A couple of years ago I held an arts and craft sale that I dubbed "Holiday Extravaganza". I invited a friend to join me, and we decorated my art studio with twinkly lights and mirrored table center pieces to show off our art work. In a few days time we had created a darling Christmas Store and invited the public to visit for 3 weekends in a row during the month of December. The night before the first weekend, I invited a few of my good friends over for a champagne and pu-pu pre-sale.

For the first buyers of the evening, I gave away these cute hand painted shot glasses, each filled with confetti and a small colorful fingernail polish.

The glasses were clear and the stems already had these fabulous sky blue orbs. I painted the bases with gold metallic paint and very quickly dashed an assortment of colors around the lip to give them a celebratory feel. So fast and so easy!

I wrapped them in celophane, added a few chocolate kisses and tied them off with a simple ribbon for added show. Well, from the response I got from everyone, I should have been making a lot more of these and selling them.

Since one of my girlfriends really liked them a lot I figured they would make a nice Christmas gift. So, I set out to try and duplicate the idea, but with a little more added pizazz. I decided to paint 4 martini glasses. TIP: I chose these particular glasses because they had more of a flat base on the inside. If you've ever held a martini at a party and got a little expressive with one of your stories (okay, I admit it, I'm Sicilian and I use my hand/arms when I talk), only to watch your cocktail swish out of your glass in slow motion, then you know what I mean. Not a pretty sight for anyone. Here, I am preparing the glasses by wiping them with rubbing alcohol to make sure all residue and oils have been removed.

I begin by painting simple green leaves all around the lip leaving about 1/4" at the top unpainted. I decided to create more of a flowery springtime look rather than just colorful dashes that resembled confetti like I painted on the shot glasses. With a photo of the shot glasses for inspiration, I was on my way. This is a perfect beginning project as there is really very little wait time in between adding the different layers. I made these in a day.

Next, I randomly added round circles of red.

Then I added yellow flowers with white centers, filled in the red balls with navy blue, and added sets of orange dots placing by them here and there. Adding blue streaks in between all the elements helped give the impression of a sky blue background.

To finish, I added gold and silver metallic paint for added depth and to give a bit of formality to the whimsical look. Then I painted the bases in gold (about 4 coats). I always let my pieces air dry for 24 hours before baking. To bake, put them in the oven first, then set the temp to 350 degrees and wait for the oven to heat to that temp. Next, set the timer for 30 minutes. When time is up, turn the oven off and let them sit in there for 3 hours until cooled They are now dishwasher safe, using the op rack, but I hand wash all mine.

I attached the adorable glass "identifiers" I found at Ross , making sure they matched while I was painting the glasses. They scream, "Spring is here, let's celebrate!" Q: What do we call these cute thingys that identify whose glass it is anyway?

The finished glasses in all their glory and ready for a chilled cocktail. Make mine a double!.

Before wrapping them I added opalescent confetti (if you have read some of my other blogs you are quickly finding out that I absolutely LOVE this stuff and stock up on all the pretty colors at Easter time), and a small gift to each one then topped them off with modern mixers.

They were a hit, she loved them! Mission accomplished. Now time to celebrate!