Glittery Petite Purses by Christine Lehto

This is my first “official” Art Glitter project and I had loads of fun embellishing my Petite Purses with gorgeous, sparkly Art Glitter. Fall is just around the corner and it happens to be one of my favorite seasons, so I decided to make some purse designs with an Autumn theme. I make my Petite Purses out of sheets of fun foam and an assortment of embellishments. I have used the purses for presenting little treasures tucked inside such as the sculptural pins and magnets that I make. My Petite Purses come in two sizes, small and large. The purses made for this project are made in the larger size, which are a perfect size for gift cards.

While at a local craft store, I found some leaf embellishments and decorative brads to add some pizzazz to my purses. However, the most pizzazz came once the Art Glitter was applied. It was the last feature I added, but it was definitely not the least. Wow! The glitter completely transformed the purses and they gleamed and glistened with more life than before!


And speaking of transformation, I was able to turn my dull plain brads for attaching the purse straps, into some sparkly wonderful brads. I did not have the correct color of brads to use on my fall colored purses, so I looked to the transformative properties of the glitter as my solution. The brads were in light pastel colors, not quite the colors associated with Autumn. This is when Art Glitter and Designer Dries Clear Adhesive came to the rescue. After the plain brads were fastened to both the purse strap and the purse flap, I applied some Designer Dries Clear Adhesive to the brad caps and covered them with one of the following colors of glitter: Ultrafine #65 Old Gold, Ultrafine #56 Pumpkin, Ultrafine Pearlescent #179 Tang. I was very pleased with how the adhesive and the glitter completely transformed the brad caps from dull to dazzling. Hurray! Way to go, Art Glitter and Designer Dries Clear Adhesive! You two make a fantastic combination.

Once the leaves and brads were attached to the purse flaps, I used the Ultrafine Metal Tip on my Designer Dries Clear Adhesive bottle to start making swirls and other designs. Sometimes I used just one color of glitter to sprinkle over the adhesive, but other times I mixed some of the glitter colors together to expand my glitter color options. Another technique I used was sprinkling one color of glitter sporadically over the adhesive and then sprinkle over it with another contrasting color to cover any remaining areas of uncovered adhesive. For example, I used the Ultrafine Pearlescent (179) Tang to sprinkle on here and there over a drawn out design in adhesive and then I’d use the Ultrafine Opaque (56) Pumpkin color afterward to cover any “un-glittered” areas of adhesive. Adding glitter in this way, resembled the gradation of leaves changing color in the Fall.


I discovered the joy and contentment of working with glitter. The sparkle of glitter is so enchanting and inviting. The Art Glitter bug has bitten me. Stay tuned for more glittering projects.

Glitter colors used: Ultrafine #65 Old Gold, Ultrafine #56 Pumpkin, Ultrafine Pearlescent #179 Tang, Dazzlers #D30 Jamaica Hexis Grande, Dazzlers #D1 Crazy Corn Funky / Supplies: Designer Dries Clear Adhesive, sheets of fun foam, eyelets, decorative and plain brads, hot glue / Tools: Ultrafine Metal Tip, scissors, hot glue gun, stylus, wavy edge scissors, paper punch