my latest post over at G&P

You can find even more goodness from me and the other designers over at the Globecraft and Piccolo blog.

Good Morning. Teresa here again. When i applied for this design team, one of the things I included in the biography was that I consider myself a mixed media artist. I also use a lot of upcycled and repurposed materials. 

Today's project encompasses all of those descriptions. 

It's an altered bottle. I use a lot of bottles, jars, and other repurposed containers in my studio to store bits and pieces. I most likely would store beads in one this size, but even empty this one is just pretty to look at.

Here's the shopping list.
-  A128 Lil Flowers Leaves, Birds, and Bows Accents. (These are tiny - you get 32 assorted shapes in the packet)
- A124 Vintage Cross Accents 
- Deep Red 3D Enamel Gel
- Victorian Bronze Embossing Powder
-Mermaid Tears Embossing Powder
- Enamel Powder Adhesive 
- Glastique Gloss Finishing Glaze
- Glastique Matte Finishing Glaze

Additional Materials (Links to SweetStamps products are provided)
- Velvet Hydrangeas (these are gorgeous)
- lace and assorted trims
- a paper appropriate adhesive (I used The Ultimate)
- A paper of your choice ( Mine is a cut from an old hymnal)
- a discarded bottle of your choice (Mine is a perfume bottle from the stash)

And here we go.

Over the weekend, I prepped several of the Lil Accents. You will be seeing these in the next few projects. And it was very relaxing to work up several of them at once.

I covered these with assorted 3d Gel Enamels (the colors are amazing and this link goes to the main category of the site)

For this project, the tiny heart I used was covered in Deep Red Gel.

Using the Enamel Adhesive, cover one of the small crosses from the Vintage Cross set with Victorian Bronze Powder.

See how I have picked this straight up from my paper. I leave the thick layer of the powder on the shape. Heat it from underneath initially until it starts to melt, then finish it from the top. This keeps the powder bits from being blown off the shape. You can also control how these powders finish, any where from a rustic "grainy" finish to a very smooth yet varied finish (simply stop the heating process where you like the look)

When you get your cross embossed set it aside.

Measure and cut your paper of choice to fit around the bottle. I used a "higly accurate" method here. I wrapped it around and simply trimmed to suit me.

Apply the Embossing adhesive to the edges of the paper  and emboss for a more finished look. For this I used the Mermaid Tears Powder

Go ahead - click on the picture for a better look - this color is stunning.

Set this aside and now we really get to play.

The top for this bottle was some sort of plastic with a metallic finish. I first made sure the heat from my gun would not melt the cap. I wanted it to have a mottled textured finish to coordinate with the rest of the materials

 More Enamel Adhesive and Mermaid Tears Powder. I held it carefully with needle-nosed pliers and worked my way around the cap. Emboss a section. Turn. Emboss.

After finishing that, set it aside.

Now for some assembly.

Glue the paper around the bottle.

I added some cording to the top and bottom areas. A bit of Gold and Cream Lace. Then glue the Cross to that lace. I added the heart to the cross and coated the entire cross with Matte Glastique ( I did not want a glossy finish to this one). I snipped the larger GRACE from the song title and adhered it with Gloss Glastique. I also covered that word with the Gloss as well.

(Note - the Glastique comes in two sizes - a 2 ounce and a 4 ounce size. This is a versatile adhesive/finishing glaze. I find myself using it for so much more than these projects.)

To finish off my bottle, I made a bow from seam binding and one of the beautiful Velvet Hydrangeas, that I ordered from Sweet Stamps.

(Globecraft & Piccolo and Sweet Stamps are sister companies)

Here are some closeup pictures of the finished bottle.

Grace ---

This one shows a bit more of the Hydrangea.

And the finished bottle. 

I think this would be a nice little gift for a beautiful friend. 

Come back for more inspiration. There is a new post every day. 

Life is beautiful

and just for fun here are some photo outtakes -----

just add the sound of crunching leaves and this is one of my favorite places (OUTDOORS)

I tested the enamel on the acrylic prisms - the results were crushingly horrid. these were chunked and a new attempt was made ---- oh well - this is why you stash things on clearance. Oh and DON'T SQUEEZE THE DAMNED BOTTLE ---- you know why they put idiot labels on things ---- well ......

the original inspiration for the constellation necklace --- those are diamonds - I did not use diamonds on mine.

that is the glass from a picture frame --- it is filthy - I cannot believe I even took this picture. 

even more embarassing - I have not cleaned that glass and I use it as a non stick surface ALL THE TIME.

I am an opportunist. Need a way to accomplish a task. Just look around. I wanted a bent key for a project. Yes that is a shot glass ------ yes, it was very handy. 

No ---- you are quite wrong. It has NEVER held any alcohol. I drink mine in a much bigger glass, thank you. 

Have a great day. 

LIFE IS AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL.

hearts 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)

orion

find this pendant here....

And please come back later in the week to see the project this item inspired.

G&P Design Team

My first post as a Design team member can be seen over at the G&P Blog 

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)