Tag: Glastique

Cherish life’s glittery moments …

On By lindaIn home decor, Uncategorized, Xyron18 Comments

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I know you may be tiring of all my DIY ornaments but please suffer through one more with me. I just can’t seem to get enough of them lately and when I finish one – or sometimes while working on one – thoughts of how I will decorate the next one are already running through my mind. They’re so easy to play with and you can fit them to any theme or event.

This one is actually reversible! The heart can be seen from either side so it can hang anywhere it may spin or be viewed from both sides. And, yes, that’s the Sizzix Primitive Heart once again as well. What can I say …

So here’s the steps to how I created this precious little hanging.

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I cut two of the hearts from corrugated cardboard, ran them through my Xyron 1.5″ Create-a-Sticker. I left the hearts on the Xyron backing and spritzed them with water and roughed them up a bit before painting them with G&P Pink Rose 3D Enamel Gel. While the Gel is still wet I sprinkled them with Art Glitter Mimosa #102 Ultrafine Transparent. I love the way this glitter glistens as the globe turns and moves – it sparkles in different colors. Really cool.

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The rims of the ornament are also painted with the Piccolo 3D Enamel Gel and the outer rims sprinkled with the same Mimosa glitter. I coated the fairy wings with a clear layer of Glastique so the natural color of the bookboard shines through. Once all the pieces are dry the assembly begins.

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I laid a strand of wire on the backside of one of the hearts and used Designer Dries Clear to adhere the wings to the same backside. The same Designer Dries Clear is used to adhere the hearts back-to-back. The printed, cut out and inked words and gems are also adhere with the Designer Dries Clear.

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I assembled the Globecraft DIY Ornament following the directions that came with it. Before adhering the top globe and rim to the bottom, the wired hearts are laid across the center of the globe. Designer Dries Clear is used to adhere the top half to the bottom half and I use clip clothespins to hold it together till the glue sets. One side of the heart says ‘wish’ and ‘dream,’ the other side says ‘cherish’ and ‘love.’ When the light catches this it just sparkles and makes me smile.

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Visit the Art Glitter blog to see another project I created recently with their glittery products!

Adding simple elegance to everyday cards

On By lindaIn card making, Stamping, Uncategorized4 Comments
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Linda Neff

I rather enjoy the challenge of making cards nowadays. It took me a long time to feel comfortable creating a card, but it isn’t nearly as scary as it once was. I’ve learned to keep my designs simple, use my scrap papers and stick with simple embellishments. This first card is a design I use often. It’s great for using two pattern papers that coordinate and the pieces can be moved around, put at angles, left uneven and the design also works horizontally or vertically. The embellishments used here are by Globecraft & Piccolo, known as G&P.  They’re a local company out of Midland, Michigan and I like their products.

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I’m on their design team, but I was using their products long before that ever happened.  What I like about the bookboard accents for card making is that they are pretty thin. If they’re adhered directly to the page and not lifted, they will go through the mail at a normal rate.

For the card above I removed the pieces from their backing and coated them with Glastique Gloss Finishing Glaze. This product leaves a nice shiny finish on the piece and acts as a sealer. These pieces are from the Birds & Butterflies Accents. There are enough pieces in this collection to easily stretch over two to three cards.

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The Glastique is applied directly to the  bookboard piece from the bottle with the fine tip and left to dry for a bit. I also used the Glastique as an adhesive to attach the bookboard pieces to the card.

The next card uses the G&P Girl’s Night Out Embossing Powder applied with the G&P Embossing Powder Adhesive with a dabber top. The dabber top on the embossing powder adhesive really helps it to apply easily and with good coverage. We always recommend rolling our jars of embossing powder to blend the granules rather than shaking which could cause the larger granules to sink to the bottom of the jar. The heart on this card has three coats of powder on it; each applied after the previous coat is cool to the touch and then heat set again till smooth. The variegation of colors in the powders gives the embossed pieces a great dimensional look.

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The key is embossed with two coats of G&P Vintage Silver Embossing Powder in the same manner as the heart. Each piece is adhered to the card with Glastique. The embossing powders help to create a faux metal look which blends well with the paper selection.

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Cardmaking is a fun activity that anyone can learn. It doesn’t have to be difficult and over-the-top. Keep your cards basic and simple and easy to mail. It’s the sentiment that you write on the inside that touches people’s heart and the just the thought alone that you cared enough to send a hand-made card.

Celebrate every day

On By lindaIn Uncategorized10 Comments
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Linda Neff

I think you know how much I enjoy making these little DIY Ornaments. I made several that traveled out to California for CHA and then back home to Michigan. I picked them up last week so was finally able to take some photos of them so I can share them with you all.

You’ll find a tutorial over on the G&P Blog today and I’m gonna give you a quick run-down here as well. On the G&P Blog I show you how I made one using clip art inside and this one here shows how I used some of my vintage button stash. They’re both very different.

For this one, titled ‘Celebrate every day,’ I wanted to leave the bookboard rings their natural color. I did, however, place them in an embossing folder and run them through my Vagabond. I did this for both outer rings. It’s not necessary for the inner ring because only the very edge shows.

I then squeezed on a good amount of Glastique Gloss on both outer rings and both sides of the inner ring and spread it around to give the bookboard rings some shine. It also acts as a sealant and really makes the embossing noticeable.

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DIY Ornament: outer rings embossed and treated with Glastique Gloss.

I cut and rolled several paper flowers with the Sizzix Flowers, 3D die. I had some leaves and a vine leftover from some project so decided to use them all together. I used a small paint brush to apply Glastique to the leaves and flower edges an sprinkled them all with a light dusting of Fawn Microfine Transparent glitter. I set those aside while I figured out what else was going in this globe.

I opted to finger paint some Rose Pink 3D Enamel Gel onto the inside of the back globe. This provides a bit of dimension and texture and is still transparent while making the finished piece look good from the back. When that dried I adhered vintage buttons in a single layer to fill the back globe. Now I could start assembly. I laid the vine, leaves and flowers in until I got an arrangement that appealed to me then I glued them all in place, added the computer printed phrase and let it sit a while to set up.

DIY Ornament: back globe with vintage buttons and 3D paper flowers.
DIY Ornament: back globe with vintage buttons and 3D paper flowers.

When it was pretty stable I added a thin line of Glastique to the unfinished side of the bottom ring and set the globe into it, clipping it together with clothespins while the glue sets up. When it’s pretty much set, run a thin line of Glastique around the lip of the globe and lay the inner ring on it; clip to set up.

DIY Ornament: inner ring glued to top portion of bottom globe.
DIY Ornament: inner ring glued to top portion of bottom globe.

The Glastique dries clear so no need to fret over a little bit oozing out. Now glue the top globe to the inner ring then glue the top embossed ring over that and clip till the glue sets. I like to leave these for a couple hours or overnight just so I’m sure all my glue is perfectly dry before messing with it.

DIY Ornament with all layers together; clipped to hold tightly until glue is set.
DIY Ornament with all layers together; clipped to hold tightly until glue is set.
DIY Ornament with Glastique finish.
DIY Ornament with Glastique finish.

This one went together quite quickly and I added a Tim Holtz Swivel Clasp to the top for hanging. There’s another ornament over on the G&P Blog today from me. If you’d like to try this on your own you can order your DIY Ornaments by clicking the link below. I’ll also have a class or two coming up at Scrapbook Peddler with the DIY Ornaments so watch for that date to be added to the calendar soon. I’ll be at the Scrapbook Peddler next weekend for a Piccolo Card Class.