This is a gorgeous technique, that is SUPER easy to do : Etched Glass -using stamps!

Over the months I have received many emails asking for a how to, on this technique. Today I will show you just how simple it really is, with step by step instruction/ photos.

To start, this was a simple, round candle canister. I bought this for $4.99, and turned it into a pretty candle holder that would look fabulous anywhere in the house! If you purchased an etched glass canister it would cost triple that! Now you can make your own. With the holidays coming up, these would make fabulous inexpensive gifts for family, friends and teachers.

The possibilities for the items you can alter with this technique is limitless. So I hope you enjoy learning.

Supplies:

Stamp of choice-First Fruits, Glass container of choice (or mirror!), versmark ink, clear embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat tool, Armour Etch cream, sponge brush, Eclipse Tape (optional)

EDITED TO ADD: Etching cream can be found at Michaels in the section near the soap/candle isle.  It took me an hour to find it because I did not think it was in that isle 😀

Before we get started there some things you should consider:

If you are heating glass, make sure is it a heat safe glass. Many times glass will crack or even explode when exposed to extreme heat!

Do not hold glass while heating. It gets very hot, and you could burn yourself.

Use a heat safe surface when heating your item. You don’t want to burn your work area.

IMAGES:

Carefully examine the images you want to use. You don’t want to choose too finely detailed of an image because it can be hard to define what the image was. You need a nice balance of bold, and detailed. Consider the overall look of the completed project.

Step 1)

Clean glass with windex, and dry well! You don’t want ANY finger prints anywhere. They will show up!

Step 2) OPTIONAL

If necessary you may want to mask the glass. I use Eclipse Tape. It is sticky enough, and leaves no residue when removed.

Step 3)

Rub embossing buddy all over glass. This prevents embossing powder from sticking to unwanted areas, and ruining your etching. It will also show you if you do have finger prints on your glass, and need to re-clean it.

Step 4)

Carefully stamp the image in versamark ink. Because Papertrey Ink uses clear acrylic images you can see the image pressing into the glass! Since they are acrylic, they are also easier to stamp onto round surfaces.

Sometimes this take PRACTICE! Glass is slippery. So take your TIME stamping the image.

(NO photo for this step since it is hard enough stamping, let along photographing too! LOL!)

Step 5)

Apply a generous amount of embossing powder.

 Tap of excess.

Step 6)

Heat set the image.

You will need to heat it until the powder turns SMOOTH-just like the glass.

CAUTION: Glass will get very hot! Don’t handle while heat setting, it is best to heat it on a heat safe surface.

NOTE: Also when doing more than one image on a surface, it is easier to heat set each one as you go. Keep in mind that the glass stays hot, and the melted powder remains warm, so you want to avoid smudging it, and avoid squishing it onto the table or getting more embossing powder on it, until the glass is cooled. Just be careful.

Step 7)

Once glass is COOLED-then apply a nice thick layer of etching cream.

Make sure you coat it thick and evenly!

 The directions say leave on for 5 minutes. DON’T LISTEN TO THAT! LOL!

It really takes at LEAST 20 minutes to get a nice etched coating. If you don’t let it sit long enough it will hardly looked etched.

Step 8)

After you let it sit, go rinse the cream off under cold water. Take your fingernail, and scrap off the clear embossing powder. It will peel off.

 Here is the finished glass.

Sorry for the photo. I wanted you to see the detail, and it is very difficult to get a nice picture of something like this so you see the detail.

I tied a Spring Moss satin ribbon around the top, then filled the bottom with pine cones and bought a battery tea light to put inside. No flame to worry about.

Now here it is lit up from the top view

Isn’t that so pretty?

Now it is your turn! Send me a link here if you decide to try it.

I hope you enjoyed learning all about etching cream here. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you are inspired in some way to get an early start on those holiday gifts.

Amber’s 4th Birthday invitations

Put on your party dress, and join us for a day of pampering!

Its hard to give a 4 year old the “burden” of choosing a stamp set for their birthday theme. It is so hard to choose, and what they want changes minute to minute!

Amber turned 4 in August, but we are having her party in October. A summer birthday party usually has people too busy to come, and September is crazy for families to get back in the swing of things.

ANYWAY-Amber is have a “Day of Beauty” party! We are going to the Empire Beauty School, where the girls will get manicure’s, pedicure’s, their hair done all fancy, and a little lip gloss and blush (if the mom says it is OK prior to the party). Isn’t that SO cool? Its really inexpensive when you go to a teaching school rather than a beauty parlor, so if this is something you want to do I recommend looking into that option. Its cost literally more than 50% LESS for me to this this there (with MORE services included) than at the fancy salon!!

 I read a fabulous book on birthday parties called Peppers and Pollywogs. It is really helpful when planning parties, and super for the proper way to avoid a problem!! She answers those questions about how to handle certain issues that can arise such as the fact that I should ask BEFORE the party about the make-up thing. I never would have thought to do that BEFORE, and that way it won’t be offered if it is an issue. AND it doesn’t put anyone in a pressure situation The book is great, and as a mom who really loves doing cool stuff for my kids parties I enjoyed the helpful ideas and guidelines. It even helps with how much to spend on parities, and gifts etc. Seriously check it out.

That brings me to the stamp set.

I told Amber to pick what she wanted for her set.

First choice from me was Dog Plate #1. Amber agreed it was cute. Then she saw my Lily (aka Amber) stamp set. She then decided Lily (um, Amber-which looks like Lily if she were a cartoon! LOL!) holding a balloon was the best choice.

I was a tad relieved we didn’t use the dog set because coloring 14 of those would NOT be fun. I DISLIKE GREATLY mass producing. You have NO IDEA. So we were going with Lily.

Then, while at one of my many weekly visits to Target (yes, its a sickness. I believe there is a large unseen magnet that draws me in there several times a week), we were of course in the craft section, when Amber spotted this set

HOLY! MOLY!!! Yes you are looking at an entire acrylic Disney Princess set!!!!

Now if you ever priced these stamps wood mounted, you would know that they run $8-$16 EACH! This set was only $20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes I am that excited. My girls are in LOVE with these Disney images, and to score a set like that is INSANE! SO RUN!

OK so, Amber see’s the set and say “OH! MY! WORD!” “MOM! Look at that!” (yes she talks just like me, its hilarious)”We HAVE to buy that!” (spoken like a true shopper. I am proud!) I then picked it up and said “Yes, we do!” At this point Jason just wanted to vomit. The banter back and forth gave him future flashes of his future when Amber is a teenager, and we will be shopping, with HIS credit card! LOL!

Anyway, we got the set and Amber decided she wanted Sleeping Beauty for her image. So now we went through 3 images, to finally decide on this. So to work I went!

Amber’s favorite color is pink. So that was what color she wanted ,which was perfect for sleeping beauty. I think her invites came out so pretty! We used a Bazzill cardstock with a shimmer- Romance is the color I believe. Her crown and necklace just sparkle away (you can’t see by the photo though). I will say coloring ALL of the images wasn’t that fun, but they look great! One of the mom’s even asked where I found that sticker! THAT was quite the compliment 😀

SO now we wait for the party. It will be so fun. No prep or cleaning up from me-we just show up with the cake and ice cream. I am not doing favors either. The party is enough I believe. OK MAYBE I will put a mini nail-polish in the cup cakes, but that is it.

Now I have to plan for Alexa’s birthday party (which her b-day is the 29th of this month), so I best get crackin.

I have SO MUCH more stuff to share, but only so much time. Its crazy. Im going to be doing like 2 posts a day, I swear!!

OK I really need to run-literally, so talk to you later!