CRAFTING TIP OF THE WEEK (#44) MAKE YOUR OWN GLASS PEBBLES

Happy Monday Bloggers!

You know those beautiful pebbles that Prima & other companies have recently come out with for crafting?

Well, I have found an alternative way to make them. Not only will they be less expensive but customizable.

Here's what you need...flat decorative glass stones that look like this:


They should be flat on the bottom & rounded on top.
Michael's carries them as well as A. C. Moore. I do believe some dollar stores also carry gem stones. The key with this is getting the ones that have a flat bottom. That way you can make them customizable & adhere them to your projects.

I was fortunate enough to pick up a bag of aqua colored ones for .25 cents at a local antique store. At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with them but I am obsessed with glass and could not pass up a deal like that for anything.

Here are a few ways you can turn these gems into beautiful, decorative pebbles for your pages & cards or use them as a center for your gorgeous flowers:

-You can tint them with your alcohol inks
-You can adhere a flat embellishment to the bottom with spray adhesive or a strong clear wet adhesive rendering the embellishment visible on the other side
-You can adhere patterned paper/cardstock
-You can color the flat bottom with stickles & let it dry, when you turn it over you have a sparkly gem
-You can adhere an index photo, cut to size
-You can stamp an image with Staz-On solvent ink
-You can use a snippit of an old music sheet & adhere it on to the bottom of the gem

Anything you adhere or do to the bottom of the glass gem is going to be revealed at the top so you can totally customize your pebble to match your project.
When you are done tailoring the gem you can use glue dots to adhere them in place.

I used waterfall Stickles on one gem & the other I actually adhered a traced & cut image from a vintage paper bag that I really liked.When they all dried I adhered them to flowers and here are the finished products.





I still have lots left and as you can see even though mine were aqua colored I was still able to get a nice effect with the treatments I chose to apply to the gems.

I saw a pack of Prima Pebbles for $3.69. I love Prima & would not hesitate to buy their stuff but what happens when we run out or have a crafting bonanza at 1am?
Now you don't have to worry about running out of them or running to get them.
Just make your own.

I love this idea & I hope you do too!

Happy Crafting!