Hearts, Crystals & Vaseline...

I'm not really sure how this occurred, but one day a few years ago I ended up crystallizing  my tiny bottle of Vaseline.

Some people carry around glue sticks, others can't live without their hand cream, but for me it's Vaseline. So I crystallized it. It makes me happy, it makes others happy-yes, there have been haters over the years, but I don't care. I like my Vaseline.

That being said, a few months ago (ok, ten and a half) my sister gave birth to my very first neice (#2 is on the way, so this one was my very very first).  Now, let me just say that Lindsay (said sister) was a HUGE Vaseline hater. So imagine my surprise when she requests a crystallized version of her very own (well, not for her, for the niece)...Hmmm...Smuggly, I replied that OF COURSE (duh) I would make her one and I finally got around to it today.

I don't know if you kids have ever crystallized anything, but I have (big shock).  I order my crystals from MJ Trim and have for years. If you're ever wandering around NYC, they have a store front somewhere in Midtown (on 6th or 7th, maybe 6th...). They're great and over the last few years, their blog and their website have become even more fabulous.

This is a must.

When crystallizing, it is MAS IMPORTANTE (that's very important for you non-spanglish speakers) to choose the correct adhesive.  When I was growing up, my dad's favorite quote was, "The right tool for the right job." He was talking about fixing things and now I'm talking about crafting. Gem-Tac is THE BEST adhesive for adhering crystals. It is almost foolproof, trust me, one time I crystallized the back of my cell phone that I would sometimes use as a hand grenade and those little buggers never budged once. True story. Use the Gem-Tac, it works.

Anyway, I smoothed it over a small portion of the Vaseline container (I like it to get somewhat tacky before I put the crystals in it, that way they don't slide around and get all messy). Then I used a tweezer and one by one I placed them. I used a template to draw the heart on the package and then I outlined it with chocolate colored rhinestones (the rest of them are lavender).

How it looked when I started...
When did they change the packaging???
I was VERY upset...

About 1/4 of the way through

This actually took quite a bit of time, I would say almost two hours, but I finally finished and Voila!  A Crystallized Vaseline worthy of my niecey-poo!

I especially love the heart (of course) and the Vaseline logo (which is a must-we have to give credit where credit is due).