Every year consumers spend more and more on Halloween. It’s over 5 billion annually now! Obviously its the merchandising that drives that purchasing frenzy. I’ve never seen so many different kinds of product for Halloween than I have this year.

I love Halloween, I love the fall weather, the memories of fall colors as a kid in Colorado, the trick-or-treating. While I love looking at all the goodies out there to buy, I miss the days when the merchandising wasn’t so big. I miss being able to find something unique and different, like a Halloween tree ornament – now they are everywhere.

So this year I decided not to add to that 5 billion dollars and make some of my own Halloween crafts and decorations. And I gave myself a guideline – spend no money! Use what I have in the house. I know you crafters out there have piles of supplies that need to be used! It’s a good assignment to give yourself anytime – “Use what you have.”

I noticed that colored glitter is big this Halloween. Being a facepainter, I always have lots of glitter. I decided to glitter up a plain glass vase I wasn’t using for anything.

Here is how to make the Glittered Halloween Vase: Cover your work area with a big piece of paper or newspaper. With a black marker draw a Halloween scene around the vase. (Old tree, ghosts, moon, stars, grave stones, witch and cauldron, bats etc.)  Squirt a little mound of water soluble glue on the paper – (look for glue that dries clear and can be used on glass) and dipping a paint brush in water carefully paint glue on what you want glittered. Then pour glitter all over the glued area.

Tip on glitter: Don’t buy flakes too big they fall off and don’t get glitter too small it doesn’t sparkle. Have a piece of paper under the object being glittered. When you knock off the excess glitter, you can use the paper as a slight funnel to dump the glitter back into your bottle.

Little by little, paint a small area and glitter it up. Knock of excess each time and replace it in the glittler bottle. Don’t worry about being too perfect and detailed – we are going to outline it with paint. Finally, let it dry about 10 minutes and use a soft fluffy brush – over a trash can – to lightly dust off the vase. The glitter adhears to the glass with static – the brush will clean this up nicely. Let it dry another 10 minutes or more.

Above is a close up of it before it’s outlined with paint. And a photo of the Tulip brand dimensional paint I used. Regular acrylics would have been too transparent on the glass. This has a skinny applicator, so you basically use it like a pen to outline everything. It’s made for fabric, but works well for this application. Instructions on the bottle say let it dry for 4 hours. But it is dry to the touch in about 20 minutes. Outline everything and let it dry a few hours before you handle it too much or get it wet.

See the finished product below. I love this glue – I think I will try decorating clear glass votive holders next!

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