The luminary lifts off the base so you can access the battery powered tea light that rests on a little platform inside. I just love the cheerful candy colors and glittery sparkle that everything has.
For the "house" I glued a sheet of brown paper to lightweight chipboard (use lightweight board or heavy cardstock or you'll never get it to fold up right!) The windows are clear plastic cut from old packaging with Rock Candy Crackle Paint applied. When applying the crackle paint to slick surfaces you need to put a layer of Glue 'n Seal on first or your paint will flake off later. I used Gloss Glue 'n Seal although Matte works fine too. Brush a thin layer on, let it dry, then brush on a medium layer of Crackle Paint. You'll get a great "frosty" look. The window sashing I cut out of the brown paper using the Window Die and glued to the back side of the luminary walls. Tip - glue the sashing and plastic windows in place before you fold and assemble the luminary!
The icing is Super Heavy Gesso that I put in a craft syringe and applied like I was decorating a real gingerbread house. While the gesso was wet, I carefully sprinkled on Rock Candy dry glitter (have I mentioned how I LOVE this glitter? Yes, I believe I have on multiple occasions!) Once the gesso was nice and dry I added more embellishments by using a Viva Silver Chrome Pearl Pen to mimic the look of Silver Dragees. The wreath is cut out of more plastic packaging. I used alcohol ink to color the wreath and bow, then added a layer of Glossy Accents and sprinkled glass microbeads onto it. I wanted it to look like the old fashioned hard candy "toys" and let the light from the candle through.
The base is a circle of foam core. The trees are made from the Rosette dies, see here for instructions on how to make them. I brushed them with Glossy Accents and sprinkled them with more microbeads. The Mirrored Stars are easily colored with alcohol ink, these I tinted with Butterscotch to make them yellow. The large candies are things I found at Michael's but the gingerbread man and smaller candies are all cut out of shrink plastic and shrunk down. The snow is texture paint I applied with a palette knife and of course sprinkled liberally with Rock Candy dry glitter. I hope that you are inspired by my project! I have lots of different ideas in mind for these little luminaries. Stay tuned lol!
Most of the supplies I used to create this project can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Follow the links below and use my code JUICE to save 10% if you go shopping. Thanks and happy New Years!
