Craft Blast from the Past: Glitter Stickers

Hi, this is Esther from estieMade, with the second installment of Craft Blast from the Past. This series is all about taking an old school craft and using it in a new and modern way.

Today, I'm bringing back glitter. We all know it from grade school: tiny squares of sparkly fun that seem to get everywhere. The supplies we used in our younger days were glitter + Elmer's glue + construction paper. And if we wanted to get extra fancy, we'd use the multi-colored stuff!

I've been wanting to make my own glitter stickers after seeing a tutorial on Creature Comforts. Making these is similar to the glitter crafts from childhood, but you use super fine glitter and spray adhesive.

Here's what you need:

You want to use 'extra-fine' glitter. The particles are teeny tiny, compared to regular glitter, which makes the project look more sophisticated when you're done. I found this brand at Michael's; Martha Stewart also makes a line of extra-fine glitter, if you're interested.

Here's what you do:

one

Peel off the outer edges of the sticker sheet, so you're left with just the stickers.

two
You will need two brown shopping bags: one for spraying the glue and one for the glitter. This makes for a super-easy cleanup. Place stickers in one bag, then evenly spray the sticker sheet.

three

Carefully transfer the sprayed sticker sheet to the other bag, then liberally sprinkle glitter on, till the sheet is evenly coated. Then take it out of the bag and let it dry. Once the adhesive has dried, your stickers are done and ready to go!

When I did this, I could still see the sticker designs through the glitter after my first round, so I sprayed and glittered twice. The second round gave them a solid coating, but the downside is that the spray glue solidified into a single sheet and made the stickers hard to separate from the non-sticky area. That meant messy edges on my stickers. It's just something to be aware of.

So now that your stickers are done, you can use them to add a little sparkle wherever you need it! I put mine on cards, including this Mother's Day one (embellished with markings from my pencil eraser stamps.)

The animal stickers were my faves.

I also used the glitter stickers on packaging. It's a nice way to spruce up gifts, goody bags, or Etsy packages.

So there you have it: a quick and classy way to use glitter!

Hope you have fun, and stay tuned for next month's Craft Blast from the Past!