Opals in ornaments

What a fantastic day today was! More playing with products from After Midnight stamps and Linda!!!

We played with so many things, but tonight, I'm going to share ornaments. What fun! This is a 3 part process. For the first part, spoon opals inside the ornament. Then add some Diamond Dust. Swirl it around. Then apply heat with a heat tool from the outside as you move the ornament around. It will adhere to the glass as the glass starts to heat up. (OK, some of these ornaments are heavy duty plastic and that works fine, too.)



Swipe some versamark on the outside and apply opals to that. Embed swarovsky crystals. You can see the depth and dimension in this shot:



For this next one, I wanted the look of melting ice on the top. I think I got it! I did the colors inside and then mixed Franklin opals with Diamond dust and carefully heated it as I move the ornament around on the top. It really is gorgeous as it totally glitters from the Diamond Dust.



Got a great shot here. When I dumped out the excess, it looks just like "rock candy" that we bought as kids.



And here's the back - just as great!



My brain is on complete overload tonight from all the different things we did today. We have laughed and played and experimented until I think my brain might explode! It has been so much fun! Linda flies home tomorrow and I will truly be sad to see her go, but check back - I've got several more things to share in the next few days.

These ornaments came from our local Hobby Lobby store - I'm sure you can find them at any craft store.

And you can purchase the Opals direct from After Midnight Stamps - but you can email me and buy them thru me as well. No minimum order - just go to their website, pick out what you want and let me know! They are beyond fun to work with! You won't be disappointed!

Ornament hooks

Today, a couple of my art pals came to play. Oh! What fun!!! Just being together is enough, but I decided to make ornament hooks today First, I needed something to hang on them!



Cut up one of mom's watercolor paintings, cut up a photo of me, and a couple little words. Used platinum UTEE to seal the papers between glass and attach jump rings. It's faux soldering, but just so quick and easy! And you can barely tell that it's not silver solder!



twisted 14ga - 18 ga wire and added beads to make cute little ornament hooks:



Add spacers between beads. The different looks you could get with these are endless!



I no longer put up a tree, but I do hang all kinds of fun little things from lights and paintings - ok, just about any place I can! And why use those plain tree hangers when you can make something as pretty as these?

What did you create today??? LOL!

Ornament Play!

It's that time of year to rush out to the store and buy up all of those clear ornaments that come in shapes you can use all year long! These make fabulous window catchers, gift package adornments....and I've even seen a bouquet made from them!!! I'm going to share 3 techniques....but hey...the fun comes in the embellishments! This one was decorated with Spellbinders Daisy Delight die, Amaco pewter, and some Posh Impressions metallic ink painted on with a toothpick.



The first technique is using Perfect Fabic Medium and Perfect Pearls:

1. Mix 1/2 t Perfect Fabric Medium in 1/3 c water. Shake this mix well.
2. Pour some inside the ornament and swirl around. You will need to remove the top first. Coat the inside completely and pour the excess back into the container to reuse. Shake the ornament until there are no blobs inside.
3. Drop in 1/4t perfect pearls, 1 color at a time and swirl around. Use as many colors as you want.
4. Let dry overnight, then add the cap.



This ornament was done with blue perfect pearls:



I put a simple ribbon around it, and added a star to the side.



This next technique uses embossing powders (glitter or fine).

1. Mix 1/2 t Perfect Fabric medium and 1/3c water, swirl inside ornament again and pour out excess.
2. Use 1/4 5 glitter embossing powder or fine embossing powder and swirl around inside the ornament. I recommend you limit this to just 2 or 3 colors. I used green and gold for the next sample.
3. Heat from the outside with a heat tool, holding th eornament with insulated tweezers or pliers. Work over a wood block so you don't destroy your wood surface with the heat. If you want thicker layers, repeat steps 2 and 3.



To decorate this one, I stamped on colorwashed silk, painted with colorwash and foam nibs, cut the image out and adhered it with Glossy Accents and used some bindi rhinestones as accents.



For all of these, I colorwashed white silk ribbons to hang from the top. I simply stuck a silk flower on this one with some bling in the center!



For the final technique, we will use UTEE and EP. I've taken a few photos trying to showcase the supplies you will need for each technique.


1. Again, 1/2t Perfect Fabric medium mixed in 1/3c water, swirl inside the ornament, pour out excess.
2. Mix 1/2 t embossing powder with 2 T UTEE. The pour this into the ornament and swirl around. Limit this to 2 colors only.
3. Heat from the outside with a heat gun following the suggestions above.

Note: UTEE mixes will run inside as you heat it, so you can control the pattern by moving the heating gun closer to or away from the ornament.



And for this one, I simply added peeloffs to the outside. Just so quick and so easy!



Where I live, Hobby Lobby will put these glass ornaments at about 80% off the week before Christmas! So run, don't walk, and get your ornaments today...I particularly love the little ones..just about 2" in diameter...they are great for embellishments and package decorations all year long!

So what's your excuse for not playing today?