Glitter Ball Tutorial

Wednesday - the weekend is in sight!  I'm excited for it to come - I'm taking my Stamp-a-stack on the road!  One of my oldest friends (we were BFF's in High School) is having a mother/daughter SAS at her house - it's going to be a blast!  I love crafting with 7-12 year olds.  They have a real knack for creativity and are almost ALWAYS better at 2-step stamping than adults.  They really are fun to craft with.

Every year around this time I have requests for instructions on how to make my contest winning "Glitter Balls".  Well, you asked for it, you got it!

 ** Before starting, ensure that the inside of your ornament is free of dust particles.  Any dust inside the ornament will keep the ink from properly coating it.

1.       Add 25 drops of reinker to your ornament.  If you use the large, 83 mm (3.26 inch) ornament you add 45 drops of reinker.   I find that the Rich Regal reinkers are thicker than the Soft Subtle reinkers so a few more drops of the darker colors may be required.  The color combinations you can make by simply changing the color of your reinker are amazing!  You get a completely different look if you use, for example, the Handsome Hunter reinker (retired) with the Celery Fine Cosmo Glitter than you do if you use the Certainly Celery reinker with the Celery Fine Cosmo Glitter.   

2.       SLOWLY and evenly roll / twirl the ornament so that the ink coats the inside of the ornament.  As the ink gets closer to the top of the ornment you want to make sure you are either over a sink, a bowl or paper towel in the event that the ink drips out.  It is not necessary to ink the very top of the ornament as that is covered by the “lid” of the ornament and won’t be seen.

3.        Using a small funnel pour in a generous amount of glitter (I pour in all I have!)

4.       Place your finger over the opening of the ornaments and shake until the glitter coats the entire inside of the ornament.  Once coated, you pour out any excess glitter back into your container and it’s ready to use for your next ornament.

5.       Apply your rub on.   I find snowflake images the easiest (and most forgiving) image to use.  Larger images and/or phrases can be difficult to apply to the round surface.  It CAN be done but it takes a lot of time and effort to get the image/phrase straight and it often puckers.

6.        Attach a punched label with elastic cord and package for giving!

Once you make one of these ornaments you won’t be able to stop – they really are addictive!  Have fun!!