Glittering Christmas Light Ornament

The other day we were driving in downstate IL and lost the radio station we had on, so as I searched the stations the one I stopped on said something about Christmas in July.  Silly me....I thought maybe they were advertising a craft sale or something...nope...they were playing Christmas music!  As crazy as I thought that was, I seem to be in a Christmas crafting mode.  Maybe I won't have such a mad-dash-scramble on December 24th if I start now!  So today I'm sharing a glittering Christmas ornament.

For this project I used Art Glitter Ultrafine Opaque glitters:  #1 True Red, #65 Old Gold (my favorite!), #48 Emerald, #140 Canadian Blue, #79 Black, and #110 Taupe.  I also used a 3" diameter frosted glass Christmas ball (2" or 2 1/2" will work just fine too) and Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive (DDCA).

Began by lightly penciling a twisting, turning line around the ornament that will form the cord for the Christmas lights.  Once you are satisfied with the line, trace over it with a thin black Sharpie.

Using a metal fine tip on the DDCA, trace over a section of the "cord" and then cover the section with black glitter, tapping the excess onto a clean piece of card stock or into a pastry liner.  Move on to the next section, working in sections of about 3" at a time, until you have completed the cord.  Some of the excess glitter will cling to the ornament.  Set the ornament on a shot glass or small paper cup to dry.  Pour the black glitter that you've collected on the card stock or in the pastry liner back into the jar of glitter.

Once the adhesive has dried, brush off the excess glitter.

Beginning with one of the colors - I started with Red - draw small teardrop shapes in glue along the cord and cover with glitter and tap off the excess.  You'll want the fat end of the teardrop close to the cord.  You'll also want to space them out so that once you've come back with the other 3 colors you'll have a random pattern along the cord.  Leave a little bit of space between the "bulb" and the "cord" that will be filled in later.

Once you've gone all the way around with the first color, repeat with the second, third and fourth colors.  (Gold, Green & Blue).  

Set aside to dry about 30 minutes and then brush the excess glitter from the ball.

Connect the bulbs to the cord by adding a dot of DDCA and covering with Taupe glitter.

Tips and Tricks:

 -The cap and hanger on these ornaments can be kind of lose.  Before you start, remove the cap, run a bead of DDCA along the top of the glass bulb and re-attach the cap.  Once dry, it will give you a nice secure place to hold your ornament and keep your fingers out of your design.

- Keep a shot glass or small paper cup handy to set your ornament on to dry between steps.

- Keep your design around the "belt line" of the ornament - leaving the bottom blank and a space at the top blank.  This will give you spaces to hold onto your ornament while you work so you don't mess up the design.  While I'm working on the ornament, I hold it in my left hand, with my thumb at the bottom and first two fingers up on the cap.

Visit the Art Glitter blog for another glittering Christmas project!