Jan's Ornaments in a Votive by Emily M. Miller

Jan's last project couldn't have come at a better time. My son's 5th grade teacher has these votive jars she wanted me to make a project with. So here's my take:


I started with a bed of Faux Snow applied with Designer Dries Clear along with some dots on the walls and along the top. Then I did the same technique with running the transparency paper through a Xyron machine and applying #47 Vine Opaque Ultrafine Glitter. Only I made two trees and slit one half way down the middle from the top and the other half way up from the bottom. Then you slide them together after gluing sequins on. Oh yes, I also left a stand at the bottom that I bent up and attached the two trees together with sticky tape. Then hotglue the stand to bottom inside of votive and added more Faux Snow.


Quite cute! I'll let you know how the class goes!

Art Glitter Tree Ornaments by Jan Hennings

Supplies:
Cricut, Holiday Cheer Cartridge (Provo Craft)
Xyron
Clear Glass Balls (Hobby Lobby)
Transparency (Art Glitter)
Aqua Marine Ultra Fine Opaque Glitter (Art Glitter)
Faux Snow (Art Glitter)


Directions:
1.) Drop in a spoonful or more of Faux Snow into ornament with a paper funnel.
2.) Using acetate, cut tree shapes.
3.) Run through Xyron to apply adhesive to one side.
4.) Sprinkle with glitter. Shake off excess.
5.) Punch a tiny hole through the top of the tree and tie some clear beading thread through the hole.
6.) Roll tree shape around a pencil and insert into ball.
7.) Feed the two ends up through the two holes in the top of the ornament and tie in A KNOT.


Be sure to visit Jan's blog for more Christmas ideas! Papercraft Pleasures

Autumn Cards by Jan Hennings and Glue Stamping Discussion

Autumn Card
Stamp the image of the flowers onto cardstock using a designer glue/water mixture. Sprinkle with Copper Canyon Ultrafine Opaque Glitter and let dry. Tap off the excess glitter.
I used a 3-D embellishment by K & Co. and added some glitter to it.
SUPPLIES: Cardstock (Papertrey Ink and Worldwin), Ribbon (Papertrey Ink), Sticky Strips (Art Glitter), Copper Canyon Ultrafine Opaque Glitter (Art Glitter), Designer Dries Clear Adhesive (Art Glitter), Rubber stamp (Penny Black), Grand Adhesions (K & Co)Lace and Glitter CardThank you Jan. When I saw how great this project turned out with Jan’s glue/stamping technique I was so excited. Here at Art Glitter we have tried this several times without any success so I called Jan right away to get the scoop. What we finally decided is that Jan had extraordinary results in this instance, however, she did noticed that the glitter was starting to come off.

I couldn’t decide whether to post this but then I came to the realization that we need to have a discussion about it because the question comes up all the time.

Here is what we’ve tried with a variety of stamps (some fine detailed, some thick):
• Making a mixture of Designer Dries Clear, (DDC), about a 2.5” dollop, and barely one drop of water then stamping in it. Next ‘blot’ the stamp onto scrap paper first before touching quickly onto cardstock. Then get the glitter on immediately.
• Painting the same mixture onto the stamp, may still need to ‘blot’ before stamping onto cardstock.
• Painting the glue on straight from the bottle. This actually worked best for me. Paint from the inside of the image to the outside, trying not to get into the recessed areas.

Problems:
• It is difficult to avoid stamp ‘slippage’ (I’m making up words today! I can do that on Friday the 13th!!!), making a smeared image.
• After blotting, the whole image doesn’t always stamp.
• Thickness of glue varies, making image light and dark in areas.
• After drying (even overnight) you can wipe away a lot of the glitter.
• Your stamp needs to be SCRUBBED immediately.

So as you can see you do not get consistant or even lasting results. It just doesn’t work. I would not recommend it. You’ll just get frustrated.

So now I know what you are thinking, what about the adhesive stamp pads? We have tried several, ones that require heat and ones that don’t. About the best one out there is The Essential Glue Pad by Tsukineko. No heat required. But we find that the glitter easily wipes away, even after sitting over night. We have had fellow crafters tell us that they don’t experience that kind of glitter loss. But in my experiences, when I rub my finger over my examples, a fair amount rubs away. If you don’t think it will get rubbed up against, then don’t worry about it! We do use it for metal leaf all the time, it is PERFECT for stamping a design and embellishing with metal leaf. It is a good product to have on hand.

Okay, okay I know the next question! What about a spray fixative on top? We have used an inexpensive acrylic clear coating or a matte finish from time to time. I can’t even remember when or why now, it’s been so long. But you need to spray from at least 9”-10” away and use only a light coating otherwise it will dull the glitter. Some say any amount will dull the glitter. And quite frankly, a light coat will still not give you the protection you need. It will still smear off some.

SO for great lasting results, stamp in ink or emboss your image then highlight with DDC and Art Glitter! If it’s worth glitter, it’s worth doing it right! And if you use DDC, apply the glitter while the glue is wet, white and shiny you will NEVER (yes, I said the ‘N’ word) have to use a spray on top. The glitter is there for good! And that’s my 2 cents -glitteremm

Here’s another wonderful card from Jan.
After seeing a lace card on Art Glitter website I knew I wanted to give this technique a try! The coverage with the fabric glue is amazing! I chose to add a few dollar store flowers to the card and a thin strip of a stamped flower to place the flowers on. I used a border punch at the top and bottom of the strip.
SUPPLIES:
Cardstock (Worldwin)
Lace (Wright's)
Ultra Fine Opaque Glitter: Copper Canyon
Flowers (Dollar Store)
Raffia (Wraphia)
Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
Fabric Dries Clear Adhesive

Pine Cone Tinsel Ballerina's by Lisa Kettell

This is a great eco friendly/green project, recycling pinecones from outside or pinecones from older Christmas/Fall projects. Then glitter them, or turn into dolls and ornaments.

Materials:
Art Glitter: Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
Art Glitter: Vintage Fine Glass Glitter #611 Antique Silver
Art Glitter: Vintage Fine Glass Glitter #607 Cobalt Blue
Art Glitter: Vintage Fine Glass Glitter #608 Red Damask

Art Glitter: Vintage Fine Glass Glitter #613 Diamond Dust
Small-medium sized pinecones
Small Styrofoam balls
Crepe paper streamers: aqua, light green and pink
Tinsel garland: old fashioned silver
Tinsel chenille stems: silver
Lettered wording
Acrylic paints: Flesh color
Gel pens: black and red
Hot glue and hot glue sticks
Glue Stick
Scissors
Other: paint brush, cup, water, shiny card stock, millinery flowers, tiny pompoms, sequins, tiny pearl strands

Directions for Glittered Tinsel Pine Cones:
1. Apply designer dries clear adhesive to the pinecone, then with a paint brush paint the adhesive onto all the edges.
2. Next sprinkle some #611 antique silver glass glitter or # 613 diamond dust onto the pinecone, let dry, shake off excess.

Directions for Pinecone Tinsel Ballerinas:
1. Apply designer dries clear adhesive to the pinecone. Then with a paintbrush, paint the adhesive onto all the edges.
2. Next sprinkle some #611 antique silver glass glitter or # 613 diamond dust onto the pinecone, let dry, shake off excess and set aside.
3. Paint Styrofoam balls w/flesh paint, let dry. Then draw a face onto them using gel pens, glue to top of pinecone.
4. Cut 2 pieces of tinsel chenille stem measuring 4 inches each. Wrap one piece around pinecone, hot glue in place. Arch the next tinsel chenille stem and hot glue to the bottom of the pinecone.

5.Begin embellishing your ballerinas with crepe paper, party hats, crowns, tinsel garland and tiny pompoms. For the hats and crowns, use cardstock, coated in either #607 cobalt blue or #608 red damask glass glitter.


Tips:
-Try glittering your pinecones with other glass glitter colors
-Make a glittered pinecone wreath using Styrofoam wreath, fill in with pinecones, securing in place with hot glue, coat pinecones with glitter, fill in vacant spots with velvet leaves or floral berries coated in glitter.
-Hang glittered pinecones from a window using pretty ribbons, place battery candle on windowsill to see the glittered pinecones glow.

Harvest Treasures featuring Fantasy Film by Marisa Pawelko

Marisa Pawelko (the Modern Surrealist) is a good friend of ours and we love her stuff! So please take a look at what she came up with using our Ultrafine Glitter and Fantasy Film with recycled bags. Make sure you click on the photos to see them up close!

Materials:
Dried pressed leaves
Fantasy Film
Art Glitter Chunky Opaque Hologram Glitter
Paper shopping bags
Designer dries clear Adhesive
Hot glue

Craft Items to embellish:
Scrapbook pages, Gift Bags, Paper Bags for Lanterns, Thanksgiving table place markers, etc.



Fantasy Leaves Technique: The leaves have 3 layers. Craft paper (brown paper bags) then the leaf then Fantasy Film on top. Use glue between the layers, ironing on top with parchment to protect and iron on medium for 3 seconds. Cut around border of leaf.

Embellish plain leaves using Designer Dries Clear Adhesive with Metal Tip Precision Application tool along the veins. Now that you’ve made your leaves, you can apply them to any number of items to embellish. You can also use the precision tip to enhance your scrapbook text with Art Glitter! Makes a beautiful gift in the fall, and can also be done in the spring with dried flowers!

Project Design by Marisa Pawelko founder of Modern Surrealist LLC www.modernsurrealist.com

http://blog.modernsurrealist.com/

Personalized Votives by Violette Clark

Do you sometimes feel stumped when it comes to giving a hostess gift or when you want to give a little something to a friend to show them you care but don't know what? Fear not! You are a lean mean crafting machine and that means you'll be able to whip up these delightful personalized votive candle holders in no time at all. All you need is a picture of your friend/s – I printed mine in photoshop and altered the mode to grayscale but you can do the same at a photocopy shop if you like. You also might have to shrink the image down to size to fit nicely on your votive holder.

Supplies:

• #724 No moon transparent microfine glitter
• #740 Raspberry transparent microfine glitter
• #263 Bright Gold Ultrafine opaque glitter
• Sticky paper
• Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
• book text, computer text
• tiny black feather
• votive candle holders
• photocopy or computer generated prints
• pencil

Directions:

1. Choose a photo of your friend and alter it in photoshop making it into a grayscale image. You could also bring your photo to the photocopy center and print it out in black and white. Print your image and cut out.


2. Cut a rectangle of sticky paper. For “music man” you will also be cutting out a crown shape and heart. For “2 creative chicks” you will be cutting out a heart and thin strip for a headband.
3. Print out text for your votive creations. I chose “music man” and “2 creative chicks”. I could have chosen to print out the names or nicknames of the recipients. Clip and outline in pencil.
4. Tear a piece of book text for each holder.


5. For the “2 Creative chicks” I removed the paper backing of the sticky paper and laid down the book text and image. I adhered the words “2 creative chicks”. I then dipped the sticky back paper and image into the bright gold ultrafine opaque glitter. I then removed the backing from the headband and dipped it in No Moon transparent microfine glitter. I glued the tiny black feather down and then adhered the headband on top. I cut out a heart shape from the sticky paper and dipped it in raspberry transparent microfine glitter. I then adhered it to the image.
6. For “Music Man” I removed the paper backing of the sticky paper and laid down the book text and image. I adhered the words “Music man”. I then dipped the sticky back paper and image into the bright gold ultrafine opaque glitter. I then removed the backing from the crown and dipped it in No Moon transparent microfine glitter and adhered it. I cut out a heart shape from the sticky paper and dipped it in raspberry transparent microfine glitter. I then adhered it to the image.
7. I adhered both images to the votive candle holders with Designer Dries clear adhesive.



Add a candle and a glittery gift tag and VOILA! You have a fabulous personalized gift for that special friend.

Art Glitter sponsors Sketchy Thursdays Challenge this week

Our friends at Sketchy Thursdays are having fun with glitter this week! Check out this great challenge blog and join in. You may win! Here are some layouts they've done: