My heart melts at the mere sight of a little sparkle. So when I saw this tutorial for DIY heart votives coated in glitter, you can imagine how excited I was to give them a try.
For my version, I made some slight modifications:
- Instead of doing all mason jars, I used 3 different types of glass votives: a mason jar, a small square glass votive, and a slightly taller round one.
- For an inexpensive alternative to vinyl, I used drawer liners (contact paper) for the cut-out hearts.
The mason jar was the only container with any kind of lid, which is key to this project. As I was making them, I covered the glass votives with a piece of the contact paper to coat the insides with polyurethane, and then the glitter (Martha Stewart Craft Glitter). It was messy, and the results weren’t nearly as even and neat as the mason jar. I’d recommend using only mason jars for the best results, as the tutorial instructs. Otherwise, your work surface will be caked with sticky polyurethane and you’ll have glitter stuck to your hands for days.
Read on for some helpful tips and tricks.
A few tips I learned from test-driving this process:
- Latex gloves would be immensely helpful in sidestepping a mess on your hands. I’ll be using them next time.
- Dump a serious amount of glitter into the jars after coating them in polyurethane. The glitter will cake a thick layer onto the sides, which is fine.
- It takes some time and elbow grease to peel the hearts out after the glitter has dried overnight. Because the glitter is caked on inside the votives, the heart cut-out is beneath them. You’ll need to chip away some of the glitter before you can remove the vinyl decal.
And you cannot use a real votive candle in these, due to the polyurethane lining (which is highly flammable). Get some flameless tea lights and light these up safely.
Although I was worried about the votives looking perfect as I was making them, I’m really happy with the results. Now that they’re done, I think the imperfections make them look a little more rustic, which I like. And they make lovely handmade gifts for your valentine or anyone special.
Have you tried any Valentine’s Day crafts?
