pearls
 

I love the pearls and half pearls I see used on cards on this site.
Where do you find them? I have looked but I have not found any at my Michael's. Thanks so much for any help you can offer me.

I think I saw them at Hobby Lobby and Archivers.

I got some of the half pearls at Michael's the other day - they are in the Martha Stewart section.
Lauri

pearls
 

thank you so much -- I will check the martha stewart section at Michael's.
I do not think I looked there -- if they do not have them, I will go over to Hobby Lobby.

Thanks to both of you ----

I found some at Walmart and Michaels in the wedding section.:)

I get mine in the Pretties' Kit from Stampin' Up! It is a kit with flowers and hat pins - these embellishments have lasted me a long, long time. :) The pearls are my favorites.

Paper Wishes (Hot Off the Press) has them in there catty and website.

Ditto! Check the wedding section at Michaels. I've bought really nice pearl brads there.

Mine also come from the Pretties kit, except that my favorite embellishment from the kit is the hat pins that I fill with pearls and crystals.

Thanks to everyone for your responses - I did find them in the Martha Stewart section at Michael's -- I bought a pack for a project that could not wait -- I then ordered some from Paper Wishes for future projects. This is the best site in the world and everyone is so wonderful -- I love all of you.

If you want to go cheap for the pearls, you can make your own for pennies. You take hot glue and make drops on a piece of wax paper and then when they cool off, you use fingernail polish to paint them. Then when the fingernail polish is dry pull them off of the wax paper. I used the ones I made last week on THIS project.

They are beautiful -- I have tons of hot glue sticks -- I would just need some nail polish -- you could make those in all colors --

WOW -- they look like pearls -- I would have never known if you had not told me.

I am definitely going to try this.
Thanks so much for the info.

MariLynn what an awesome idea! Thanks for the wallet friendly idea, I tend to be very stingy with pearls because I never know when I'll be able to find them again. Great idea! When I use them I'll be sure to give you proper credit. :D

I got my idea from Lindsay Weirlich's blog that showed how to make dewdrops seen HERE I tried like she did to use ink to dye the glue, but I didn't like the results. That is when I went to the dollarstore and got fingernail polish. I was so excited to see how well these glue drop pearls turned out, because I am on a very limited crafting budget. The pearls that I had before I hoarded because I didn't know when I could buy more. Now I can use as many as I want.:-D

My fave place to get pearls is www.limelightpapercrafts.com

Here are the pearls:
http://limelightpapercrafts.com/getcategory.php?cat=15

Those are really cheap for pearls -- thanks for the website. I have put the website as one of my favorites.

I am going to try to make some of my own this week -- heading to the dollar store for nail polish. I am excited about how many different colors you can make doing it this way. Very economical -- plus I will not feel guilty if I want to use alot.

Thanks so much for all these ideas and information

I used this idea as well did some with ranger alcohol inks and some with that bottle of luminere paint I bought and never used. The white luminere paint came out looking like pearls. It did take a bit longer to dry than the alcohol ink did and I did have to make sure they were seperated until completely dry or they will stick together but the result was great. I just love the idea of having as many dew drops of the color I need as I want. I also used the luminere paint over previously ink dyed ones and it came out pearized, very pretty. I tried the alcohol ink metalics but it did not stick so I added a few drops of another alcohol ink to the baggie and they came out swirled color and metalic. A happy accident that I will be repeating . lol BTW don't know if it says in the instructions but I did find that the low temp glue did not work as well as the high temp. The drops were not rounded as nicely when using low temp. Also use your heat gun to melt the glue spiders between dots and they will pull off easily when dry, saves time trimming them off later. Be sure to remove all the glue webs before dying because they seem to pick up more dye and are really highlighted , I got lazy with a few and found out the hard way.

I did use the low temp. I wondered if that made a difference. I may have to try the high temp. The low temp was a little cloudy. Thanks for the tip about the webs. I sat and cut mine. Your way sounds a lot easier. I have had people ask how I adhered my pearls. I used a drop of Aleene's tacky glue to glue mine down. Anyone try something else?

I used tombo mono liquid glue but only a small dot. This glue remains tacky so any that oozes out is sticky. It's has great sticking power but I'm not thrilled with the fact that it does not dry completely.

Making your Own Pearls...thanks for the idea!!
 

THANK YOU MARILYNN!!! for the excellent tip regarding making your own pearls...I live in a small town with NO Hobby Lobby, Michaels, nothing...just
a Walmart and "I" havent been able to find any of the FLAT BACK type..just the ones already strung...

I'm gonna give this a whirl...just like making your own glue dots...now I can make my own pearls!! and paint them whatever color I pick of the nail polish colors...TOO COOL...can't wait to try it.

I have used nail polish to paint brads and they turned out great...just a little tip if you haven't ever tried this....I poke them (before painting) in to a piece of styrofoam so they stand up and don't fall over...EASY PEASY!! Just be sure to let them DRY if you want to apply more than one coat...depends on the color..how dark, etc..I only applied one coat.

Take care ALL...love this site!! I spend hours reading, looking at pic's, tips, ideas, etc, etc...SO HELPFUL and everyone is SO friendly. Cya...Jo

Hot Glue Gun Pearls
 

OMG....this is an awesome idea!! I will definitely do this, I have been searching and searching for black and cream colored pearls.

Thank you so much for sharing!!

[QUOTE=JoAnney;13148718]
I'm gonna give this a whirl...just like making your own glue dots...

OK - I think I missed something. How do you make your own glue dots? :confused:

[QUOTE=countryhearts;13168780]You make the glue dots to color for faux dew drops. It's just like it sounds , small drops of hot glue on a heat resistant surface. Once the dots of glue dry you can peel them off the surface and they will have a rounded top and flat bottom just as dew drops do. Put them in a baggie and add a few drops of alcohol ink or reinkers to color them any shade you wish. Some have coated them while still hot with pearl-ex pwders, some people have coated them with nail polish when dry. I personally have used alcohol inks for colored drops and luminare paint for pearl like look. The advantage of making your own is that you can make as many or as few of them as you want in just the colors you choose for pennies. Refer to post #17 for hints about dealing with the glue spiders you will get when making them.
The instructions for making them are here http://thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.co...own-dew-drops/

[QUOTE=countryhearts;13168780]There is also a thread about making your own glue dots with aleene's tack it over and over glue. This may be what you are refering to?
http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...d.php?t=383092

I finally got a project done using the "drops" I made with hot glue and alcohol ink. I dyed them first then did a second coating of luminere white pearl paint leftover in baggie after doing some just pearlized. I really like the way they turned out, love having my choice of colors instead of what's available. check out the centers of the flowers and you can see the green ones I made match pretty well, imo. http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...&ppuser=134085

Hawk, those turned out really pretty.

ty :) I admit iI was pretty skeptical about this technique when I first saw how easy it was but am very happy with the results. I especially like that with the alcohol inks the dots remain a bit transparent, enough for them to take on the hue of whatever color paper is underneath. Even if you don't have an exact match it appears as though they are perfectly matched. Added bonus is I have ohhhh 9,000 or so glue sticks from many years of scout crafting and I am having so much fun finding ways to color them. I also have some rather old glitter glue sticks I've got to try. Finally a use for them.

Hi Hawk...I tried making my own pearls today...and was HOPING?? maybe you could tell me how you got your pearls to look so nice and rounded...I tried both the low temp and hot glue sticks, and with the LOW temp I got them to look a little more rounded, but I liked the color of the HOT glue sticks being a little more clear (as Marliyn mentioned above).

Wasn't sure exactly what you mean by this:
" Also use your heat gun to melt the glue spiders between dots and they will pull off easily when dry, saves time trimming them off later. Be sure to remove all the glue webs before dying because they seem to pick up more dye and are really highlighted , I got lazy with a few and found out the hard way"

I had LOTS of "strings" (as I call them) and was getting pretty frustrated I gotta admit...the dog went running when I started saying a few choice words...hahahahaha.

Oh well..I'll keep practicing...as the saying goes " practice makes perfect"..

Great idea from Marilyn...so nice you make them in ANY color you might need...

Take care All...Jo

I found the high temp glue gun worked best for getting round shape. Let it get good and hot before you start. I put the tip of my glue gun close to my mat and squeeze till I get the size I want then pull straight up twirling the glue gun to end. Sort of like icecream cone when they make the lil swirl on top. If you try to move to the next dot too quickly you will "pull" the glue to the side, giving you oval blobs.
The glue strings (we call them spiders or webs) I use my heat gun that I use to heat emboss. It's hot enough to melt the glue strings but not the glue dot. Once they have cooled you should be able to pull most of them off. they get brittle when you use the heat gun on them. Any that do not pull off should be trimmed off with scissors . If you don't remove them they seem to pick up more dye and will show up.
Practice is right .. I had a couple rows of goobers before I got the size and shape somewhat uniform.

I agree with Hawk about the practice. The first sheet I made, only about 1/2 of them turned out. The second time, I went slower and was a little more deliberate and only had about 5 or 6 that didn't turn out.

Thanks Hawk & Marilyn...I got lots of "goobers" (as Hawk said) hahahaha...
but will try the heat gun for melting the webs...was afraid it would melt or flatten out what "few" nice shapes I had managed to achieve...hahahaha

I found some GLITTER glue sticks that were for my LOW TEMP gun ONLY, but they actually turned out better than my glue pearls ?? Weird eh??

I did mine on parchment paper and they stuck pretty good without falling off right away..at least long enough for me to get them in a GLAD bag for use later...may I ask what you guys use than to glue them to your cardstock with, etc... would a glue stick work? for attaching them..or would you suggest something else?

THANKS for all your help..this site is awesome...I'm addicted to it!!! Such wonderful people and talented artists....hopefully I'll get brave enough (some day) to post a pic of my cards....

Bye..have a great week EVERYONE!! Happy card making, scrapbooking, etc!!

I used the mono glue but a word of caution, I did not realise that it does not dry completely, it remains tacky, so any that oozed around the edges was messy. I'm thinking I will use aleene's quick dry tacky glue next time. It may take longer to dry but will dry completely. I'm not sure if stick glue would hold, I have not tried that.

This is the crafting mat I use. I use it for any heating or sticky things I do especially embossing. Found it at Michaels and well worth the price , I did use my coupon :) http://www.rangerink.com/products/pr...craftsheet.htm

There are a ton at this adorable etsy shop for CHEAP!
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id...ion_id=5626827

I just bought one of those non stick baking pads from a discount store, didn't cost me too much. Works great.

I have used Aleene's tacky glue to attach my pearls. I also have used sticky glue dots. I tried making my glue pearls on plastic and wax paper, but I found out that plain aluminum foil works great.

Hero arts also sells half pears in two sizes and I think like half a dozen colors now.
I order my Hero stuff from http://www.stampandthings.com/ They have exceptional service and are cheaper than buying at my local shop. They always throw in a free goodie!

I just love making my own "dew drops/ pearls" this way. Just made another batch, this time dusted them with perfect pearls - pearl powder and was amased as how much they look like the pearls I've been spending a fortune on. Made this card for a swap and wasn't a bit worried about how many pearls I was going to need.
http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...&ppuser=134085

I used aleene's tacky this time to attach the "pearls" and it worked much better than the mono. Did take a bit longer to dry but finished result was much nicer imo.

Your "pearls" are AMAZING!!! They are so pretty and so is your card! TFS!