glitter

GRAND OPENING: THE SPARKLE SHOP

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

I call myself a lifetime crafter because I was raised creating & making and I don’t plan on stopping, ever! In 2013, I started this blog as a way to catalog everything I made, all of the parties I planned and to highlight the creativity of the people around me. My posts soon morphed from just showing what I made into crafting tutorials with the hope of inspiring people to build their inner “craft confidence.” With the addition of Craft Nights, I feel myself getting closer and closer to my goals and the path that I would like to continue on.

My first post! Embroidery Hoops
Milestone Frames
Memories of a Wedding…Dress
Personalized Pillows
Little Peace
Agate Coasters
A Guest Peace with Cole Montgomery
Paper Umbrella Wreath
Costume: Baymax 2.0
Moana Necklace & Heart of Te Fiti
Paper Mobile
Craft Night

It has been a secret (or not-so-secret) dream of mine to open a shop of my own but I could never decide on what to sell. I love trying all sorts of crafts and the challenge of making something new, so I could never commit to just one thing over and over again. I realized, with the help of those closest to me, that I didn’t have to choose one thing in order to open my own shop. Duh! I could really make whatever I wanted, but the main driving force would be my passion for sparkles. Sparkles make me happy and bring me peace and have always been one of my favorite things.

And that brings me to announcing the Grand Opening of my SPARKLE SHOP on Etsy! Everything listed will have a little bit (or a lot!) of sparkle to them and most items will be made only once. But the exciting part (besides the sparkles, of course) is that I hope to add new and different collections of items all of the time. ***Make sure to stop by and if you have an Etsy log-in, don’t forget to make it a “Favorite” and “like” all of the items you love***

Just search me on Etsy or you can access the shop through the menu above!

I am so incredibly grateful to all of you for supporting me in my creative path. It is through you, that I have gained the confidence to take each one of these little steps that bring me closer and closer to where my creative passions lie.

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Pin Cushion Cactus

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the links below.

It has been way too long since I have made something for me.  So long, in fact, that I cannot remember what the last thing was. I have been looking for ideas for a super cute pin cushion now that I have started sewing again and when I came across some felt cacti, I knew I had a winner. Cacti and needles just go together perfectly, plus it is super cute and something you would not mind to keep out as decor.

Disclaimer: I apologize for not always putting my supplies in the photo but a lot of what I come up with are last minute light bulb moments. 🙂



You will need:

  • Green felt for cactus
  • Pink felt for flower
  • Glitter canvas for flower (I am obsessed with this stuff)
  • Mini yellow pom poms
  • Mini pearl beads (not pictured)
  • Embroidery floss or sewing machine
  • Fiberfill
  • Small clay pot
  • Styrofoam for inside pot (not pictured)
  • Rocks to cover styrofoam (not pictured)
  • Hot glue

p.s. Check out these amazing iridescent colored scissors! I have been looking for some fun, unique craft scissors, especially for all the craft photos I take and I could not resist these.

Cut out 6 pieces of green felt into oval like shapes but with a flat bottom.  The length could be as tall as you want it, just make sure the width is about as wide as your pot. Using your sewing machine or by hand, sew together two pieces at a time around the arc leaving the bottom flat side open. Repeat with the other 4 pieces to make 2 more pairs. Take all 3 pairs of sewn green felt, layer them on top of each other and sew them together with a line right down the middle. For thinner wool felt, I was able to use my machine, but for craft felt, I had to sew it by hand as it was too thick.

Using a chopstick or pencil, stuff your cactus sections with the fiberfill.  You should have 6 sections to stuff.  Make them nice and full to give your pins something to hold on to.

To make the flower, I used 3 different types of flower shapes to layer on to each other. (It is not necessary to have the hole in the light pink flower. I made it thinking I was going to do some things differently but ended up not needing it.) Hot glue them together and stick the little pom poms on top. Take your little pearl beads and glue them onto the spines of each section.  You could use the ball pins for this part of the decor as well, but I wanted mine to be a more permanent feature of the cactus.

For the pot, an old styrofoam ball happened to fit inside perfectly. I used some decorative rocks to cover the sides of the ball and hot glued them on: hot glue, rocks, let cool, shake off, repeat. This required quite a few layers to get the height and coverage I wanted.When you are satisfied with your rock coverage, add a generous amount of hot glue to the center of the styrofoam and put your cactus on top.  Hold it down for a few seconds in order to make sure it sticks. It was so easy, that I made a darker, circular shaped cacti for my mom as a thank you for re-teaching me how to sew. Instead of oval shaped felt, cut out circular ones with flat bottoms for this type of cactus.




Add your pins and you’re done!








Star Spangled Shaker Wands

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the links below.

Part of the problem of being a crafter is that there is always another tool/toy that you want.  Have you seen those awesome clear plastic shaker pouches where you can add confetti and sequins inside?  Well, I love them. They are made using a fuse tool to melt the plastic together, which I don’t have but want one day. When I saw the Fourth of July Ribbon Wand from Sweet Rose Studio,  I knew that there had to be a way that I could make these with the supplies I had. And that’s when I thought, GLUE GUN!

For these star spangled wands you will need:

  1. To start with the shaker top of your wand, cut out a shape template. This star was 4 inches across. Insert it into the plastic sleeve.
  2. Heat up the glue gun and run the tip of the glue gun around your shape template slowly to melt the two plastic layers together. Make sure to do this on top of a heat proof surface. I used a silicone mat on top of my cutting mat.
  3. Fuse all the edges together leaving an opening big enough to put in the confetti and glitter stars.
  4. Cut out your star around the fused area leaving extra plastic around the open section.

Cut out some stars, a little larger than the confetti, out of the glitter canvas.  I cut enough to glue them back-to-back so that each side was a glitter side!

Remove your paper template from inside the plastic and insert your confetti and glitter stars, the best part! To seal it off, put your paper template on top of your heat mat with your shaker star on top.  You can see the template through the plastic and this will allow you to continue to fuse along the remaining edges with your glue gun. The lines were not as straight and thin as they would be with a fuse tool, but they did the job for this project.

Since this was so last minute, I was not able to find any 4th of July themed ribbon. Using the same confetti, I glued red, white and blue stars to the white ribbon. Figure out how full you want your ribbon wands to be and how long to cut them. I used 5 red and 3 white ribbons about 16 inches long. Take your wood dowel and glue gun the ribbons all around the top.Wrap your thin rope to cover the edges of the ribbon around the top of the dowel and secure with hot glue. Add a generous amount of hot glue to the wrapped rope, wait a few seconds for it to cool a bit, and then attach your shaker star.You are ready for your 4th of July parade!

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Sparkle Wine Charms

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the links below.

Wine, glitter and unicorns.  Really, what’s not to like??? I know, I know, you don’t really want to hear about another unicorn anything, or do you? I have to admit, I am actually not much of a unicorn lover but I love all of the rainbow color combos that are coming out of it.  In honor of the unicorn craze, here are my unicorn sparkle wine charms.

You will need:

I love glitter but it can be such a mess. Line a baking sheet with foil and line up your pendant bases. I love the feminine scallops on these.  They remind me of unicorns. To scoop the glitter out of the tube, I used a seafood scoop/pick.  It’s the perfect size to reach into the tube and it picks up just the right amount of glitter. Carefully cover the base with glitter.  I sprinkled a larger size glitter on top but you can experiment and mix with other colors as well! Once you’ve covered the bottom, make sure it is leveled out as best as possible. The seafood scoop worked great for this. Now add a thin layer of your enameling resin.Once you’ve covered them all, pop them into the oven at 325 degrees for only a couple minutes or until you see the resin has cleared.  Once cooled add another layer of resin and repeat in the oven. Continue to do this until it is smooth and completely covered.  After the first cycle, don’t worry if you see craters in the glitter when you take them out. Fill those areas with more glitter as needed to cover the base, but I would only do this after the first cycle.

The resin will harden almost immediately and give you a smooth surface while letting the glitter sparkle through.

With a pair of needle nose pliers, attach the jump rings to the pendants and then attach the charm rings.

And that’s it! Invite all of your unicorn friends over for that glass of bubbly and make sure to follow me on Instagram. I will be giving away a set of Unicorn Sparkle Wine Charms and details will be posted today!

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Mermaid Princess Party

| A Peace of Creativity

While I was (very) pregnant with the twins, my best friend’s daughter was turning 3 and having a mermaid party. I really wanted to help even though I could barely walk through the store at the time! I didn’t know what I was going to make at first but I knew that I would use whatever I could find at the dollar store in one trip.

Looking for anything mermaid or princess, I decided to pull together some centerpieces.My daughter and a I spent some quality art time together dipping shells in fuschia, aqua, and green glitter…

and we carefully placed them in the bowls on top of the glass beads with the mini tiara combs.I wrapped jeweled ribbon around the top of the bowl and glued small styrofoam balls to look like pearls.After everything was done, each centerpiece probably cost about $3 a piece. Such a steal and perfect for the mermaid princess’ special day!I had some leftover shells and pearls. How cute are these for some table confetti?


For more mermaid princess crafts, check out these tiaras and wands!

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