Glitter Ornaments with Transparencies by Candy Spiegel

I love the sparkle glitter provides. It seems a natural match for Christmas ornaments. But, sometimes I have a hard time getting it to look just right. I’ve watched Barbara Trombley, the owner of Art Glitter, do magnificent creations with glitter and glue, but mine just never seem to turn out as well.

Until I discovered a little secret … If you stamp on an acetate transparency and then put glitter on the back side, you will get a beautiful image without any glitter “mistakes”.

Using a stamp from Holly Berry House, a plastic ornament and some products from Art Glitter, I created this...

Isn’t it amazing!?!

I started by stamping the image on an Acetate Transparency using a Very Black Permanent Stamp Pad. Then, I used my heat tool to set the ink and then punched the center out so it would fit over the top of the ball.

Next, I turned the image over and used the Ultrafine Metal Tip and Designer Dries Clear Adhesive to apply the following glitters: Ultrafine Opaque Berry (4), Ultrafine Opaque True Red (1), Ultrafine Opaque Emerald (48) and Vintage Glass Glitter in Red Damask (608). I also covered the metal top in Ultrafine True Red glitter.

As you work, you’ll see the glue on the front side of the image. However, when it is totally dry, the glue vanishes and all you will see is the glitter.

While that dried, I cut strips of Fantasy Film in Waterfall, crumbled them up and then added them to the inside of the ball.

Once the transparency was dry, I cut out the image and then placed it on top of the ball and then put the clip back in place.

I didn’t like how wide the flower was, so I bent each side and glued the edge of the petal to the ball. This takes some time — Designer Dries Clear Adhesive dries quickly on most surfaces, but attaching glitter to plastic is a bit tough. I used a piece of tape to hold it in place while the glue dried overnight. Since all of the glitter is on the underside, it didn’t cause any damage when I removed it.

Of course, I was so excited with that project, I got a bit carried away and made this one, using the same technique:

For this one, I stamped the image twice and cut the green leaves out of the second one. I glittered them with the same ones mentioned above. However, since this one was keeping its center, I added Microfine Opaque Glitter in Cayman (521) to the center of the top layer only. I did not place any glitter in the center on the bottom image (the one with the green leaves), since I wanted a place to attach the two images together.

Once dry, I cut out both images and used adhesive foam to attach them in the center, to provide a dimensional look. Then, I added Large Glass Beads in Solar (803) to the center of the flower. (The beads are the only thing attached to the top of the transparency, rather than the back side.

Finally, I used my Crop-a-Dile to add an eyelet to the top and then strung a piece of ribbon as a hanger.

I wish you could see the sparkle and dimension in person! It’s beautiful. I hung it on the tree in front of a light to give it even more elegance.

Happy glittering!
(I received Art Glitter products in exchange for this post).