Thursday, December 3, 2009

Glitter & Glitz!

Happy Thursday! I am making Jules post for her today as she and Gene had a very early Dr. appointment. Wishing them the best this morning :) Hope you enjoy her amazing December tech!
This one comes just in time for the holidays! We get a lot of company during the winter holidays. People drop by to say hello or we invite people over and they bring a gift. I have learned the hard way to keep a 'something special' in my hall closet in a gift bag ready to reciprocate. This month's tech shows you a gift idea using the goodies you get in the December kit to make a few of those 'something specials' in your hall closet. You will need to get some plain martini or wine glasses. I found a four pack at Tuesday Morning for 5.99 and Pier One has them for 1.99 each. I wash the glasses in hot, soapy water, rinse in hot and either allow them to air dry or I dry them with newspapers. I have found that if I use paper towels or even dish towels, there is a residue left and the goodies do not adhere as well. This is the end result.
and now how to get there... Step One: I followed the directions on the sticker pack in Dec.'s kit for removal of the double sided stickers. I found that using a craft knife to lift the stickers and apply them made this ten times easier! These are very cool stickers because, even when one tore, it was easy to repair as the edges went right back to the original once I used my craft knife to position the two edges. I placed the stickers around the martini glass using large, medium and small arranged up and down the glass. If I wasn't happy with the end result, I merely used the craft knife to lift and reposition a sticker.

Step Two Method A: I wanted to also glitter the base of the glass. I spread a clear drying glue around the base of the glass. I used Scrappy Glue but believe Zip Dry or another might have worked better. I allowed the glue to set up for about 30 seconds and then sprinkled the base with the glitter over a craft mat. (Craft mats are a wonder).
I then used release paper (I use the backs from my Xyron machines but waxed paper also works), placing it over the glittered base and brayered the base to maximize adherence of the glitter.
I then went back and filled in the spots that did not adhere with a light dab of the glue applied with a paint brush. It worked but what I found worked even better is Method B: I used a sheet of double sides adhesive paper (strips of double sided tape work as well...be sure to over lay for maximum coverage). I traced the bottom of the martini glass onto the double sided adhesive paper, cut it out, punched out a 1 inch circle from a piece of paper, laid it on the bottom trace in the middle, and cut. I placed this on the bottom of the martini glass, used a bone folder to get out any air pockets and repeated the process of glittering and braying. The coverage was more complete and far less messy.
Step Three: Glittering the stickers. I sprinkled the glitter from the kit over the affixed stickers on the glass. I used the release paper and a brayer for maximum adherence. I used a soft, small tipped brush to remove the excess glitter.

Step Four: The pipe cleaner embellishments. I twisted one silver pipe cleaner (available at most craft stores) around a pencil and then moved it to the stem of the glass. I used a glue dot top and bottom to hold it in place. I used thin double sided tape around the rim of the glass and adhered a second pipe clearer to this. I used Zip Dry glue on the ends and I did have to piece one section, the ends of which I also adhered with Zip Dry (any very tacky glue that dries clear should work).
I added pearls to the center of the glittered snow flakes, filled the glass with festive candy and VOILA! One special gift coming up!
Now what are you doing hanging around here? Go, create!

2 comments:

  1. Fantastic idea...great little decorations for a festive party! I think I am going to make some of these for New Year's!

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