Try-it Tuesday: Christmas Glitter Art {you can do it too!}

Editor’s Note: Our internet is abysmal these days and responsible for most of my late posting (the rest of the time, it’s totally the twins’ fault : )). I apologize and really wish I could fix it, but, alas, there are drawbacks to living in the boonies, even in 2012. Now, excuse me while I go put my head through a wall.

Of all the items in my Christmas sofa-scape, I’m actually most in love with the lamp shades.

Not very Christmassy of me, I realize, but I’m just sayin’.

And the next in line would be the wooden cutout tree, which I paid $6 for even though pieces of it want to snap off at the lightest touch of your baby finger. Nice and practical for a woman with 5 small children, right? But it’s so pretty!!!! (Imagine my doing the “IT’S SO FLUFFY!!!!” voice from Despicable Me, and you’ll know how I really feel about that darn falling-apart tree).

But I can’t deny that I’m also more than a little fond of my Christmas tree glitter art, which was fun and easy to make and adds a much-needed sparkle factor to the table (although, it does have a little help from Mount Glittermas).

So, how did I do it?

Well, I designed the template in black and white, and it ended up looking a little something like this:

And then, I printed it out on cardstock and did the following:

STEP 1::

Gather supplies:

• Printed template
• Glitter in your color choice
• Elmer’s glue
• Small craft brush (not pictured

And yes, I know that’s not the Christmas tree template. I made a reindeer first.

STEP 2::

Enlist the help of a cute little blonde boy and his eager-to-get-at-that-glue fingers.

…and then when that doesn’t go so well because 6 1/2-year-old pointer fingers are not exactly instruments of precision, let him finish his own while you…

…carefully paint your glue over the silhouette of your template.

STEP 3::

Sprinkle your glue-smeared template with glitter.

GENEROUSLY.

(If I squint, I see part of a headless, very flamboyant, eagle)

NOTE: You may have to touch up your glue and glitter in a few of the detail spots…

…but for the most part, one coat of glue and glitter will do it, and the results are remarkably crisp!

And here’s the actual Christmas tree version with all of the black sections glittered in.

If you want to try a tree of your own, you can save the image of the template below to your computer and then stretch it to size in Word or any other document. As long as you keep it approximately to scale, it won’t matter if the black portions become too pixelated since they’ll be covered with glitter anyway.

Happy glittering!