Make-Your-Own Pearls Experiment

This month's  Counterfeit Kit Challenge inspiration kit includes these pretty pearls from Queen and Co. 

For the record, they're inexpensive (I found them online for less than $2/pack) in a range of colors.  But, I don't have any of them. So I thought I'd experiment with some ways to counterfeit my own pearl-like embellishments.

I only wanted to use items I had on hand, so I went searching through my stash for flat-backed, dome-shaped things - pretty specific, and not much to be had.  But, what I did find was a packet of googlie eyes.
Why on earth did I have - and hang onto - a variety pack of googlie eyes?!

Here are some of the larger size eyes,
after 2 layers of Martha Stewart pearl paint. 

The Martha paints are relatively new and add some fun colors
and finishes among the little bottles of acrylic paints
that you typically find at the craft store.

A couple of tips that made the painting process on these slippery little suckers a little easier:

--I painted a line on the waxed paper and then put the eyes on the paint to help hold them in place.
--I used a little paint brush and sort of dabbed and swirled the paint onto the eyes, to get them coated without lots of brush strokes.
--The second coat just helped to fill in anyplace I missed the first time around.  If you're more careful, one coat could be enough.

Some other ideas:

I used some faux snow to make some snow pearls.
Rough texture, but they would make cute
snowballs or ice cream scoops!



And I made some sand pearls with this Mudpuddles mixture.
I'll save them for a summer beach page.
Or maybe they look like a sheet of cookies?!

These ones are not mine - I found this tutorial from The Girls Next Door
that shows how to make pearls from clay. It's a lot more involved,
but they look stunning! Maybe you stampers
have some other ideas of how to use perfect pearls,
alcohol inks, or some other supplies?

If you come up with your own way to create one of these domed shapes, add your link in a comment below.  Like I said - don't do this one for the cost savings, do it for the joy of making your own!

Here are a couple of projects where I've used my homemade pearls this month. And I have a few set aside for some in-progress cards: 

Thanks for looking!