Sea Sprite Napkin Rings by Emma MacDonald

Have you ever picked a color at the nail salon solely based on the name of the nail polish? Well, I have! (Cajun Shrimp is my new favorite-as you can see by the pics below!) Colors inspire me tremendously, but when they’re also paired with a clever name, it becomes creative destiny! And glitter is no different. I was shopping on artglitter.com and the name, “Sea Sprite,” captured my eye! I automatically knew I wanted to create something “nautical,” with it!

Bring a touch of coastal living to your kitchen or patio table with these nostalgic napkin rings.

Materials used:
-Art Glitter: Vintage Glass Glitter, Sea Sprite (621)
-Art Glitter: Vintage Glass Glitter, Diamond Dust (613)
-Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
-wooden napkin rings
-small white sea shells
-strips of burlap
-jute
-tape
-paintbrush
-condiment cups
-scissors
-hot glue gun/sticks
-spray lacquer

All of these items can be picked up at any retail craft store.  But if you are vacationing at the beach this year, save some money and find your own shells.

Apply tape to the middle of the napkin rings, leaving a thin border on both ends and brush Designer Dries Clear over it.

Pour a small amount of Sea Sprite (621), Vintage Glass Glitter, into a condiment cup.  I love using these cups because they make transporting glitter back to their containers- a cinch!  While the glue is still wet, dip the ends into the glitter.  Remove tape and let it dry.

Brush a thin layer of Designer Dries Clear over the tops of the shells and dip it into the Diamond Dust (613), Vintage Glass Glitter. Let it dry.

Now use Designer Dries Clear again to glue the burlap strips to the center of the napkin rings.  Tie a small piece of jute around the center of the each ring and cut off the tails. Finally, hot glue the glittered shell over the knot.  Let it dry.

NOTE: Please use caution with Vintage Glass Glitter and eating utensils. Make sure to brush off any excess glitter after it has dried and give it a quick coat of spray lacquer for safety reasons. Another alternative is an Ultrafine Art Glitter choice...enjoy!

Falling Into Place by Sherri Reehil-Welser

One of the great things about creating is finding unique uses for things that might very well be thrown away! Kids love puzzles but how many times do puzzles come up  with missing  pieces and then they are hard to use again as a complete puzzle. The kids loved the idea of this project (I think some of the kids wanted an excuse to use the pieces from complete puzzles to make their jewelry!!) This is a very easy project for ages 5 on up and half the fun is finding  the” best” pieces to design with!

I have put a small list of supplies together below :

~Art Glitter: Ultrafine Glitter, Dazzlers
~Puzzle Pieces
~Designer Dries Clear Adhesive poured into a plastic container
~Earring Hooks- Silver or gold toned
~Jump rings- 3mm or larger
~Paint brushes for applying the Designer Dries Clear
~ Metal hole punch pliers ( 1.25 mm)

1) After choosing your puzzle pieces (1 or 2  puzzle pieces per side) stamp a hole with the metal hole punch at the very top (while still maintaining a solid hole) where the jump ring and earring hook will attach.

2)  Use the paint brushes to coat the backs of the pieces with the Designer Dries Clear and let dry. 1-2 coats should work well.

3) After the backs are completely dried turn over the pieces to work on the front.

4) Paint Designer Dries Clear to the fronts and immediately apply the pieces with Art Glitter, have fun and find new ways to apply the glitter to the pieces, (dipping corners, sprinkling on top, only doing half of the pieces etc...). Backs can be done too!  Another creative idea one of the girls had was to make” dangling” puzzle piece earrings by fitting 2 pieces diagonally together and gluing in place. You then would design it as the others.

5) Before the top dries another addition can be Glass Micro Beads or seed beads sprinkled on to further enhance your design!

6) When completely dry it is time to assemble to earrings: open one jump ring for each earring (open by sliding side to side not by pulling apart) and place the jump ring through the top of the hole in the puzzle piece. Next attach the earring hook to the jump ring and  slide from side to side to close the jump ring back up.

~ You now have a very fun and funky pair of earrings to wear and you will never look at puzzles the same way again ~

Enjoy and get creative!

Sweet & Sassy Tulle Pom-Poms by Emma McDonald

This project was inspired by my “now” 5 year old niece’s Strawberry Shortcake birthday party this year. My sister-in-law asked me to come up with some decorative ideas using rolls of tulle. So of course I searched the web and saw a picture of these simple and playful tulle pom-poms. I immediately remembered making some similar out of yarn, years back, using a pom-pom maker. But being the frugal crafter that I am, I decided to make my own instead.

These sugary sweet pom-poms will sure to be a hit at your next baby, bridal, or birthday bash!

Materials used:

-Art Glitter: Confection DAZZLERS (D29)

-Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
-rolled tulle 

-embroidery thread or twine
-cardboard
-pen
-scissor
-paintbrush

-tray

To make your own pom-pom maker you’ll need some cardboard.  I took a box, flattened it out, and used various sizes of bowls to trace onto it.  Just make sure you make 2 of each size.  Draw a smaller circle into the centers of each and cut out the inner and outer circles until it resembles a donut.  Determine how big or small you want your pom-poms to be and size the cardboard donuts accordingly.

Place the 2 matching donuts together and wrap it completely with a strip of tulle. (1  yard of tulle was used for this small pom-pom….remember the bigger the donut the more tulle you will need to wrap.)

 Cut between and around the two cardboard donuts.

Spread the donut pieces away from the center and use thread to tie together.  Keep in mind the length in which you wish to hang it later.

Lightly brush the Designer Dries Clear over the top of the tulle and remove cardboard donut.

Sprinkle Confection DAZZLERS onto a clean, dry tray.  While the glue is still wet, press the tulle into the glitter.  Shake off excess and repeat on the other side.  Hang, spread tulle apart, and let dry.

I especially love how this glitter gives the appearance of sugar!  Which is perfect for such a sweet little girl’s party?

Now display them as you wish: staggering the different sizes over a cake table, string small pom-poms together to make a garland, or hang large ones from trees.  Whatever you decide, you can’t go wrong with these! And when the party’s over- hang them as décor in your child’s  room, or give them away as a favor to your guests.

Glitter Savings and Design Team Call at Art Glitter

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Give me an ...a by Connie K.

At my house, in my family we do a lot of celebrating in the spring...almost every other week it is someone’s birthday!

I thought I would show you the tag I made for Amy ..her birthday is in April..so just around the corner...She loves anything vintage... I of course love shopping for her...I think this will be perfect to tie on her gift....

It has lots of layers and just some fun elements...but the real star is the big a that is covered with Art Glitter Vintage Glass Glitter in Antique Silver...which will tarnish over time. I love how that looks...and I know Amy will too...

Gather your supplies

A lot of the items I used on this I had in my stash..but it could easily be replicated with what you have on hand...

Get your sewing machine out..there is some top stitching involved here!

*linen scrap...5.5” X 3” pink the edges  
netting yellow.....4.5” X3.5”
manilla shipping tag 4.75 “ X 2.5”
vintage lace 4 “ thrifted
turquoise ball fringe 3”
burlap natural 3” X .05”
yellow flower trim 3” maya road
martha stewart large butterfly punch
pink paislee courage paper
heirloom gold perfect pearls mist
small random button
khaki thread
babylock sewing machine
seam binding 1/2 yd turquoise..snug hug
archival ink coffee..ranger
7gypsies stamp from the conservatory set
2.75” chipboard letter roman lower case accucut
Art Glitter Vintage Glass Glitter Antique Silver #611
Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
3D foam dots black
*something of a similiar weight..mine was actually a sample cutting from a home decor store..I have a little stack of these...they come in handy..you just never know!

Let’s get started

Prior to assembling all the layers together...you will want to stamp the shipping tag with the 7 gypsies stamp that says carte postage on the left hand side of the tag, 2 inches from the lower edge...using archival ink in coffee by ranger.

Glitter your chipboard letter using the Designers Dries Clear Adhesive..I thinnned it slightly with water, applied it with a brush and then covered with Vintage Glass Glitter in Antique Silver...
using the martha stewart punch cut a butterfly from the yellow pink paislee paper and mist with heirloom gold perfect pearls mist.

Layer the netting over the linen fabric which is your base.. then top stitch the tag on top of both pieces going around it twice...the stitching can be random and not even...
line top edge of the tag up with the upper edge of the linen..
on the lower edge of the linen, stitch the vintage lace piece across the bottom.
layer the ball fringe on top of this and top stitch...
finally stitich the strip of burlap over the upper edge of the ball fringe.
the yelllow flower trim can be adhered with the designer dries clear adhesive...set aside to dry.
Adhere the letter to the tag using foam squares as shown in photo.
Tie seam bindiing into a bow  and adhere to tag with a glu gun.Thread the button with the khaki tread, add button to center of bow with a glu gun...finally secure the the butterfly to the upper right hand corner.

These tags are fun to make and can be used for any occassion....

Sparkling Treasures by Sherri Reehil-Welser

Creating with children is a beautiful journey… their hearts are filled with so much creative energy  that it’s contagious to everyone around them! For this particular project with the children we decided we would have no boundaries or topics just pure creative bliss.

We began with a piece of white paper ( 11x14 ) where we just splattered, dropped or strategically placed many different colors of fabric paint. Fabric paint has a more translucent appearance and works well with showing off the glitter in the design. After applying the fabric paint we then folded the paper in half to transform the identical image on the other side of the paper. The fun aspect of this process is when the paint mixture blends and creates wonderful designs and colors… it is just like Christmas- You  never know what you will get as a “gift” for all  your creative energy!

While the picture is still wet we applied Art Glitter colors in- Monochromatic Orange Shades, Ultrafine Transparent #212 Blue Whale and Ultrafine Opaque Hologram #248 Nebula. The children are just drawn to all things colorful and glittery and Loved working with the Art Glitter and realizing all the different colors of glitter available from Art Glitter.com! One child even described the Nebula glitter as “Diamonds in the Dark”.

Some of the beautiful pictures created!

This is a colorful butterfly!

Here is a “Queen” smiling!

Button Bonsai by Emma McDonald

I simply adore buttons!  They just make me smile!  And one day I had a random thought, “What would a button tree look like?”  And immediately, I answered myself and blurted out, “A Bonsai!”  So naturally -my Button Bonsai will also be blossomed with some BLING!

Materials used:
-Art Glitter: SASSY Pee Wee Kit
-Designer Dries Clear Adhesive
-condiment cups
-buttons

-canvas and frame
-acrylic paint: white
-paintbrushes

-airbrush
-airbrush paint: peach, white, black

-lace

-bonsai stencil
-painters tape

After I painted the gold (thrift store find) frame- white, to add a touch of sparkle in the corners, I used the Designer Dries Clear Adhesive and sprinkled the #189- Pearl, into the crevices.

I continued using the adhesive to lightly brush the tops of the buttons, dusting them with the remaining glitter colors from the SASSY, Pee Wee Kit. (I find that using the condiment cups- to catch the glitter, makes transferring unused glitter back to their containers, a cinch!)

So after I shook off the excess glitter from each button, I used a straight pin to unclog any button holes that formed.  Then I set them aside to dry.

I also love airbrushing because it’s fast and you can create a graphic-like look with the usage of stencils.  I made my own stencil by drawing a bonsai tree onto poster board and cutting it out with a craft knife.  But first, I used an airbrush-to base coat the canvas with peach paint.  Then I wrapped it with lace and airbrushed over it with white.  “Taa-daa!”  Your canvas will instantly look like lacey wallpaper!

I then taped the bonsai stencil onto the canvas and airbrushed over it with black.  I carefully removed the stencil and let it dry.

So now I need to dress my naked tree with some Bling-y Buttons!  I used the Designer Dries Clear Adhesive to paste them sporadically onto the canvas.  This glue is great! - It has industrial strength, yet remains flexible- which is a perfect combination when gluing items onto canvas.  Now all is left -is assembling the canvas to the frame and deciding where I will hang this playful and dazzling piece!  Hope you have a blast creating your very own blingy-button masterpiece!