Well, sometimes time just gets away from us, doesn’t it? I had meant to get this little project up in time for all of you making festive new year party plans, but the holidays are just such  a whirlwind that the photos were taken but they didn’t quite make it up here to share with all of you.

In any case, what better way to start the new year than with some simple glitter decor. Perhaps for a late winter brunch, or to make those football afternoons a little prettier.

This project really is Easy with a capital A once you get all the supplies. In fact, you probably have most of it around the house:

- Cardboard or Paper Flags. I bought these but you could just as easily cut out your own, the inside of a cereal box would be perfect!

- Double Sided Tape

- Glitter.

Just rip off strips of tape and lay on the flags in varying patterns. Vertical, Horizontal, Diagonal: Get Crazy!

Cover in glitter, shake off, and reveal your designs!

Punch holes at the corners using a small nail or a very sturdy paper punch. String up with your favorite twine, or keep solitary for a cupcake topper (just glue to a skewer), or use as gift tags. Skys the limit (and they’re pretty addictive so watch out!)

I’ve had a christmas craft on my mind for awhile now. I think it came from Martha originally, but I’m not 100% sure. In any case, I finally got around to these sparkly pillars for my Womens’ Christmas Dessert Table, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results!

To start, I’ve been hoarding away various sized vintage fluted tart tins like these ones from sugarpush.

I ended up with two sizes, approx 4″ and 2.5″ which were a nice size. Much larger than this and you start sucking up a lot of glitter, and they fit a votive or tealight nicely.

Then, matching in pairs, I used Elmer’s Ultimate Glue to turn these into fluted pillars. This glue takes about 4 hours to cure, and you need to use in small quantities since it expands as it cures,  but its really great. Once it hard cured, its rock solid.

Glued solid and ready for glitter!

Two sizes side by side

So then, pull out your Martha glitter and go to town! I used Tacky Glue as the glitter adhesive after trying plain Elmer’s and having it run right off the metal surface. Using a foam brush, I spread the glue evenly, and worked from one side to the other of the holder with the glitter. Apply glue, pour on glitter evenly, tap off onto a clean sheet of paper, return glitter to resevoir, repeat.

I started with the dish on one side, then moved to the outside flutes, letting dry, and the flip for the final coat

My original intention was to have an ombre effect of glitter colors, but this would require mixing up 4-5 custom colors to create a smooth fade. Instead, I decided to take 3 colors from the Martha glitter pack and make 2 rich colors for the top and the bottom. I use Florentine Gold for the tops, Bronze for the bottoms, and mixed in the darker color Brownstone to create more depth. The Bronze was just a bit too coppery for me without it.

I made a total of four of these (two of each size) and used about an ounce of glitter in the process. After they dried, just popped in a white candle and observe the twinkle of light.