Hearts of Glitter by Christine Lehto

As I work on various projects, my mind often wanders, searching for new items to add a glittery surface to. A few months ago, I bought a package of these little plastic heart boxes from the dollar store. At the time, I did not exactly know what I would do with the boxes, but I knew they’d come in handy at some point. One day I saw those boxes sitting in my plastic storage bin and they caught my attention screaming, “We want to be glitter-fied!” Needless to say, I decided to try to give them the glitter treatment.


I gathered up the following glitter supplies:
• Assortment of Art Glitter colors: Ultrafine Opaque #30 Royale, #291 Fire Engine, #65 Old Gold, #44 Kelly, #84 Shiny Si and #58 Brown. Ultrafine Pearlescent #184 T-Bird, Microfine Opaque #519 Reed, Microfine Transparent #704 Blue Bell and Dazzlers #D1 Crazy Corn
• Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
• #8 Flat paintbrush
• Medium grit sandpaper
• Aluminum tray filled with uncooked rice (Yes, it does serve a very useful purpose in the process)
• 3 plastic heart boxes
Steps to make a glittery heart box:
1) Sand the surface of the boxes with medium grit sandpaper
2) Determine how you want your heart box to be decorated. I decided to make mine with hearts within hearts on the cover of the box. First, I made a heart shape in the center of the box cover using the Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and then sprinkled my first color of glitter.
3) After the center heart dried, I applied an outline of adhesive around it and sprinkled it with glitter. Then I waited for outline to dry.
4) Once the glitter dried for each of my outlines, I used a #8 flat paintbrush to apply adhesive to the outside edges of the box cover. At this point, I removed the cover from the base, so I would not accidentally glue the box closed. I applied glue & glitter to the edges in two steps. First, I applied the adhesive to one half of the outside edge of the box. (note: be careful to spread out the glue in a thin layer using a paintbrush, otherwise the glue will dry unevenly) Then I added glitter to the surface of the brushed on adhesive. Next, I carefully placed my box into the tray filled with rice. This helps to prop up the piece and helps it to dry without getting too messy. After the first half of the edge is dry, I repeated this same process for the second half.
5) For the sides on the base of the box, I repeated the two-step process and used the tray of rice to prop up the box base. Finally, I added adhesive with a brush to the outside bottom of the box base and set it down flat to dry.
6) Once both the cover and the base were glitter-fied, I placed the covers back onto the bases to see if there were any spots I needed to touch up. For any touch up spots, I applied glitter to the “bare” spots using the paintbrush. After filling in the bare spots, the box is ready to use or to give away as a gift. It’s a perfect box to give some jewelry in.


Note: Initially I forgot to sand my first heart box and I encountered spots where the glue would not stay covered on the surface of the box. For my next box, I lightly sanded the surface and this did not happen as often. However, on occasion it still happened. I was able to go back later and fill in the empty spots and then the glue stayed put, so next time I may sand a little longer to see if this would be eliminated. If not, at least I can go back and fill in those spots after the first glittering is dried.


Note from Art Glitter: If sanding doesn't work, or if it is an item you don't want to sand, clean it with rubbing alcohol first and paint on a thin coat of Designer Dries Clear, let dry completely. Then paint/draw on glue as desired and glitter. Thanks Christine!