Glitter Art Institue

We are coming up on the two year anniversary of the start of this blog.  For the last three months of 2010, our total post count was four.  Count them. . . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4.  Even now, you can actively see the post count isn't as high as many other very productive creative blogs.  The volume of posts does not reflect our love of paper crafting or the volume of ideas that both Brandy and I have floating around in our heads.  Being full time, working women we simply find that time to craft is precious.  Brandy, in particular, has had a difficult time being able to get her project photographed and posted.  That's why you will often see me author a post of one of her creations.  I just think her creativity to beautiful not to share.

We recently had the great pleasure to carve out a precious weekend to focus on inspiring our creativity.  It has been a decade since Brandy first stepped into my office and asked that fateful question (you can read more here).   Early in our supply collection career, we had the great fortune to find Art Institute Glitter glitter.  This microfine glitter was sold in a myriad of colors and, most alluringly, the butterfly stamp pictured above was often used to sell the glitter.  We quickly picked up a variety of colors and their glue.  Over the past decade, neither of us has actually used up any of that glitter, but we've added over time.

When attending the CK Convention in April, the Heartfelt Creations class used the Art Glitter glue.  This reminded Brandy that she had seen that the Glitter Art Institute was actually located in Cottonwood, Arizona.  That was just 2 hours away!  We spent the next four months trying to schedule the trip and actually succeeded a few weeks ago. 

We started Friday night by staying in Sedona, Arizona.  The beautiful red rocks are so captivating.  We had decided to make our excursion an overnight trip, staying in a local hotel so that we could get off early.  Breakfast was spent at a local eatery where we acted like high school girls giggling about the fun adventure we had planned. 





We did some sightseeing, driving around the beautiful landscape, stopping frequently to snap pictures and take small hikes through the frequent national park land.  Finally, mid-morning we landed at the Art Institute.  My goodness, we were in glitter heaven.  You can see in the pictures, the color selection was unbelievable.  They have glitter in all the standard sizes- fine, ultrafine, microfine, etc.  The shop was small, but the inspiration was everywhere.  We shopped to our heart's content making the agonizing decision as to what to take home.

I used the following technique to make this butterfly:

1. I ran a small piece of paper through my Xyron sticker maker.
2. After peeling back the protective sheet, I spread the transparent crystal microfine glitter over the entire surface.  
3. I stamped the glitter surface with my black Archival Ink.
4. Finally, I colored in the open spaces on the stamped image using my Distress Markers and fussy cut the image out.  

I just love the result. This technique is relatively quick and simple to use.  The glitter is transformed by the ink and takes on his own look and a sense of feel that I hope these pictures have captured.

Needless to say, the trip away from our stress filled lives was special.  We actually took pictures of each other and didn't have a set schedule, just a general idea of what we wished to accomplish on our trip.  It was a small oasis of relaxing fun.  We raced a rainstorm home which is a very wonderful thing if you live in central Arizona.  I hope to exercise my glittery craft self in the coming weeks and share some of the results here.

On a final, random note you'll never believe who we met in Sedona.

That's right, R2D2 was visiting Bell Rock when we happened to stop by.  You can see that rainstorm starting right behind him.  It just seemed such a weirdly random thing to happen I couldn't help myself and had to share.  Surreal, eh?

Andie