This post is sponsored by Plaid Crafts, all thoughts, words, and opinions are my own.
I cannot even believe that it’s that time of the year to start talking Christmas, but it is! I know it’s still early, but I find that Christmas always sneaks up on me, so I thought I’d kick off the holiday season with a favorite new crafting product of mine and how I’m using it to make a DIY Advent Calendar. When I was at Plaid Crafts headquarters in June, I got to try one of their older product lines that I wasn’t aware of…their Gallery Glass Collection! Gallery Glass is super fun because you can create your own glass window clings in any colors and patterns you like and you can reposition them or save them for seasonal decor. I thought it would be really fun to take the awesome Gallery Glass paints and make a Gallery Glass Advent Calendar with my kids! I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like each Christmas I have less and less room for my growing collection of holiday decor, so the nice thing about this Advent Calendar is that you only need a window, a mirror, a frame, or something GLASS in order for it to work! Let’s walk through the steps….
Today the full list of things you need can be found HERE! Order this or any craft supplies from Plaid Crafts by December 31st and receive 25% off your order!
For this project, I used Plaid’s Gallery Glass collection. They are available in a 2 oz. bottle with a writer tip, is currently available in 37 different colors including metallic, pearl, frost and shimmer formulas! Gallery Glass Window Color – Crystal Clear is also conveniently available in an 8 oz. bottle for larger projects. NOTE: All Gallery Glass colors appear as a milky color while wet, yet will dry to a vivid, transparent color like stained glass.
If you’re not familiar with Gallery Glass projects or want to know more, I highly suggest that you join the Plaid Crafts Gallery Glass Facebook Group for more ideas and inspiration.
So to start, you want to use either glass or a mirror for your project. The nice thing about Gallery Glass is that you can write on a vertical OR horizontal surface with the paint, so don’t worry about it running down before it dries. I used a mirror for this post, but later on and in my Live Stream you’ll see other ways you can use the products.
I used Instant Leading Strips to start this project because I wanted the tree to be very simple and modern. This is a little more non-traditional way to use the product, as it’s meant to be a window cling, but I went very simple to create my tree using the Instant Leading Strips vs. the Liquid Leading.
I simply used scissors to cut the Leading Strips and lay them to create the tree shape. Then I began work on my ornaments.
Plaid does make Gallery Glass sheets to work on, which I used in June, however they are currently out of stock. So in the meantime, you can use a piece of glass from a frame as the place to do your work. For the ornaments, I printed out some small sized ornaments, placed them under my sheet, then used the Liquid Leading to trace them. I made 25 of the ornaments and let my kids help me outline them.
I let the ornament outlines dry over night, then the next day we took the colored Gallery Glass paint and decorated our ornaments.
The colors of the paint go on milky and light, but dry very bright and more transparent.
You add one ornament for each day during advent until your whole tree is filled up!
We had so much fun decorating our tree that I took it a step further and started searching for templates to do! Plaid Crafts has a whole section devoted to Gallery Glass ideas and templates! I downloaded and printed off several templates from their site, traced them using the liquid leading and then filled them in.
You can also google images like “Gallery Glass Templates” and “Stained Glass Templates” or even “Holiday Gallery Glass Templates” and find whole websites devoted to showing you how to make pretty faux stained glass creations using this product!
My son and I spent the evening working on some of our creations and he didn’t want to stop. It’s strangely relaxing to use Gallery Glass, almost like adult coloring. My son asked if we could do more tomorrow and I’m already thinking up other fun ways that we could use this in our home.
Check out the FAQ’s regarding Gallery Glass HERE.
If you want to try out Gallery Glass for some holiday inspiration, please click on the link below to get 25% off your order of $25 or more. Make sure discount coupon code TheCardsWeDrew is in your shopping cart when you check out.
Purchase your DIY Holiday Gallery Glass Kit HERE!
Order $25 or more in craft supplies by December 31st and receive 25% off your order.
Make sure discount coupon code TheCardsWeDrew is in your shopping cart when you check out. This promo may be used multiple times during the promotion time period. This promotion cannot be combined with any other promotion. Does not include closeout items or Promo kits. To qualify for free shipping*, order value must be $35 after discounts have been applied. * Free Shipping not available in areas where ground shipping is not offered. Please see our shipping policy for information to your location. Free Shipping is for order placed with shipping to the addresses in the continental United States only. If your address is in AK, HI, VI, PR or GU your shipping will be based off of the expedited shipping method. Promotion ends December 31, 2017
Enter below to win a $200 Plaid Online Gift Card to buy your favorite Holiday Kits!
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These are so cute Abbey! And the new site looks great! xo
This is so hard to decide!! Everything looks so neat, but I am a sucker for marbled stuff and I love Marbled Christmas Ornaments!!
I love the Advent calendar. They are all such great ideas
That is beautiful! Good to see that the kiddos enjoy using it, too.
Great family project. I tried to make a
stained-glass project years ago and it
was so much work. this kit would make
those projects so much easier and fun.
Love your tree.
thanks for sharing.
DIY window clings?! Yes!!! We homeschool, and this would be perfect for geography map tracing.
So many to choose from, but I love all the holiday kits.
You have my creative juices flowing, Abbey!
They have soooo many cute things– how could anyone choose?! I guess I’d get the Felt Fireside Glow Wall Hanging with Lights! 🙂
Oh, my! What to spend $200 on? Anything Christmas, of course!
I know that Gallery Glass says it can be used on a vertical window but I don’t see how. The tree your son was working on would definitely have run if he held it up. I teach a class where we use Gallery Glass to make stained glass windows from old sashes. We tell the students to keep the window flat until it dries because it will run if you don’t
Flannel Deer Christmas Pillow is adorable and fits with my decor perfectly.
I love Christmas ornaments. And the Advent Calendar is great, too.