Several years ago at convention, I met this *amazing* woman, Kelli Purkey, who was making these *amazing* pins and I have seldom had the chance to sit down and try them myself, but when I did, I found that the 2 days of spraying lacquer was time consuming and I couldn't resist touching to see if it was done (oops, fingerprints, another coat of lacquer!).  Also my husband pointed out to me that the proximity of the hot water heater pilot light and my stamp room was recipe for disaster.

I decided this summer to try a few of them using only Crystal Effects to coat it and waa laa... it looked the same!

Supplies: 

Black StazOn, ModPodge, Crystal Effects, Sponge brush (or wide brush), Stamps, markers, colored paper

 
Fig. 1                                             Fig. 2
Stamp image once, cut 3 layers                     Adhere the layers with ModPodge

 
Fig. 3                                             Fig. 4
Repeat Step 1 & 2 for all different colors/layers and then color with markers
Before it sets too long, cut out each glued, layered image and bend (see Fig. 4)

Fig. 5
Adhere the dried layers together.  In this case, I left a leaf in purple to aid in gluing together the spray of leaves to the grapes.  Use strong adhesive like Glue Dots, Sticky Strip or Dimensionals.

Coat the pin with a generous coating of Crystal Effects.  After an hour or so, I add embellishments with more Crystal Effects.

For best results leave the piece overnight to dry and then brush on a light coat of Crystal Effects on the back to avoid any moisture ruin the pin in the future.  Wait overnight to ensure that the ModPodge layers are all dry before you coat the back, you'll be glad you waited!

This shows the pin with rhinestones and a coil of decorative wire.

OPTIONAL: In this case, I gold embossed the edges (before I coated the piece with Crystal Effects.

The Eagle pin is 4 layers:

The background is So Saffron (3 layers) sponged in Mustard before coating.

The Eagle's body is stamped in StazOn Black on Bordering Blue (4 layers) and adhered with Dimensionals, the head is stamped on white cardstock (4 layers) and touched up with Bashful blue (the eye and some feathers) and adhered with Dimensionals; the beak is stamped on Always Apricot (3 layers) and then adhered with a glue dot.

The entire pin was lacquered with Crystal Effects and dusted with glitter and touched up with rhinestones and star rhinestone.