Oh it's been a while hasn't it!

Sooooo, what have I been up to then?  Well, my pc died and I've been having a new one built. Yay, using the new one right now.  I've also been experimenting with making my own paper flowers and making my own 'Stickle' type glitter glue.  

Many of you have asked me how I make some of my flowers, well I can't take all the credit, I did a lot of googling and experimenting. I've only used what I have in my craft supplies too. I've been trying to use up a lot of my bits to be more economical.  Here's some of my hand made flowers you may have already seen.....

 These flowers were made using a 5 petal Stampin Up large punch, many have been painted with Stickles

 These two flowers I've cut out using a Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and crater paper, the orange one I've spritz with Glimmer mist before putting it together.

 This next one is made using different sized Kaiser white paper flowers and spritzed with Mr Hueys Paint mists, gorgeous colours these two mists are!

  

Here's some Kaiser flowers I've coloured with Copic Markers then twisted and layered to make simlar flowers to that orange one above.

 

 This flower has been painted with the original batch of homemade 'stickles'

As you may have guessed, I love Stickles but it isn't always easy to buy in our local shops and I just hate waiting for it to come in the post.  As well as that, it's not cheap, those little bottles can be anything up to $6 depending where you shop (a good price is more like $3.50 I recon)

So I set about experimenting with different glues and have come up with this one below that's pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  I tried it first with a cheaper $1.50 container glue from the bargain store, but it's very 'stringy'. does work, but clumps a bit and the stringy'ness is rather annoying too.

Here you go then.....


 
Below is a handmade flower I've created and painted with the new homemade 'Stickles" !
I'm loving it.   Don't look too close at my finger nails, I'd been spritzing with a Mister Huey's green spray and it soooo stained my nails, oops!
 
 
Soooooo I did some research and some playing and came up with my own version of it that is super cheap and easy but just as brilliant to use!

You'll need:
An empty container/bottle to put it in
Some super super fine glitter, I've used a Chrystallina type one (Celebrations of Australia from Spotlight)
Some Craft Smart Paper Gum (from Spotlight, 250ml bottle was about $2.99!)
A bamboo skewer for stirring it all together.

I've used some sample pots I got through my Nutrimentics account, but using empty pots or little mini jars is fine. I like that they are almost clear so you can see what's in them.

I filled the pot to about 3/4's full with the glue, then used this tiny weeny plastic spoon I got from a Qantas flight to put two level spoons of the super fine glitter into the glue. I think using a standard teaspoon measure it's probably about 1 level teaspoon max. Put less to start with and stir well, you'll know if you need to add a bit more of the glitter, just sprinkle a tiny bit more and stir, it'll look a bit 'milky' once all mixed well.

The good thing about this glue/gum compared to the cheap  shop stuff is the glitter doesn't separate as much as it did in my first attempt plus it's not 'stringy' or clumpy like the cheap glue.

 

Hope you like this little money saving how too, I know I sure do!!

Copyright Virginia Hampson, not to be repoduced elsewhere, 2012.