butterfly glass...

Hello my wonderful friends!

I was recently asked to come up with an idea for handmade ornaments to give as Christmas gifts for about 50 kids in my church. Although I am totally not ready to be thinking about Christmas yet, I'm glad they give me so much time! Making that many ornaments and cards along with keeping up with the normal crazinesses of life... Yeah, I really do need to get started!

So, I had an idea, but since the people in charge aren't really "crafty", explaining it is kind of hard. Show and tell is a lot easier when trying to explain and get the ok for budget. So I made up a quick sample. 

I figured I'd share it with you along with the how-to. 

Enjoy!

Stamp your image on acetate using StazOn ink. 

This stamp is from Unity's "Dream Big" Itty Bitty set. I love it!

If you want to add some color, flip the acetate over and use an alcohol ink on the BACK side. This is important! If you color on the same side as the StazOn, the alcohol based ink (whichever ones you choose) will react with the StazOn and smear it.  

I used Ranger's Alcohol inks and the fillable pen, but any alcohol based ink should work.

Cut your acetate to fit the size of your Memory Glass. I'm using the 1"x3" 

Spray one side of your acetate with a spray adhesive and cover with metal leafing. I chose silver leafing. I like to crinkle it up a bit before I stick it on. I think it looks better with crinkles than all smooth, but you can do what you want. :)

If you want your finished project to have a front and a back, you will need 2 stamped acetate pieces, but only one needs foil. You just need to layer the other one behind and sandwich them between 2 pieces of Memory Glass. 

At this point, if you want to buy the Memory Frames that Ranger sells, they make it super easy to finish off your project. However, I didn't have any, and I needed this done so I could have something show before I could get the "go-ahead" on the full scale project, so here is option #2 (and actually a lot cheaper if you have to make a lot!!!)

Make a loop out of wire, making sure to leave tails.

Use foil tape to go around the entire piece to seal everything together and attach the loop at the top. 

Enjoy!

~Kassi