craftgrrl | Glass Marble Thumbtacks and Seashell Gift Box

Examples of glass marble thumbtacks:

The presentation:

I made a friend a set of personalized thumbtacks for her office wall. I printed out the messages on my inkjet printer, cut and coated with Modge Podge, and glued to the back of glass marbles with flat backs (Hobby Lobby floral department, about $3 for a zillion). Once dry, they got another coat of Modge Podge on the back. Once dry again, then I Superglued flat thumbtacks to the back. (Thumbtacks not pictured in photo since that was too irritating.)

There were dozens of different sorts, and I photographed only a couple to show you each type. Some had a single inspirational word like, "dreams." Others have quotes to make her reflect or giggle. I pulled some from one of her favorite authors, Charles de Lint. The last category was most challenging and amusing, photographs. I pulled some from her LiveJournal userpics. The rest are mainly celebrities she likes. Gosh it was fun!

For the presentation, I bought a recycled paper box from Hobby Lobby for about $.89 with good intentions for decorating it. Then I sat on it (thankfully not literally) for two months, totally stumped as to what to do with it. A little more than a week before I needed to mail the gift, inspiration finally struck! I recalled that I had a spraycan of fleckstone paint in the garage. I gave the box two or three passes with that (with drying time in between). I added a seashell collected from Gulf Shores, AL to the top with a little Superglue around the edge. Despite my fear that the edge of the shell did not present enough surface area to glue securely, the Gorilla brand Superglue held it great!

I lined the bottom of the box with cotton balls, placed the tacks therein, and cut out a birthday note from pretty paper and put it inside the box for mailing.

Traceroo