Use Your Stash: Bling

Diane here again from My Time to Craft saying it's to start using the most precious items of your stash: bling. I know, I know, they're too pretty to use, but think of all the new pretty bling you can replace it with.

Before I begin, there are a couple of things I learned that I wanted to pass on, all under the umbrella of "not all bling are created equal":

• Some off brand gems have adhesive that drys out and gets hard, so use them early or prepare to use your own adhesive.
• You cannot always mix and match white pearls across manufacturers. Some are more white while others are more ivory, and if you find a really cheap brand, the color might chip off altogether.
• Rhinestone swirls: some have adhesive that keeps it all in shape, some are kept as separate stones and you have to recreate the swirl yourself (I love swirls that stay together).
• It is possible to use too much bling, especially if the paper already has foil on it.

I have an assortment of Recollections, Colorbok, K&Company, and Darice, among others.

Now let's see what we can do. If you've been to my blog, you'll know that we're preparing for a masquerade-themed school auction, so I've been on a mask-making kick. I decided it was time to go through my tub of bling to add some sparkle. Here are a couple of examples.

Paper: DCWV
Rhinestones: Recollections
Hearts: Colorbok

Paper: DCWV
Rhinestones: Recollections
Hearts: Colorbok

Paper: DCWV
Rhinestones & ribbon: Recollections
Hearts: Colorbok

Paper: DCWV
Rhinestones: Darice

Paper: DCWV
Pearls: unknown

Paper: DCWV
Rhinestones: Recollections

The swirls worked well for this project, particularly if you have ones small enough to fit around the eyes on the pointed mask. The last one I had to make myself. Now it may seem like I used a lot of bling, but the first three masks came from the same package of Recollections rhinestones, ribbon, and lace (used on another project) and less than half of the Colorbok hearts, so my tub of bling is still filled to the top. Of course, whether I'm willing to part with my favorites of this collection to use as decorations...now that's another story.

So, who's brave enough to use their bling?