I’m not sure if it’s come up here yet, but I freaking LOVE Gnomes! I wish I could remember where, but (somewhere!) recently, I saw a Gnome that was completely covered in glitter. I thought that it was the coolest and of course, had to have one!

I had this little dude, who had done some time outdoors, and had gotten a bit faded from the sun. So I decided that I would make him my glitter Gnome!

This tutorial will of course, work with just about anything. But in my case, I was after a glitter Gnome, so that’s what I’m painting! :)

Supplies you’ll need:

- Extreme Glitter paint by Plaid/FolkArt
- Acrylic paint in a matching color
- Paint brush
- Something to paint. Obviously :P

This is really pretty simple and hardly even qualifies as a tutorial! :P

Step 1: Apply a base coat of acrylic paint and allow it to dry. Do multiple coats if you need to. Make sure no color is showing through.

Step 2: Apply a coat of the Extreme Glitter paint and allow it to dry. If you’re not satisfied with the amount of glitter, keep applying more coats until you’re happy with it. I did two coats on my Gnome.

I wish that I would have picked a different color (I’m totally lusting after the peridot color!) but I already had the glitter paint in red, left over from something I made for Halloween. And I swear that the original glitter Gnome I saw was red! So I went with red! I’m on the lookout for something else to glitter paint now. I love this stuff!

I hope you like it! I would love to see pictures if you give it a try!

Supplies you’ll need:

- 2 colors of acrylic paint.
- A paint brush.
- Crackle Medium. I use FolkArt brand. I’m not sure if there are others.
- A varnish to seal the paint. I used Americana brand “DuraClear Satin Varnish”.
- And something to paint. Obviously :P

A little advice about paint – I find that this works MUCH better with a thicker paint (at least for the top coat – read step three to see why). I’ve tried a few different brands and have decided that I like FolkArt the best. I know it’s tempting to buy whatever is on sale for 99 cents, but in this case, it’s best not to. You’ll get better results with a more expensive paint because they tend to be thicker.

On to the tutorial!

I’ll be painting a little terra cotta pot:

Step one: Apply your base coat and allow it to dry. I like to use a darker color for the base coat and a lighter one for the top coat. Just my preference! :)

Step two: Apply a coat of crackle medium and allow it to dry. This takes longer to dry than paint.

Step three: Apply your top coat and allow it to dry.

This is the step that requires a little bit of technique! The reason that it’s best to use thick paint is because with the top coat, you can’t do a second coat if the first one looks too thin. The top coat will start crackling almost immediately when applied. So make sure to get plenty of paint on your brush and make sure not to go over any spot twice. If you go over anything twice, it won’t crackle properly.

Step four: Apply a coat of varnish and allow it to try. You may need to do a couple coats depending on your varnish. I did two.

Be somewhat gentle (don’t press too hard) when applying the varnish. I’ve had little chunks of the top coat flake off before when I’ve pressed too hard.

And that’s it! yay! I hope that you find this helpful! I wish I would have had someone to share these tips with me when I first tried. My first attempt at crackle painting was a learning experience.

If you give this a try, I’d love to see pics! Feel free to leave any pictures or questions in the comments! :)