The Mermaid wears her Heart on her Tears

Good Morning  from the frosty southern US. Teresa here and I'm back with this week's fun creation. 

Being on the design team, I am challenged to see how far the materials can be pushed and I really wanted to see how the Embossing Powders reacted to being applied to smooth metal.

So lets look at some steps for this one.

Gather the supplies
- embossing adhesive
- Mermaid Tears Embossing Powder
- gloss Glastique
- matte Glastique
- fine applicator tip

other supplies
-bracelet blank
- I used heart punches from a favorite paper.
- tiny paint brush
- heat gun

See how smooth and shiny the blanks are.

We have all advised you not to Squeeze the adhesive because the applicator tip will come off -- well this time take it off. 

Dip a tiny paintbrush into the adhesive and paint inside the shapes (yes it does "gather up"). I found that I could manage about three hearts at a time. 

Roll the container of the Mermaid Tears Powder to mix the particles and sprinkle in the shape then heat.

TIP - do not shake any excess off for this project.

I'm sharing this because I do not want you to think this is a panic moment. You will have to repeat the application process. I actually had to do three layers of application.

Simply repaint the adhesive - add powder - and heat.

After three layers I had this lovely - The Mermaid Tears is a beautiful mix of tan, white, silver, and some ocean blue and green bits.

I then used the Matte Glastique as an adhesive to hold my heart paper bits.

Let this dry.

TIP - I keep my fine applicator tips   (yes I have plural) stored in water in the vials they were shipped in. This keeps them from clogging with dried enamels and glastique. I also keep a container of water close by to drop them in until I can clean them out. The enamels and Glastique are soap and water clean up until they are dry.

After the hearts were dry in place, I add a layer of the GLOSS Glastique to each shape. Then I covered the whole thing with a box lid to keep from marring the finish while it all dries.

I left this overnight and this morning I found........

Gorgeous - the Glastique brings out the various colors in the enamel finish.

And I am quite happy to report that, yes, the enamel adhesive and powder do adhere quite well to the smooth metal finish.

Please visit the archives for even more design inspirations and some really great tutorials. 

Life is beautiful.

Teresa (aka MaggieGraceCreates)

All images can be clicked to see the various bits of the embossing powder. Simply beautiful.

Starry Starry Night

Hello there again ---- It Teresa - and I'm back with a new item to talk about this week. 

It's a constellation pendant.

I read lots of blogs and decor reports and noticed a trend for constellation items --- these can be for your zodiac symbol if you like, but in my case I chose my constellation for sentimental reasons. The very first one I was able to identify (and still the easiest for me to spot) was Orion.

So let's gather our supplies
- a teardrop acrylic bezel
- vintage black embossing powder
- embossing powder adhesive 
- glastique gloss glaze
- fine applicator tip 
- pointed tweezers
- interchangeable bails 
- a silk necklace cord

you will also need a
- heatgun
- tiny flat back rhinestones
- a fine point permanent marker (I used a sharpie)

 There are a lot of pictures - but this is really easy to do.

I printed a picture of the constellation I wanted to use and then shrunk it to fit the bezel size on my copier.

Gathered my supplies. (I pulled out Matte Glastique first but ended up using the gloss)

The Acrylic Bezels come with this blue protective coating on each side that peels off before use. You can see through it. So I simply placed my bezel with the blue coating over my picture and marked the constellation points with the Sharpie. Then carefully peeled off both sides of the coating.  Keep this marked piece.

Pounce on the adhesive all over the front of the bezel and cover with the Vintage Black Embossing powder. The Vintage Black Powder is a gorgeous Black, Gold, and Silver mixture.

Things to remember here  ----- do NOT squeeze the adhesive bottle, a simple pouncing motion is perfect and ALWAYS roll the powder jar to mix the colors before you sprinkle your powder.

I used two coats of the powder and adhesive and learned that you can move the pattern around a bit with the air flow of the heat gun if you are going for a smooth finish like I was.

The longer you heat the powder the more smooth the finish is. A quick set leaves lots of texture. 

If you look closely at the picture above (the arrow), you will see two little place that the powder did not cover. Here's the fix.

I took a cotton swab and dabbed more adhesive in the thin area and than used my tweezers to pick up small amounts of the powder to fill just those areas.  (sorry - this picture is a little blown out, but I tried and tried to get a better exposure and being that close, it just didn;t happen) Reheat and ----

Here you have a really pretty representation of the night sky.  I did use my heat gun to "push" the powder around to get those two darker areas.

Take that marked piece of the protective coating and align it with the now covered bezel. (Be sure your orientation of the constellation is correct) Using something sharp (I used the point of the tweezers), press the star pattern into the enamel. The enamel is soft enough to take this pointed pressing and you will be able to feel/see the little indented areas for the next step.

Using the fine point applicator, dot the Glastique on those marked places and add your rhinestone "stars"

If you look closely (again see the arrow), you can spot the little indented places for the stars.

Let this dry -

After the stars dry, coat the entire front with more of the glastique. Let this dry completely.

Another tip ---- I have a cat who loves to help and can be a disaster for drying finishes. I grabbed a small clear bowl from the kitchen and cover my shape with that while it dries.

I added the pendant bail and a hung mine on a black silk necklace.

I love the Globecraft and Piccolo bails - they are interchangeable so you can switch your pendants as often as your mood changes.

I would love to see your versions of the Constellation pendant.

You can leave comments here or also on the Globecraft and Piccolo Facebook Page.

I'll see you next Thursday, but please visit everyday. There are lots of inspiring projects here.

Have a great day.

Life is Beautiful

Teresa (aka MaggieGraceCreates)

SNOW PRINCESS FLOWER GIRL

HAPPY THURSDAY! I am really inspired by what the other designers have posted this week. 

I'm very excited to share my first project using the Globecraft and Piccolo products with you today. 

I'm helping a friend with some Winter Wonderland wedding ideas and who is the very next important (and sweet) bridal party member after the bride and groom? Well ---  the flower girl of course!

Here's how I made and adorable accessory for the flower girl to wear.

G & P SHOPPING LIST

- bejeweled snowflake accents LA-100

- vintage silver enamel powder

- aged white enamel powder 

- enamel powder adhesive 

- glastique gloss finishing glaze

- fine line applicator tip

- tweezers (not a requirement but I love the ones I have)

other items - Links provided for SweetStamps products

- heat gun

- extra fine vintage colored glitter

- clear drying glue

- tulle (I used ivory)

- headband (mine is an ivory satin one)

When I opened my package from G&P - I was blown away by the detail of the laser cuts. The bookboard is not heavy or bulky, but it is very strong. 

I opened my Snowflakes and grabbed my pointy tweezers and punched all the excess bits from the laser cut. LOOK AT THAT DETAIL.

Knowing that the back of this may show I covered the front and back of the accent.

The back of the accent was covered with Vintage Silver and the front with the Aged White. (aged white is a wonderful white with sparkly bits - simply beautiful)

I watched several videos previously published before I started ------  the links to the videos are at the main website.

Here are my "QUICK TIPS"
 --- roll the container of the powder several times before each use and after adding the excess back to the jar.

--- if doing both sides - I discovered that a ceramic tile was a great nonstick surface to heat on.

--- on these fine detail shapes, a lot of my powder would blow off with the initial heating - I learned quickly to hold the shape with my tweezers and heat from the bottom until it started melting, then finish from the top.

--- the longer you heat the powder the smoother the finish. (I used the heatflash technique for the white side and heated the back to a smooth finish)

Now for the pretty pictures.

Roll the powder to prepare for pouring.

 I used the embossing adhesive all along the shape.

Sprinkle with the powder (catch the excess on a folded paper - the fold makes it easy to pour back into the container).

Want the finish thicker? Simply reapply the adhesive and powder and heat again.

Oh look --- pretty.

I wanted a bit more sparkle to these - so I used the fine applicator tip with the Glastique GLOSS and added flat backed rhinestones to the rounded areas of the snowflake and to the centers of each of the connected ones.

Let those dry and then to strengthen the shape even more, I covered it all with more of the Glastique GLOSS finishing gel.

I gathered my tulle for the headband and then, using a small flat paintbrush, I randomly stroked more Glastique on the tulle and sprinkled with extrafine glitter. The Glastique dries clear and flexible and makes a great glitter adhesive.

Then using a heavy body glue - I glued the large snowflake and some cutoff small flake accents to the headband.

All that's left to do is add one really cute flower girl. 

Be sure to come back tomorrow to see the next amazing creation.

Life is beautiful --- 

Teresa (aka MaggieGraceCreates)

A Tip for The Fine Line Applicator Tip

Have you ever used the Globecraft Fine Line Applicator Tip?  It creates a really beautiful fine line!  I use it all the time with the 3D Enamel Gels.

It creates the sort of details that you just can't get without it.  It is especially useful for eyes and other such detailing.

The only problem is that, being so fine, it is more difficult to keep clean.  That is why I am offering this super easy tip:  fill the container it comes in with water, and store the tip in it. That way, it is always clean and ready to go when you are!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope my tip was useful for you!

Laura Drahozal
Remembering Life's Moments

Tip: Enhancing your papers

Hi, it's Candy and I have a new tip for you today ...

Did you know you can use Instant UV Resin and Glastique Gloss to add dimensional shine to your paper?

It is extremely easy ... you just select the area you want to be raised and shiny and apply the product of your choice directly from the bottle. If you use Glastique Gloss, you will need to set it aside to dry.

Candy Spiegel
Candy Scraps

If you use Instant UV Resin, you will need to sit it in a sunny window or under a UV lamp for 3 minutes to let it cure.

The UV Resin will provide a slightly higher and glossier image than the Glastique, as you can tell from the photo above.

You will notice that the area with just UV Resin appears darker than the rest of the eggs on this paper. Apparently, when you apply UV Resin to a porous surface, like paper, it soaks in a bit as it cures. It actually makes the paper transparent (as you can see from the photo below when I held it in front of the window) ... so whatever is underneath, in this case my desk, alters the color of the paper.

That may be a really cool technique for some projects, but for this one I wanted to keep the eggs the color they were. So, applied a very light coat of Glastique Gloss with my finger and let it dry. This only takes a minute because the Glastique was so thin. Then I coated it with the UV Resin for the perfect little chicken eggs.

Using the Fine Tip Applicator

Christina Colón
The Twisted Muse

Good morning! Chrissy here to show you a nifty little tool that will help when trying to accent those fine lines and tight nooks and crannies of a project. The Fine Line Applicator Tip is a MUST if you do a lot of detail work like I do.

Fine Line Applicator Tip

For example, I love decorating the Piccolo Snowflakes Accent for the winter time. However, it is very hard to do super small ones because of the really teeny tiny segments of the flake.

Just put the tip onto the bottle of enamel gel or even the Glastique and apply according to the directions.

Continue decorating snowflakes to your heart's desire!

Framing a holiday Nativity

Good morning!Chrissy here, and I am so excited to be a part of the Globecraft & Piccolo team. My first project tutorial for you is a Nativity scene globe ornament. This project was fun to do.

See? Isn’t it just cool? 

This tutorial is pretty involved. The photos are of the completed steps. Are you ready to dive in and get messy? Let’s get started.

Christina Colón
The Twisted Muse

Supplies: 

• Classic Fancy Rectangle Bubble Frame
• The Christmas Story Accents
• Mossy Glen Enamel Powder
• Gilded Gold Enamel Powder
• Piccolo Enamel/Embossing Powder Adhesive
• Honey Mustard 3D Enamel Gel
• Napthol Red 3D Enamel Gel
• Titanium White 3D Enamel Gel
• Metallic Silver 3D Enamel Gel
• Metallic Gold 3D Enamel Gel
• Burnt Umber 3D Enamel Gel
• Fine Tip Applicator
• Art Anthology Sorbet, Imperial
• Folk Art Acrylic Paint, Navy Blue & Scintellement
• Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Iridescent Gold
• Doodlebug Sugar Coat Glitter
• Proflora Sheet Moss
• Recollections Pearl Accents

I started with our G&P, The Christmas Story Accent pieces. I used my 3D Enamel Gels to color each piece and sprinkled glitter onto the gel while it was still wet then set the pieces aside to dry completely.

 

For the manger, I used Burnt Umber 3D Enamel Gel on the frame and the manger scene. For the roof, I wanted some texture. To achieve the right look, I applied the enamel powder adhesive to the roof. While the adhesive is still wet, sprinkle some Mossy Glen Enamel Powder. Using a heat tool, heat the powder until completely melted. You want the smooth texture of a complete heat set.

 

When your Piccolo pieces are dry, here is what they will look like.

Now it’s time to work on the frame. I used the large Classic Fancy Rectangle Bubble Frame, but you can use any of the large bubble frames. I recommend the large frames because the nativity scene will fit in the globe nicely without being overcrowded.

I wanted the base piece of the frame to have a starry night kind of look. I painted a couple coats of navy blue acrylic paint onto the piece. Once it dried, I applied two coats of glittery acrylic paint over the top of the navy blue.

The next step involves the layer that goes beneath the fancy frame. I applied a couple coats of Art Anthology sorbet. I like rich color so I used Imperial. Once I was happy with the coverage, I used my foam brush and dabbed the frame while the sorbet was still wet. This adds a nice texture and a velvety look. When the sorbet dries, spray with a light coat of glimmer mist. I used Iridescent Gold.

The last two layers of the frame are heat embossed the same way I did the roof of the manger. The last rectangle layer is embossed with Mossy Glen. The fancy frame is embossed with Gilded Gold. I also added some pearl embellishments to the frame.

By this time, the gel pieces are dry. Now it’s time to set the scene! 

You can use any material for the flooring of the globe; I used sheet moss from the craft store. I applied a good amount of clear-drying adhesive and just started globbing the moss on. Once the adhesive dries, use scissors to trim the excess and shape it the way you want. Glue the manger and the wise men onto the moss using the same adhesive.

I placed my star and two angels onto the blue painted base piece using the same adhesive. When all of the glued pieces have dried, glue the globe onto the blue base piece.

We are just about finished! Now time to put the rest of your frame together. Simply build the frame and glue each layer according to package directions. The finishing touch is your hanging wire or string. I used a silver twine and glued it to the back of the ornament.

Stop on over at my blog, The Twisted Muse, to see another G&P project I've been working on!