Marble Madness

Have lots of little ones visiting and have nothing to do with them? These ornaments go great with the “magic” marbleized stationery from yesterday’s project!

These ornaments are super easy and look super expensive when you’re done. The cool thing is that each will be completely unique.

Clear glass ornaments are easy to find at craft stores like Hobby Lobby (noticing a trend?). The paints for this project are the little containers you can get for around 59 cents. These are the best because they have the little hole in the top to squeeze out the perfect amount.

Marbleized Glass Ornaments:

Materials and Supplies:

~3 to 4 (or more!) colors of Acrylic paints—metallic paints look really pretty.

~Clear Glass Ornaments (any size will do. Michael's and Hobby Lobby)

~Paper cups (4 ounce size. Optional. You can use the ornament box instead)

~Rubbing Alcohol or vinegar

~Ribbon

~Scissors

Directions:

1. Remove the hanger and cap from the ornament. BE CAREFUL! You are working with glass—it can break or the top might be rough from the manufacturer. Clean the inside with rubbing alcohol or a solution of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. Let dry.

2. Squeeze a small amount of paint into the ornament so it goes down the inside. Rotate the ornament and do it again and again. There should only be about a dime’s worth of pooling at the bottom so don’t be overzealous with squeezing.

3. Repeat with 2 to 3 other colors.

4. There are two techniques to marbleize. Quick and changing and slow and steady. Quick and changing means you continuously rotate the ornament until everything is coated and then pour out the excess. It will continue to change looks until it completely dries (which could take up to four days). Slow and steady means you coat the ornament and let it sit for five minutes on a paper cup. Rotate the ornament a quarter turn and let it sit. Repeat until everything is cover. Pour out excess paint. Neither way is wrong! If you’re working with children, make sure they don’t tip the ornament over, pouring out the paint all over them.

5. You can wait for it to fully dry (this can be sped up with a hair dryer) or do like I do and let it do the boring part while it looks pretty on the tree (who likes to watch paint dry?).

6. Place the hanger and cap back on…but now they look so cheap! So hide it with a pretty ribbon! Have a girl who only likes pink? Pink and white paint (metallics!) and a pink and white bow will by so pretty! Kentucky fan?... :) And you can use a Q-Tip to paint a monogram on the outside of the ornament with one of the inside colors.

Extra gift idea?

Take pictures of the little ones while they make the ornaments. Print them out wallet-sized (either at home on the printer or at Walmart) and put them in little ornament frames. You know what would make them perfect and match? The marbleized paper from yesterday!

Marbleized Magic

Want to perform a little “magic” for someone that’s hard to buy for? This gift is perfect--especially if you teach that person the technique afterward! Every time I do this with children, the “ooo’s” and “ahh’s” bring a big smile to my face. This is a KID SAFE project (if you don’t mind a bit of clean up).

Paper marbleization can be done several different ways but this technique is my favorite and the easiest I’ve found. Shaving cream smells really, really good too. You want to make sure you get the cream and not the gel—it’s about a dollar at Walmart and Dollar Stores, go for the cheap Barbasol. If you get the menthol version, you’re hands will feel all cool and tingly.

Marbleized Paper:

Materials and Supplies:

~Cardstock (heavy weight paper, near copy paper in stores)

~Copy paper

~Glue sticks

~Ruler

~Scissors

~Pencil

~Shaving Cream

~Food Coloring (this will be with the spices, usually and not cake decorating. You want the liquid, not the gel)

~Disposable cookie sheet

~Cardboard or mat board (a few pieces that are about 6” wide would be ideal)

~Plastic forks, knives, straws, chopsticks, toothpicks, etc.

~4 1/4” x 5 1/2” envelopes (you can get these at an office supply store)

Directions:

1. Cut the cardstock and copy paper across the width so you have two 5.5” x 8.5” pieces. Cut several pieces. Set the copy paper aside.

2. Prep the table surface with newspaper, butcher-block paper, saran wrap, or wrapping paper. This is for easy clean up as well as a work station because you’ll need to set out the paper to dry.

3. Fill the cookie sheet with about an inch of shaving cream.

4. Smooth (like icing a cake) with a piece of cardboard.

5. Drop on several drops of food coloring. You can do as many colors as you want but I recommend 6-8 drops of two to three colors.

6. Use the tools to swirl the colors together. You can get different results but doing different patterns and using different items. Try zig-zags, lines, spirals, stars, circles, etc. Remember! If you do something direction oriented (A, B, C, 1, 2, 3), you need to write it backwards (mirror image).

7. Place a piece of cardstock onto the shaving cream. If you’ve done a full tray, you can get at least two pieces on there. “Squish” the paper down so that shaving cream oozes out on all sides. If you don’t do this, there will be lots of white spaces. Peel off the paper. It won’t look good—just wait!

8. Place the paper clean side down on the table, pinch onto the table with your finger or thumb. Using a clean piece of cardboard, scrape across the surface firmly at a 45 degree angle. MAGIC! Add the scrapings back into the tray.

9. Set aside to dry (about five minutes).

10. Mix the shaving cream together and repeat steps 4 through 9. I promise, the grosser the color, the cooler the marbleization will look! You can try to get two prints off of one pattern, but the second will be much lighter.

Once the shaving cream gets to a really unbearable color, clean it out and start with fresh.

11. Glue a piece of copy paper to the back of the cardstock using a glue stick. Glue all the edges plus a big "x" through the middle. This will offer a clean surface to write on and will help flatten out the curly cardstock. Fold in half.

12. Tie cards (8 to 10 is a good number) and envelopes with a pretty ribbon. Don’t forget to include a pen!

Extra idea? Include a card of stamps, cute stickers to seal the envelope, and a box to keep everything nice and organized.

Have a journaler on the gift list? Use a full sheet of cardstock, buy a cheap journal and then glue the sheet onto the cover. For added protection (because the shaving cream isn’t permanent), cover with clear contact paper (you can get this in the kitchen/shelving aisle at Walmart).