The Art of Bedazzling Ordinary Objects (And Why I Have Strong Opinions About Glue)

Join me LIVE on BACKSTAGE Wednesday, April 29, from 6 to 7 PM Pacific for a hands-on demo, tool reviews, and a year’s worth of bedazzle receipts.

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🎧Listen to this article in Alysse’s voice

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Here is a sentence I never expected to write in my sober life: I have strong opinions about glue.

I also have strong opinions about wax picker tips, which rhinestone brands fall off in the dishwasher, why bigger gems are sometimes better than smaller ones, and whether you should bedazzle the cover of a hardback book. (Yes. Obviously yes. I’ll show you mine.)

I did not plan to become a bedazzling person. But I got sober in 2006, founded The Sober Curator in 2020, and somewhere in between I developed a quiet, shimmering, slightly chaotic habit that has outlasted multiple phases of my life.

And I think it’s time we talked about it.

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How a Pandemic Turned Me Into a Diamond Painter

I have always liked things with a little sparkle. I was the kid who wanted the lip gloss with glitter in it. I am the adult who cannot walk past a sequin without touching it. So when March 2020 hit and the world went sideways, I did what a lot of people did. I looked around my house, realized I had nothing to do with my hands, and ordered something online.

In my case, it was a diamond painting kit.

If you have never seen one, a diamond painting kit comes with a printed canvas covered in thousands of tiny numbered squares, plus thousands of tiny resin gems. You use a wax-tipped pen to pick up each gem, one at a time, and press it onto the corresponding square. It is cross-stitch for people who grew up wanting to be Lisa Frank. It is paint-by-numbers if the paint had a PR rep.

I did one kit. Then I did another. Then I found a company online that would take my own photographs and turn them into custom kits, and I was off. A sunset through some flowers at Pike Place Market My dogs. Vacation photos I had taken on my actual phone. All of them eventually became thousands of tiny gems glued to a canvas, at my kitchen table, at night, while I watched whatever prestige drama the internet was telling me to watch.

And then I accidentally launched The Sober Curator.

I say “accidentally” because that’s genuinely what it felt like — one idea that refused to stay small, and suddenly I had a media company to run and approximately zero hours left in my evenings for tiny gems. The diamond trays went on a shelf and started collecting dust. I told myself I’d get back to them. I did not get back to them for a long time. A very long time. If you’ve ever built something from scratch while also trying to hold the rest of your life together, you know exactly what I mean.

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Enter: The Bigger Rhinestone Era

What I didn’t stop doing was buying rhinestones. I just stopped having time to use them.

They accumulated quietly. A bag here, a variety pack there, tucked into a drawer like a promise I kept making to myself. And then, sometime in the last year or so, I started actually keeping it. I moved out of “follow the canvas” mode and into what I now think of as my Bigger Rhinestone Era — which sounds more glamorous than it is, but also, kind of is.

I started shopping home goods with completely different eyes. A sculpture at HomeGoods. A blank canvas at Michaels. An object someone else would see as finished, but I saw as a draft. I bedazzled my Big Book. I bedazzled things that had absolutely no business being bedazzled, which is, frankly, the point.

CURATED CRAFTS: Bedazzling My Big Book: Because Recovery Deserves Rhinestones

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CURATED CRAFTS: Rhinestones, Real Estate, and Ridiculous Obsession: My Bedazzled Monopoly Saga

CURATED CRAFTS: Sobriety – Just Do It | Curated Crafts: DIY Bedazzled Nike Shoe Box

The bigger rhinestones are my current love letter. They are easier to see, easier to place, and faster to build into something real. You get the satisfaction of a finished piece in an afternoon instead of three months. But the smaller diamond painting kits still hit different. When I want a long, meditative project, I still reach for tiny gems and a tray.

It is the crafting equivalent of choosing between a cocktail (rhinestones, fast, big payoff) and a multi-course meal (diamond painting, slow, nourishing). Except, you know, without the cocktail part.

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Why Hands-On Creative Work Belongs in Recovery

Here is the part where I get a little earnest, because it matters.

When you stop drinking or using, you get a lot of time back. More than you expect. More than you know what to do with, at first. The evenings stretch out. The weekends get wider. Your brain, which has been numbed for a long time, suddenly wants something to do, and it is not always sure what.

Some of us go for walks. Some of us read. Some of us train for things our nervous systems really did not consent to. And some of us pick up a wax pen and start placing tiny gems on a canvas until our shoulders drop three inches and we realize we haven’t thought about anything stressful for an hour and a half.

There is real research behind this. Repetitive, hands-on craft work lowers cortisol, quiets the nervous system, and gives the brain something psychologists call focused attention without pressure. It is a flow state without a finish line. Your hands are busy. Your mind is quiet. Your body knows it’s safe.

And at the end of it, you have a thing. An actual physical thing you made, sober, on a Tuesday night, while everyone you used to party with was doing something you no longer want to be part of.

That is not nothing. That is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated tools in a long-term sober woman’s life. Right up there with good skincare and a really solid bedtime.

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The Rule Nobody Talks About: You Can Bedazzle Anything

I want to be clear about something before we get to the shopping section.

You can bedazzle anything.

A picture frame. A tumbler. A lamp base. A thrifted sculpture. The cover of a journal. A mirror. A phone case. A cheap tray from Target. A wooden letter. A Christmas ornament in April. The back of a denim jacket. A serving platter you only use at Thanksgiving. A rock you found on the beach, if you’re feeling weird about it.

If it has a surface and you have glue, it can be bedazzled. This is a hill I will die on.

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What to Shop Before April 29

If you want to follow along during the live demo, or just quietly start your own sparkle era, here is what I would grab. You are very welcome to show up with nothing and just watch me work, but half the fun is having something in front of you while we talk.

The New Jonathan Adler Collection at Michaels

Michaels just dropped a Jonathan Adler collection, and several of its pieces are genuinely adorable diamond painting kits. A tray. Bookmarks. Coasters. Wall hangings. All perfectly sized for a first project, or a gift for a sober friend who needs a new hobby that doesn’t involve a bar stool. I recommend starting small with the coasters or the bookmarks. It’s relaxing AND it takes more time than you think it will at first. Speed and technique will improve over time with more reps. Kinda just like living life sober, right?

• Jonathan Adler x Michaels 7.75″ Lightning Rainbow Diamond Art Wall Décor Kit
• Jonathan Adler x Michaels Dark Print Diamond Art Bookmark Kit
• Jonathan Adler x Michaels 10″ x 14″ Wavy Lines Diamond Art Tray Kit
• Jonathan Adler x Michaels 4″ x 6″ Butterfly Diamond Art Frame Kit
• Jonathan Adler x Michaels Pink Zig Zag Stripe Diamond Art Vase Kit

Amazon Starter Kits and Tools I Actually Use

A handful of affiliate picks I keep coming back to – CURATED CRAFTS AMAZON IDEA LIST: https://amzn.to/493V729

These are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through them, The Sober Curator earns a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps us keep the lights on and the rhinestones flying.

If You Want to Freestyle (Skip the Kit)

Grab:

• A blank canvas or wooden letter from any craft store
• A clear phone case you don’t love yet
• A thrifted tray, mirror, or picture frame
• Literally anything from HomeGoods that makes you pause in the aisle
• Don’t forget rhinestones, gems, and glue. If you’re working with something that already exists (i.e., not a blank slate), pick rhinestone colors that match. Blank canvas? The gemstone world is your sparkly oyster! Pick what lights you up.

Bring it to the workshop. We’ll figure it out together. DM or email me ahead of time and I’ll help you out.

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Come Bedazzle With Me on April 29

Here’s what’s happening.

Next Wednesday, April 29, from 6 to 7 PM Pacific, I’m hosting a live event inside BACKSTAGE with The Sober Curator called The Art of Bedazzling Ordinary Objects — and I want you there.

I’ll be doing a live demo, walking you through my current projects and a few past ones I’m genuinely proud of, and getting into the tools I love, the ones I have complicated feelings about, and what to do when your glue pen turns on you. (It will. They always do.) We’ll cover small diamond painting kits, bigger rhinestone builds, how to approach a found object, and I’ll answer your questions in real time.

Bring something to work on if you have it. Bring something to sip. Bring your curiosity if that’s all you’ve got — that’s more than enough to start.

This is a BACKSTAGE members-only event. Once you’re in, you can register through the events calendar inside your dashboard.

Not a member yet?

The Founding Member intro price is still live: $19 a month, or $190 for the year — which gets you two months free, access to live events like this one, a growing replay library, private community forums, member perks, and a front-row seat to everything we’re building.

• LINK TO JOIN BACKSTAGE
• LINK TO BACKSTAGE EVENTS CALENDAR

See you Wednesday night. Bring snacks. Bring something sparkling to sip. Bring whatever’s been sitting in your Amazon cart for three weeks waiting for you to say yes to it.

You’ve been waiting for permission. This is it.

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And If You’ve Never Bedazzled Anything In Your Life

And if you’ve never bedazzled anything in your life — if the whole concept feels a little extra, a little much, a little like something you’d admire on someone else but never try yourself — bring that too. Especially bring that. Because “a little extra” is exactly what we’re here for, and Wednesday night is proof that you don’t need a reason to start something shiny. You just need to show up.

Questions? Email us at thesobercurator@gmail.com.

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Curated list of my favorite diamond bedazzling artists:

• @bbdesignsss on IG sells THE CUTEST KITS! Or just go straight to their website: bbdesignsss.com
• @creativelyclinical Does not do exclusive diamond painting, which makes her fun to follow becuause #somanyideas
• @kthoney has convinced me I need to bedazzle a skateboard deck
• @sixlinesandadot Diamond paints game boards and I’m obsessed

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CURATED CRAFTS at The Sober Curator is all about keeping your hands busy and your mind inspired in sobriety. Whether you’re diving into art therapy, channeling your inner Sober Picasso, or laughing your way through a Pinterest fail, creative expression can be a powerful tool for stress relief and emotional healing. Crafting isn’t about perfection—it’s about expanding your mind, expressing your feelings, and having fun along the way.

Follow our latest DIY inspiration on Pinterest, or, if crafting isn’t your thing, check out our #QUITLIT section for book recommendations that feed the soul. You can also shop our curated list of supplies on our Amazon Storefront. 

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