Painted Glass Ornaments and Faux Mercury Glass

A quick and fun way to spruce up your ornament collection! Above are small ornaments only. I made a few of the larger ornaments as well, individual pics follow. You get to be as creative and daring as you want! All you need for adding your color is water and spray paint. Just spray the paint directly into the bulb by holding the nozzle almost touching, and then hold a finger over the hole and shake it around a bit. I found the clear glass ornaments at Joann's Fabrics at 60% off, and used spray paint that I already had. Well, I fib..... I did buy 2 new colors. :)

Inspiration for this project came from Birgit Kerr at Scrapalicious Bytes. She uses Krylon Looking Glass Mirror-Like Paint to create her Mercury Glass. Her post shares 3 different awesome tutorials full of pictures, ideas, details and humor. Thank you, Birgit!


An example of the Mercury Glass look~



Same ornament, different angle~



You start out by adding water to the inside of the bulb, and pouring most of the water out. (Trial and error here as to the look you want.) For this red and gold one I experimented with acrylic paint too. If you use too much of the acrylic, it can take over -I know, this happened to me! Not to worry, add a bit more water and "rinse" out the extra. Below are 3 examples of what a first layer may look like.



First layer of green...



First layer of black...




First layer of blue...



A layer of blue, then I let the paint dry for awhile. Added a dash of water and sprayed in some white.




These bulbs are in "Stage I" of my drying system!



Stage II~ After they are dry, you can decide if you want to add more color, or a different color. Most of mine are only 2 colors.



This bulb is the exception ~3 colors (blue, white & gold) give it that "globe" look. :) I sprayed in quite a bit of the gold and swirled it all around so that it would show through enough.



Another Mercury style~



This is one of my favorites! Black first, then gold~




An nothing is complete until you get some help from a furry friend! Tigger is happy to oblige~

Linking to:
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Savvy Southern Style
A Glimpse Inside
Poppies At Play

UPDATE: I came across another method of creating Mercury Glass using silver leaf, adhesive and umber glaze. Bethany at Remodel This House shares with you her trial and error and has even posted a video. She has great results!

Holiday Gift Tag, Twinkling H2o's and Ribbon!

This is a simple gift tag where I got to do 2 of my favorite things -color/paint and add ribbon! The corners are rounded on the bottom layer and the image size I used is 1 3/4" x 4 1/2 " -I think I printed about 4 per page. The edges on both layers are distressed by using a dab of water on your finger, and running it along the edges until you get the desired effect. And the ribbon is wrapped around both layers and adhered at the back along the edges with a tiny bit of sticky tape.


For both layers of the tag, I used an Ivory cardstock. (Wausau paper, 67 lb., acid free.) I ran this image from The Graphics Fairy through my inkjet printer directly onto the paper.



I cut the background out from an 8 1/2 x 11 page of Ivory that I had randomly painted, using LuminArte Twinkling H2O's. Colors: Mustard Green, Sunburst & Garnet. (I did not paint the image.)


A little bit of glue to hold them together...



An eyelet, some dazzling ribbon and a string harvested from some burlap... (Don't worry if you do not have an eyelet handy.)




And you have yourself a gift tag!

Linking to:
The Graphics Fairy -Brag Monday :)

Does Your Glass Table Need a New Look?

Just yesterday my mom & I were talking and she brought up how much she wanted to replace her coffee table! It is black metal with a glass top. I have seen so many changes made with spray paint lately that I suggested she paint the under-side in black. And, it just so happened that she had a can left over from another project. We hung up and she got to it! About 3 coats later, this is the result! The sun was creating a glare, but you get the idea. :) I think it looks great! (Sorry, no "before" picture.)
Update: Aparently their cats did not realize the table existed before, and now they think it is fantastic and want to sit on it all of the time!