be about anything particularly important. What IS important is that you continue working in it. No page ever has to be completely finished. You can start 10 pages in one sitting and take 6 months to get back to them. Have nothing to say today? That's okay. Start slapping some paint on the pages. Collage receipts, magazine clippings that you like, junk mail, postage stamps, or anything else you can find that would otherwise be destined for your trash can onto your pages. Make some random doodles on a page and see what transpires. I can't say I journal everyday, but I've been regularly keeping up with it since that class. Some pages I like so much that I actually finish them!

I started creating my pages by randomly painting watercolors on some blank journal pages. After they dried, I took a fine tipped black marker (Micron Pigmas work well) and started doodling and drawing. Most of the time I didn't have anything specific in mind. I journaled words in the empty spaces around my doodles. I enhanced my drawings by using Copic markers to color in some areas. I used craft punches on some of the pages to cut out 'windows' that look onto the page behind it. I also collaged some papers I had in my stash to some of them. To add the sparkle and shine, I used Designer Dries Clear adhesive by Art Glitter to add various colors and varieties of glitter (also by Art Glitter).  It was no exact science, I just used coordinating colors to enhance certain areas.

Stay tuned for my next post which will be about using Fantasy Fibers and Fantasy Film to enhance your art journal. See you soon!

Elegant Votive Candle by Candy Spiegel

You can be sure of one thing when you live in Michigan — during the winter, the days are short and generally cloudy.
Christmas lights and holiday fun helps get me through November and December, but when the decorations come down in January, the cloudy, dark days can easily bring a person down.
So, I decided to extend the sparkle of the holidays right through winter by making an elegant candle holder.
I started with an inexpensive, plain votive cup. (I got mine at the Goodwill store for less than a dollar.)
At first, I planned to add just a bit of sparkle to the bottom third of the cup, so I started with strips of 1/4 inch Sticky Tape, like this.

Leaving the top of the tape on, I went in between the lines with Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and added a light layer of  glue.
NOTE: You will want to use your Ultrafine Metal Tip for this and really spread the glue around. If you put it on too thick, it may drip down the side of the glass.
On the glue, I sprinkled Ultrafine Transparent Glitter in Blue Rain (120).

Then, I peeled off the covering on the tape and added Faux Snow. And this is where I got a bit carried away … In fact, I loved the look of the Faux Snow so much, I used Designer Dries Clear Adhesive to cover almost the entire exterior of the cup! It reminded me of a sparkly sweater and I just kept going and going.
Then, using my finger, I applied a little adhesive to the top rim and dipped it in some additional glitter.
I let the cup dry over night and then gently brushed off the excess.
Naturally, I wanted a little more added to the votive. I found a couple of clear beads from Maya Road in my stash and went to work making embellishments for my votive.
The first one has a flat back, so I used Art Glitter’s Very Black Permanent Stamp Pad and a Tim Holtz snowflake stamp to add a bit of design to the back.

I then heated it to set the ink, covered the back lightly with a layer of Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and dusted it with the same Blue Rain glitter I used on the glass.
Then, I thought that as beautiful as this white and silvery votive was, I still might like a little color. So, I took a smaller bead and covered one side with adhesive and then a layer of Microfine Opaque Bahaman Blue (512).  Because the surface was not flat, this was a bit more difficult and I had to repeat the process once the first layer was dry. Keep in mind that if you do the same, make sure to smear the adhesive with your finger … Designer Dries Clear Adhesive can dry with a bit of dimension that you will be able to see in your finished product if you don’t smear it out.
Next, I attached a bit of ribbon and a few jump rings.

But, it still didn’t feel quite finished to me.
So, I adhered a piece of Sticky Paper to a scrap of white cardstock and then ran it through my Sizzix Big Shot with the small bird die from Tim Holtz. Then, I removed the protective layer off of the Sticky Paper and covered the image in the same Blue Rain glitter. For a final touch, I added an eye with Ranger’s Liquid Pearls and then attached it to the votive with Designer Dries Clear Adhesive. Because I was attaching it to the Faux Snow on glass, I had to hold it for a minute or two before it took hold.

Then, I inserted a flameless tea light and …

CAUTION: I have no idea how Faux Snow or glitter will hold up to heat or a flame, so I would recommend ONLY using flameless lights inside the votive. They are safer and just as pretty!
This is sure to keep the winter blues away!
I received Art Glitter products in exchange for this post.