Glint of a Hair Bling

It is a Stampendous Challenge Blog Hop today. We are going to have some fabulous bling inspiration for you my friend and as my post title suggest I'm still blinging in the wearable field! Since I"m starting off the hop for today so first I'll break down the details of this challenge.

We want YOU to play along! Just add a direct link of your creation to the linky tool at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST. You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we sure love it when you do! And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set:

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address. We hope you find some time to play along with us!

Janelle Stollfus
Kristine Reynolds

Cyndi Bundy

Pam Hornschu
Jennifer Ingle

Melinda Gleissner

Suzanne Czosek

Taylor Usry

My project today comes with a tutorial! Our amazing Design Coordinator, Laura Mann Weed, has been sweetly suggesting to step outside of our card making arena and try something off-paper. So I did!

1. Gather supplies like metallic paper, flower shape dies in various sizes, hair pin or barrette, metal glue, Stampendous Crushed Glass Glitter bling (Silver shown but I switched to Champagne… you’ll see why in step 4.)

Not shown but still very important are Stampendous Chunky Clear embossing enamel, piercing tool and mat, heavy duty scissors, heat resistant craft mat, wool felt scrap, and large brad.

2. Punch out 2-3 times with various sizes of flower shapes (3 punches of each shape shown). Pierce through the center of all shapes.

3. Crumple all the shapes and flatten them out.

4. Stack the shapes largest shape to smallest shape and thread onto a large brad. I liked the way the gold brad looked so I switched to Champagne glass glitter instead of the silver shown in the supplies photo.

5. Weave the brad through a hair barrette and trim down with heavy duty scissors.

6. Glue brad to hair pin and cover with wool felt. Note: Be sure not to glue the pin closed.

WARNING: Please be extremely careful with this step. The best way to do this step is to have a melting pot, but if you are like me and do not own one you can decide if you want to proceed to this step. Please read through this whole step before starting any part.

7. Place a heat resistant craft sheet or silpat baking sheet on top of a table that is covered with a piece of cardboard or cutting pad.

Closest to the edge of the table but still on the craft mat, pour a small amount of Chunky Clear Impressions Embossing Enamel. A few inches away pour out some Frantage Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter.

Carefully slide the craft mat off the table until the heat gun can be to heat from underneath the mat. Direct the heat gun and away from the table AND the hand that is holding the mat.

*** Please, please hear me when I say, think through this step before you start. I don’t want any emails telling me that you have burned your table, chair, hand or anything else during this step. I made quick checks along the way to make sure nothing was getting hot.***

Direct the heat towards the embossing enamel and as it starts to melt it will shrink to a puddle. Once the enamel is melted, grab the flower and dip and twist the edges around in it. Now quickly put those edges into the glass glitter. This step needs to be quick while the enamel is still soft.

Repeat as often as needed to apply the pliable enamel and glitter.