DIY Glitter-Kissed Sparkling Party Glasses

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WaterMadeExciting #CollectiveBias

Make your own sparkling champagne glasses for your next party-- 3 great ideas for adding a little whimsy to your glass (and helping guests tell their glasses apart!) Sparkle the glass, add your favorite sparkling drink, and you're party-ready to ring in the new year. #WaterMadeExciting [ad]

I love a little glitter. Okay, I love a lot of glitter… there’s never enough sparkle in life, is there? With Christmas parties in full swing and New Years’ Eve coming up, I had to come up with a way to really make my party plans sparkle. And today, I’m sharing three of those ideas with you, plus some ideas to add a little extra pep to your sparkling water this season!

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DIY Glitter Traveling Lanterns for Nighttime Confidence

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ConfidentKids #CollectiveBias

These DIY glitter lamps are perfect for helping kids build nighttime confidence. It can be hard to get even potty trained kids to make it to the bathroom at night, or to stop kids from wetting the bed, but if going in the dark is part of the problem, these lamps are awesome!

 

My son is stubborn. Anyone who has met me has probably figured out where he gets it from, I’m sure, but it seemed like potty training took us a little longer than it did for many of his peers. It wasn’t like he didn’t know he needed to go– it’s that he just… didn’t want to take the time away from what he was doing. We tried timers. We tried bribery. We tried just about everything. When he finally started to get the hang of it, it was a serious celebration. We even had a potty party to celebrate NO MORE DIAPERS!

But then he continued to need one at night. We had made it during the day, finally broken the cycle of constant accidents, but night was a totally different story. And this time? It wasn’t stubbornness. He either didn’t wake fully to make it to the potty, or when he did, he struggled to get there in the dark without nervousness.

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Ridiculously Easy Sparkle Christmas Silhouettes (Plus a FREE Printable!)

I like easy. I like fast. I like sparkly. I like cheap.

This craft combines all four of those things in one project. I swear, this took me less than 20 minutes to make (not including drying time, but that shouldn’t count since you don’t exactly have to sit and watch it dry…), and it cost me less than $5.00 to make.

And trust me, it’s so easy, a child could do it.

First, you need a frame or two. I picked out these super cute frames in an after-Halloween sale at Target. They don’t even look Halloween-ish! I got them 70% off, so I paid less than $3.00 for the pair.

You can use any 4×6 frame you have on hand. If you want yours to sparkle, consider spray paint and glitter, or glue and glitter, or a sparkly spray paint option. Mine were already sparkly and fun.

After that, prepare your images that you want to glitter. I made a nativity scene and a Christmas tree printable to use in my own frames, but you can select any images you would like, as long as they have dark, clean lines. If you’d like to use the images that I used, I’ll tell you below how to download them FREE!

Go ahead and cut out your images after printing them onto cardstock. The cardstock will help them stay sturdy, even with the glue. When you cut them out, you can set them on a larger sheet of paper to give you a work surface to dump excess glitter onto.

Start by placing dots of glue on sections of the image. I found it was easiest to work in small sections so the glue wouldn’t dry, rather than working in large patches of the image. It also helped contain some of the glitter.

Use a toothpick or other tool to spread the glue into every bit of the image, making sure you get points and corners covered well. Then, sprinkle glitter on!

Wait about a minute, then tap off excess glitter onto your page. Repeat this over and over until you get the entire image glittered where you want it.

I used a very fine craft glitter from Martha Stewart (another post-Halloween grab!) but you can use any fine glitter. If you use a larger glitter, it may make small sections of the image harder to see. A fine glitter allows for details to come out.

Let the images dry completely… I mean REALLY completely. Then, put the images into the frames. I removed the glass from the frame because extra bits of glitter kept getting trapped and making it look odd.

Then, display it wherever you’d like! These frames look great on mantles, hung on walls, or anywhere else you want a little Christmas spirit!

So, I promised I would tell you how to download the two images I used here (a Nativity Scene and a Christmas Tree)… all you have to do is head over to Digital Era Mom’s FACEBOOK PAGE, click “like,” and find the “FREEBIE!” tab at the top (hint: it’s the big star!). Then, it’ll have all of the instructions you need to download the image.

Then, grab your glitter and your frames, and you’ll be totally ready to do this easy craft!

All That Glitters Sparkly Pumpkin Tutorial

Sparkly pumpkins seem to be easy enough to make, and they’re a very affordable way to add a little sparkle to a Halloween party or even your front porch. Plus, because there’s no carving, it can be kid-friendly, too.

You’re going to want to start out with a pumpkin or three or twelve that suits your size. We picked out three pie pumpkins from the grocery store of varying sizes that were on sale for 79 cents per pound.

Grab some spray paint. I got my Krylon Spray Paint in satin black for 30% off on sale at Hobby Lobby. Spray it on in short strokes. Try to stay at least 6 inches away from the pumpkin, because otherwise, the paint will blow right off.

Try to hit the pumpkin from varying angles and heights so you can get every curve and dimple of the pumpkin pretty covered. You will have to flip the pumpkin over once it’s dry and spray paint the bottom of the pumpkin, too.

Let the pumpkin dry for at least two hours before starting on a second coat. If you spray paint your second coat while the pumpkin is still wet, it will just make the paint bleed, so waiting helps you really see the areas that need a little extra attention and prevent it from bleeding.

While the pumpkin is still wet, choose your glitter and start sprinkling it on while the pumpkin is still wet. If you let the pumpkin dry first, you’ll have to give it a coat of spray adhesive or brush on glue with a large brush, but since the perfect amount of glitter will stick directly to the pumpkin’s spray paint, why add more work for yourself?

We decided just to glitter the top of our pumpkin, and we also decided that large glitter flakes would stand out more than fine glitter. You can choose the best options for you and your style. Polyester fine glitter also works very well. If you plan to glitter the entire pumpkin, you can put on some rubber gloves to avoid getting paint on your fingers and roll the pumpkin in glitter or sprinkle it on the sides.

Let that dry for several hours. Shake off the extra glitter, and display!

We chose black-on-black for our Death By Chocolate Girls’ Night In Party, but you can go with any color scheme you want… pink on pink, blue on blue, or even your favorite sports team’s colors…. like a Sporting Blue pumpkin with dark blue glitter, or, if soccer’s not your game, a red pumpkin with golden yellow glitter for the Chiefs. There are tons of color schemes you could do, and since the pumpkin is SO easy to create, it’s up to your imagination!

Plus, you can display them in all kinds of fun ways. What about pink-painted glitter pumpkins displayed on black cupcake stands on a little girl’s dresser this fall, or harvest browns, greens, and yellows of different sizes displayed on a mantel? You could have glitter pumpkins in every room of the house!

So, grab your kids, the can of spray paint, and the big can of glitter, and you’re set to go for a budget-friendly no-carve option for Halloween Decorations!

 

 

SNAP!