Frosted glass

OK, I have to say, I LOVE how this turned out!  It started as a clear glass jar from the thrifty store.  Look at the bottom - it has frills on the glass!  It was sort of scratched up and yellowed with age.  I cleaned it as best as I could and then I airbrushed the inside of the glass with my copic system.

I took some of the double-sided tape  (using a lot of Elizabeth Craft Designs products on this one)  and put the sticky side up and placed the peel-off on top of that.  I've used the brand new doll peel-offs.  Covered it with microfine (cool) glitter, burnished the glitter, cut out the shape, then peeled the back off and stuck it on the outside of the glass.  Note - I airbrushed the inside of the glass.

Next, using q-tips and 91% rubbing alcohol, I removed the "paint" from the inside of the jar where the oval was:

This gives me a totally glittery, frosted look to the glass!

Tied a silk ribbon around the bottom, added some bling, stuck a candle down inside the jar....and I think it's just perfect!

I haven't done a youtube tutorial in quite some time, but this may just be the next one I do!!!

Burlap Bling

All of a sudden, I am loving glass!  These are used Yankee candle jars from the thrifty store.  I melted the used was out of the 2 larger ones, but the candle in the small one had not been lit, so I left it.

I used sheet music paper, glitter ribbon, broken jewelry, and burlap on this one.  The die cut is from Elizabeth Craft.  That's a large distressed key hanging from the right side.

For the middle one - mostly the same things.  But dictionary paper this time.

for this little one, the front flower, I stamped music on fabric and then die cut it.  The flowers are all from Sizzix - the Tim Holtz line.

I think they turned out great.  Here's my tip when working with burlap (the kind you get at Walmart).  It is so loosely woven that when you die cut it, the leaves fall off.  Simply adhere it to paper before you die cut it.  It will keep the burlap from fraying and keeps the fabric from flopping around.  These little jars are going to be part of a larger display in a few more days.  :o)

Mercury glass - day 3

Today I'm sharing some of my favorites - and some of the easiest to do!    This first one was a clear glass candle holder.  Maybe 3" tall.  Airbrushed with copic marker RV09 , then Amaco's pewter die cut, with a broken earring attached to the front center.  What do you think?  This one was 47 cents at one of our thrifty stores here in town.

This one was blue glass.  So I simply sprayed the outside with the looking glass paint, spritzed the vinegar/water mix on top of that, then waited 2 minutes and lightly blotted it off so the blue glass would show through.  I used Spellbinders S4-365  Create-a-flake four die for this.  I think that die has been discontinued, but look for it on ebay.  I took apart an ornament from Hobby Lobby for the center of the die and added some bling to the round points.

This was another clear votive holder and I simply love it!  I used Copic marker B06 for the color and this time, I used a ton of color with very little of the looking glass paint.  The pewter is a different element from the Create-a-flake four die above with another pice of the same ornament.  So simple, yet so elegant!

This is a tiny little votive, about the size of a shot glass.  I die cut the border and airbrushed it with colic's B06 as I wanted color on this one.  The snowflake is from the same die.  I love this die - so many different flakes and I haven't even started layering them!

And the last one today.  This is my favorite - so far!  This one is about 5" tall.  The rim around the top of the glass was chipped so I got it for 50 cents.  It was already faux mercury glass, so I didn't have to do a thing with the glass.

I used the large die from the Venetian Motifs, S5-119.   A rather large ornament from Hobby Lobby on the front.  How fun to get these at half off and then take them apart with undue!

The top border is cut from S5-042, Fleur de Lis accents and then…..

Folded over the top rim and pressed down around the top and the bottom to fit snugly against the glass. You can no longer see or feel the cracks that were in the rim.  

All of these just glimmer and shine in the sunlight.  So incredibly pretty in the day, but I have lights under them and at night, it's just stunning!

Tomorrow, I'm going thrifty store shopping in Co Springs with my sis.  I hope we find a ton of clear glass so I can come home and play some more.  Can you believe that I am completely out of glass???

Mercury glass and more - 1

Oh what fun it is to play…..

I'm going to spend the next few days sharing how I made these.  So first, you need to go to your local thrifty store and find glass.  Almost anything will do.  Clear glass, colored glass….all sizes and shapes.  Here's an example of a bottle and a candle votive that I found (of course, they were clear glass when I picked them up).  

While you are in the store, stack them together.  Get different heights.  Get some that will use votive size candles, tall tapers, short fat candles….and pick up used candles while you are at it.  I have several youtube tutorials showing you how to repair, restore and reuse old candles.  

In the days to come, I will share a variety of techniques, but for the look above, you will need Krylon's looking glass paint  (Walmart is the cheapest place if you can find it there).  You need a fine mist spray bottle filled with a mix of 1/2 water to 1/2 vinegar.  I don't think it matters what type of vinegar.  

For this particular bottle, I sprayed 1 coat of paint on the outside of the glass, then patted it off with a Viva paper towel (Viva is soft and flat, no embossed design in it).  Let it dry for a couple of seconds, then sprayed another layer, patted it off….did that 3 or 4 times.  

Next, I immediately spritzed the outside of the glass with the mix.  Let that set for 2 minutes.  It might not be dry, but that's ok.  Pat it off with your paper towel.  It will remove a little bit of the paint.  If you want a different look, rub it a little.  If you don't like the results, just soak the glass in 1 cup of vinegar in a sink full of water and rub all the paint right off.  I make several mistakes so always need a useable remedy!

I've made 23 of these in the past couple of weeks, so lots of experiments, loads of failures, and I'll be sharing different shots of the sun reflecting through them all.

 First up is this little glass bottle.  Remember - it started out clear.  It was someone else's junk.  Now it's my little treasure!  Rows of adhesive crystals around the top and then at the bottom of the top, a row of sequins.  These are the kind that you can buy by the yard in the fabric section at Hobby Lobby.  Note, you can slide them apart, or scrunch them up close together which is what I did here.

Below that is a Spellinder's die.  This is from the Fleur de Lis Motifs and the center was removed using #3 from the Standard Circles Large die set.  Cut using Amaco's pewter - which is very flexible and will bend down around the glass and stretch to fit whatever you need.

In the front center of the glass, I used the medallion from the Fleur de Lis Accents set.  The bling on top of it comes from a half off ornament at Hobby Lobby.  Look at the ornaments carefully as most of them will just pop apart with a little bit of undue.  

Note that I'm using just the paint on these.  Tomorrow, we'll add a bit of color using the Copic Airbrush system!  Can't wait to share!!!