For the love of coffee by Shelly Hein-Simmons

Lately I have been obsessed with making “coffee cozies”. You know those little corrugated bits of cardboard to wrap around your paper cup of coffee so you don’t burn your hand? I have been turning out little personalized felt versions.

And frankly, isn’t everything just a bit better when you add a little glitter?

Since we are closing in on Valentine’s Day, I created this little cozy for my niece in shades of pink and white with a dash of red glitter hearts!

This project is so easy and fast, you will be able to recreate this item in less than 30 minutes. This reusable cozy is also a very “green” item – just another small way you can reduce the amount of trash that is produced in our world!


Supplies:
Disposable cardboard coffee cup cozy from your fave coffee shop or convenience store to use as a pattern.
Art Institute Glitter in the color of your choice (I used #291 Fire Engine from the Noel Pee Wee Kit)
Felt (2 or 3 colors and at least 3 pieces – felt is sold in most big box craft stores in 8 X 10 sheets for around .30 cents per piece)
Embroidery Floss
Velcro
Fabric Glue
A clear drying adhesive
Scissors or Pinking Shears
Optional: fixative spray from art supply store
Optional: Sewing machine


Directions:
Layer 3 pieces of felt; I used a white/pink/white combination. Pin your cardboard sample on top of the layered felt to use as a pattern and cut out with scissors or pinking shears for a decorative edge.
Using a ¼” (approximately) seam allowance; sew around complete outer edge of your layered, cut-out shape with a contrasting thread color. You may machine sew, or hand sew with embroidery floss.
Cut your Velcro into a thin strip, glue to outer edge of each end of cozy on opposite sides using good, strong fabric glue.
To embellish your cozy, free-hand cut hearts, lips, stars, circles, letters, etc. from a coordinating piece of felt (I used red to cut out funky hearts).
Pour a small amount of Art Institute Glitter onto a paper plate or into a glitter tray. Cover the front of your felt cut-outs with clear drying glue and then dip these pieces into your Art Institute Glitter and let dry. Also consider embellishing with buttons dipped in glitter!
(Optional) Spray your glittered felt shapes with a spray fixative.
Attach your glittered embellishments with either fabric glue, or hand stitch with embroidery floss.


Be prepared to be asked where you got your coffee cozy!


DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

Carding with Fantasy Fiber by Anam Stubbington

I adore the Art Glitter Fantasy Fibers – they have that translucent shimmer quality – like mermaids in the sea. And they can do anything!!


Supplies:
Art Glitter Fantasy Fiber: Cotton Cloud
Art Glitter Fantasy Fiber: Cameo Rose
Rubber Stamps & Permanent Ink Pad
Household Iron & Parchment or brown paper. Make sure your paper is bigger than the stamp as the fibers will melt to your iron.
Card blanks (mine have been embossed with cuttlebug folder dies)


(note if you use acrylic stamps, be very very careful as they have a tendency to either melt or get soft under the iron)


The basic instructions on the pack work wonders: ink up your stamp, add the fibers on top of the stamps. Then a piece of brown paper and then iron for a few seconds.


I don’t like to iron the fibers completely flat at the edges so i can pull off any loose fibers and give it a feathered look.





DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

Heart Boxes to Die For! by Debrey Taylor

Inexpensive heart boxes decorated to the hilt! They almost look velvety and although fabric is used, where there is none it looks like fabric!

Materials:
Chipboard Heart Box (found at Target or Wal-Mart)
Ultrafine Opaque Art Glitter
Ultrafine Transparent Art Glitter
Art Glitter Glass Beads: Large and Small
Designer Dries Clear Adhesive with Metal Tip attached
Sticky Paper
Polyester Lace Swatch
Fabric Scraps
Paper Scraps
Gold Paint
Paint Brush
Heart Stencil
Pencil
Scissors


Directions:
Paint whole box including lid, inside and out, while drying make some glitter lace paper. Directions for glitter lace paper here.
Cut out a liner for the inside of the lid and the bottom inside of the box out of paper scraps and/or fabric. Glue in place.
Draw heart shape with template onto back of glitter lace paper, cut out. Glue to top of lid. Rip small pieces of scrap paper and glitter lace paper to decorate sides of box. Glue down; make sure to leave open areas for your gold paint to show through.
Leave glitter and beads off the area that the lid fits over. Embellish the rest with glitter and beads as desired!


The swirls really look luscious!

This one is filled with Pee Wee vials, so cute!

More for you to enjoy with stamped Fantasy Film bugs. Directions here.

These have glass glitter on them too!

Valentine Kisses by Brenda Wampler

These are very similar to the project that I presented in December. Apply a rub-on to a microscope slide. Cover rub-on with another glass slide. Use continuous glue line around the edges, or a double stick tape. You can also just use a glue that will adhere to glass around the edges. Dip the edges into the shards. Pressing and working the shards into the glue or glue lines or tape, which ever you chose to use. If using glue, once you have applied the shards, set aside to dry. I used the Vintage Glass Glitter Shards Carnelian #906 for these. After dry, you can wrap wire and hang these, or use ribbons on each edge to hang or attach to a card. I love to just put several of these on a small white place and admire the shine and the transparency of the pieces. Now, go make something awesome!

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

Art Glitter Show and Tell!

Welcome to our 'SteamPunk' booth #2773 at CHA. This is a wholesale show and many of you won't be able to visit us, so we wanted to share our booth virtually with you. Please click on the photos to see a close up of the wonderful work created by our in-house designers, Debrey Taylor, Nancy Woods and of course Barbara Trombley!

Glittered Fairy Bookmark by Shelly Hein-Simmons

For book lovers or fairy lovers, these bookmarks are fun and easy to create and the design possibilities are endless!


Supplies:

Art Glitter: Ultrafine Opaque #79 Black
Thin cardboard to use as bookmark base (I used packaging from a shirt)
Patterned Paper (I have used Harlee-Quinnz Designs Butterfly Garden)
Fairy stamp (or other image of your choice – I used Harlee-Quinnz Designs Butterfly Garden Stamps)
Black Pigment Ink
Spray Adhesive
Bottle of Clear Drying Adhesive
Clear Acrylic Spray Sealant
The tassel can be any combination of fibers, ribbons, buttons, charms, etc.

Directions:

Cut a 7 ½” X 2 ¼” rectangle from cardboard, and 2 from the patterned paper. Round corners with a corner rounder punch. Glue patterned paper to both sides of cardboard rectangle, punch hole in center top.

Stamp your image in center of your bookmark using the black pigment ink. Cut an oval from scrap paper, just large enough to cover your stamped image. Lay this oval “mask” over the top of your stamped image and spray around edges of your oval mask with a spray adhesive, or use a brush to spread glue around edges. Remove mask, sprinkle on glitter and tap off excess.


After thoroughly dry, I sprayed a sealer over the whole bookmark.

For the tassel on my bookmark, I used a combination of Harlee-Quinnz Designs fibers, tiny bells, beads and shrinky-dink charms that I created by stamping fairy images on the shrinky-dink material before baking.

Optional: Add a fun or inspiration quote to your bookmark. I used the computer to print my quote onto cardstock, cut into strips and then attached to the bookmark.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

Love Potion by Brenda Wampler

Start with a small glass vile. Fill with Vintage Glass Glitter Shards #906-Carnelian. Glue red gem stone to top of the vile to seal it shut. Wrap top of the bottle with red wire and attach a charm of your choice. Type “Love Potion” and glue to outside of bottle. Simple easy, and done! Use as a charm or embellishment.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2