A lovely wedding gift.

Good Morning my friends. Teresa here again with a thoughtful and heartfelt gift idea. I have friends getting married and I made a very similar one of these for them. We will be sending all of our posted samples with Stacey, so while I was making the real gift, I made two. 

Let's go shopping.

- Mini Key Charms 
- frame from the Flourishes that I made the earrings from.
- medium heart from the Key To My Heart set
- Mermaid Tears Enamel
- Ruby Red Slippers Enamel
- Victorian Bronze Enamel 
- Vintage Black Enamel 
- Enamel Adhesive
- Matte Glastique

Additional Materials
- frame - no glass - and I used the cardboard spacer as my backer.
- a neutral solid matte board - mine is covered in muslin.
- vintage buttons
- assorted pearls
- a heavy duty glue (I used max tack by Aleene)
- vintage paper for backing
- old bottle
- string.

My cardboard backing was going to show and I was using a silver toned frame. So I need to fill that space. I marked the area that was going to show and embossed it with the Mermaid Tears Powder.

Look at that colored area in the picture below --- I am so in love with the Mermaid Tears colors - such a versatile coloration.

I wanted a vintage look to the entire piece - so I used the Victorian Bronze on the frame piece and the heat flash technique .

I love the way the frame turned out ----

I then found traditional Christian marriage vows in a vintage worship book and cut then to reflect some of the words and to fit the frame.

I glued this in place with Glastique. (The glastique does NOT wrinkle the paper at all and I do a LOT of paper craft so I use it often as a glue.)

Then I glued it off set to the top and center of my mat board using the Max Tack glue.

 Now for the little bottle -

I embossed the tiny key charm with the vintage black enamel on both sides.  (I tried several until I found one that slipped inside the bottle)

Using a vintage Mother of Pearl shank button - I hung the key with a pearl (symbolizing God in the marriage). I adjusted the spacing on the key until it was suspended like I wanted in the bottle.

I also embossed the heart lock with the Ruby Red Slippers enamel - I glued it centered to the bottom of the mat board with two mother of pearl buttons as well. (my friends will be using theirs as a ring "pillow" and these buttons stick out far enough to hold the rings.)

Now to assemble the bottle -

I added more pearls to the bottle - two large ones for the couple and five smaller ones for their combined children.

Drop the hanging key in the bottle and glue the button to the top securely.

I attached the bottle by tying it off to the mat board at the top and resting it on the frame and gluing it at the bottom with the Max Tack.

I am thrilled with how this finished.

This would also be a great way to display a lock of a baby's hair. 

Or sand from a breach vacation. 

How about a fluffy white feather?

My sister has a bottle with her shell casing from her law enforcement post certification. 

Lots of things you could use this for. 

Have a wonderful Thursday. 

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)

Unlocking the secret to faux metal

It's no secret I absolutely love our Piccolo Embossing Powders. I especially enjoy all the different looks that can be achieved with them - like the faux metal look of the door lock and key on this tag. I'm Linda, and if you would to like follow along, I'll explain how you can also achieve this look. Read on ...

Linda Neff
linda-neff.com

I started with a simple little book board piece from our extensive collection of Piccolo Accents and Charms. These pieces are from our Vintage Lock & Keys. After removing the pieces from their backing coat them with our Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive, which comes in a dabber bottle for easy application and great coverage.

Place your book board piece on a scrap of paper that you have creased in the middle (for easy pouring back into the jar). Roll the jar of Piccolo Embossing Powder a few times to blend all the granules (shaking can make the larger particles sink to the bottom so rolling the jar will give you greater success). Gently sprinkle the powder on top of the coated book board piece and tip off excess.

The different sizes of granules and color variations will give you a luscious look.

Place your covered piece onto a non-stick craft sheet and heat set till your finish is fairly smooth and shiny.

This is how it will look after setting the first coating. I prefer to add two to three layers, heat setting between each to create a rustic and aged appearance. When the piece is cool to the touch dab on another coating of the Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive and gently sprinkle another coating of Piccolo Embossing Powder on it. Gently tip the excess off (tapping the excess off may cause your larger granules to fall off and you'll lose all that great dimension and texture so I simple tip the excess off) and heat set.

On this second coating do not heat set till smooth. When you see the granules begin to melt move onto another area; heat set it just enough to hold but not till it is smooth. It may take a couple practice runs but this method really gives your the old-world look of metal. We call this the heat-flash technique and there is a video on the web site.

Second coat of Piccolo Embossing Powder using the heat-flash technique.

Once this is done (I did the key the same way) add a coating of Glastique Gloss and let it dry thoroughly. The Glastique has a chemical reaction with the Piccolo Embossing Powder and speeds up the patina finish.

A coat of Glastique Gloss added to the embossed pieces to create a patina.

I used Piccolo Vintage Copper Embossing Powder on these pieces and the Glastique will cause the green to turn almost black - really cool look! It's a quick, easy and very inexpensive technique for creating faux metal pieces from nothing more than compressed book board.

I 

These pieces were used on a tag that is attached to a scrapbook page. If you like this and would like to see another use of Globecraft & Piccolo products, hop on over to my personal blog to check it out! 

Supplies:

• Piccolo Vintage Copper Embossing Powder
• Piccolo Embossing Powder Adhesive
• Vintage Lock & Keys Accents
• Glastique Gloss Finishing Glaze
• heat tool

Check your local scrapbook or stamp for our Piccolo products or click the link below to shop if you can't find them locally. 

Faux So Real!

Jewelers actually think our metallic enamels are REAL metal.  Apply Metallic Enamel Powder to our Piccolos and heat set to achieve the look of metal for lightweight and affordable jewelry pieces. 

Pat Secrist shares how to create this look in this video:

What would you create?

Heat Flash Technique on 3-Layer Chipboard Bubble Frame

Create multi-dimensional aged metal-like effects with Piccolo Enamel Powders using the Heat Flash Technique created by Piccolo founder, Pat Secrist. Shown in this video are Piccolo Enamel Powders, Piccolo Enamel Powder Adhesive, Piccolo Card Decor, and the Globecraft Memories Traditional Rectangle Chipboard Bubble Frame: