I spent this past week thinking of all the ways I can add some sparkle to my journals without spending a lot of money on charms and other fun shiny things. Here are some ideas I came up with using heat embossing and Glossy Accents.
I used watermark ink (any slow drying ink, such as pigment ink, will work) and Metallic Silver embossing powder to make this pretty vellum pocket topper. Here's a link to silver embossing powder if you want to see what I used. Link
- I used rubber stamps and ink to make the 4 squares on vellum.
- Then I sprinkled embossing powder over the ink. (I had a piece of paper under the vellum to catch the excess powder.)
- I shook off the excess powder onto the paper and then made a funnel of the paper to get the powder back into the jar.
- I heated up my heat gun and then, moving the gun around so as to not burn the vellum, I melted the embossing powder.
I used the same embossing powder to make the circle in these DIY Vintage Typewriter Keys. I used this printable
which is available for purchase here: Typewriter Key Printable
After I embossed the "keys" I wanted to use, I filled in the center with Glossy Accents They turned out super cute!
Here I used one on the cover of one of my journals.
The two shiny circles above were made out of the same typewriter key printable.
- I used the blank circles and colored one in with a dark alcohol marker prior to adding the Glossy Accents.
- On the pink one, I covered the embossed circle with glue, then pink glitter. When it was dry I covered it with Glossy Accents.
The butterfly was made by stamping and heat embossing the butterfly on tissue paper. Then I colored it in with markers. 
Here's one I decoupaged onto a tag.
The shiny butterfly on the tag on the right is heat embossed with watermark ink and Clear Glitter embossing powder. You can't see it very well, but the green teacup has a coating of Glossy Accents on it. It gives it great dimension and shine.
The tag above has heat embossed butterflies made from watermark ink and Clear Glitter embossing powder. The large pressed flowers are encircled by Silver Metallic embossing powder, as is the flower on the specimen slide.
This teapot charm was made from four layers of cardstock cut into a teapot shape. Then I covered it with a thin layer of glue and sprinkled it with pink glitter. When that was dry I covered it in Glossy Accents. I love it!
Here's a video of of my processes: DIY Bling Video
Let me know if you have any other ideas of ways to add DIY sparkle to your journals.