All That Sparkles

I have had a pink phone case, that I got for $1 at a garage sale, for several months now. Just waiting for me to decorate it, or do something cool with it.

Two weeks ago I decided to make it a pink argyle case!

I got a sheet of pink duct tape from the craft store (the sheets are so much handier than the rolls for this kind of project!) and dug a magenta fine tip sharpie out of my art supply box.
I was ready to go.


It turns out making an argyle pattern out of tape is not as easy as you would think it would be.


So I traced my phone case onto a piece of paper.
Then I traced an argyle pattern that I had printed out from the internet onto the "case pattern".
Then I flipped my newly minted pattern over and traced the pencil markings into the duct tape.
Old school but totally works.

Then I cut out all my cute little squares and applied them to my phone case.
Then created the finishing stitch details with the sharpie.

I was pretty pleased with the initial results.

And then life hit. 

Day-in-day-out life where your phone gets crammed in your pocket, and purse, and gets dropped and exposed to the elements. 

And the tape corners peel up just a little bit, and those peeled corners pick up just a little bit of lint from your pockets and the bottom of your purse. 

And the sharpie stitches rub off a little bit so they aren't so clean and nice anymore (which really, I thought sharpie was supposed to be permanent?? Did they change their formula or something??). 

And your phone case doesn't look newly decorated anymore but a little bit worn out. 

In just two short weeks. 

So sad! 

So I pulled the tape off and tried to think of what to do next. 

And I saw this pin on pinterest: 

I had pinned it awhile back and forgotten about it somewhat. 

And was struck that THAT would be the perfect thing to do! 

The pin takes you to the I Am Style-Ish blog, where she has great instructions on how to do this! 

I wasn't sure exactly how it would work out. 

It's basically a 1 part mod podge, to 2 parts glitter recipe. 

But I followed what she did. 

I even went to the store to get actual mod podge. 

It's a little bit soupy-er than the knock off brands, which is essential here. 

And you definitely want Matte, not Glossy.  

And I had to get Martha Stewart glitter. Her glitter is a lot finer than most glitters, and has a great iridescent collection that is perfect because it goes on easily with just two coats without being clumpy or thick. 

I chose the iridescent bubble gum color to compliment my pink phone case. 

You mix the glitter and the mod podge in a little cup and then apply with a sponge to whatever you want to glitter-fy. 

It's awesome. 

I did two coats on my phone and LOVED the finished results. 

Love Love Love! 

And because I eyeballed the glitter/mod podge mixture, I had a bit extra left over. 

And with how happy I was with my phone case I couldn't bear to let it go to waste. 

So I started looking around for something else to glitter. 

And noticed a lovely purple vase that had just been unpacked from our move. 

And decided it needed a little sparkle. 

So I used the rest of the glitter on that! I loved how it turned out! 

The iridescent glitter picked up the purple from the vase and it made the glitter a lot more purple than the pink that came out on my phone. 

My recommendation is to look around and see what could use a little sparkle in your life and then try this!