DIY etched glass Christmas ornaments

I love personalizing gifts. Especially if it's something fun, pretty and still inexpensive! 

For all 6 of my piano girls, I wanted to try etching their names onto plain glass Christmas ornaments. My inspiration came HERE and the one and same vinyl dealer, the amazing Dana, hooked me up with the gorgeous stencils for the etching.

But, first, I found some ornaments at the hobby store. 50% off, thank you very much. Dana told me that the etching cream wouldn't work if they were covered in glass varnish, so I crossed my fingers and hoped they weren't.

Supplies needed: 
set of flat plain glass ornaments, unvarnished
vinyl stencils
etching cream
sacrificial paint brush
gloves

I didn't choose the glass orbs, but ones that were flatter, hoping that the stencils would stick better. All those curves aren't ideal for flat stencils! It was a good choice, although I still had to really smooth down the edges near the letters so the etching cream wouldn't leak through.



 I carefully peeled away the backing and smoothed down any edges that came up.


Then, using my throw-away paint brush and gloves, I brushed on a thick coating of etching cream. It had a tendency to pull away from some of the letters, so I had to keep a close eye on them and brushing it back so all of the letters would be etched.

Not all of the letters were perfectly etched, but they were more than good enough! Then, I filled them with old, shredded sheet music and looped some red and white baker's twine to hang them from. And I think they girls will be thrilled.

What I especially love about this project is that the possibilities are endless! You could fill them with fake snow, pearls, sand, confetti, etc. I think I'd love to do an ornament-a-year for Ladybug or for us (etch a different year on each) and then fill it with something that represents the year for us.


(Oh, and while I was at it, I etched "fleurs" (French for flowers) in an old vinegar bottle I'd saved for that purpose. Simple and sweet.

... And sort of addicting. "What should I etch next?!")

What would you etch??

40th anniversary *established sign*

I know, I know, another one.

Ha! I can't help myself. This one was already in the works (in my head) when it was requested. How could I refuse?!

(See my other ones here and here.)

Supplies used: Dark Walnut stain, white and dark blue acrylic artist paint, clear furniture wax, 2 D-rings.

DIY Mason Jar Gift Idea - Fill with Dried Fruit

Pretty, fun and yummy, don't you think? (Bottom up: cranberries, kiwi, strawberries and pineapple)

Happy Wednesday!

Body Scrubs - DIY gift idea!

I've been saving economical gift ideas to look back to when I need a birthday or Christmas gift and I've been gathering materials for this Lavender scrub and these too.

So I went all the way to Whole Foods to get sea salts and sweet almond skin care oil.

The only other thing I needed was my $15 bottle of lavender essential oil - which I stashed away somewhere after making the natural bug spray last summer.  Actually it was in my linen closet - I cleaned those shelves earlier this year and distinctly remember seeing the oils.

And now, I can't find them anywhere. I've cleaned out the linen closet again completely. Looked twice through everything on the shelf it should be on. I've looked through my kitchen cabinets, my stash of Etsy and bulk and creative stuff, my gardening stuff, the tools, even the Christmas stuff. I 've looked everywhere and I can't find it!!! Ehhhhh... these scrubs were totally based off the lavender I had and now my idea is ka-put.

So, until I find that, it's on to plan B.

I made the Peppermint Foot Scrub and Orange Vanilla Sugar Scrub instead. Not nearly as potent because they just use food extracts, but fun at least.

Sweet almond oil, sugar, and vanilla, peppermint and orange extracts.

Here they are after mixing! (I skipped the food coloring part.) Orange vanilla on the left, peppermint on the right.

I made some round labels in InDesign and printed them off and decoupaged them onto the tops of my jars. Because now, I guess, I decoupage everything. :-)

And, decidedly forgot to take pictures of the finished product. Oh well, you get the drift. I used some of the extra peppermint scrub on my hands and it made them oh-so-soft!! Love it! You should try it.


******

After writing this post and at least 4 weeks of searching, I found my lavender essential oil. Right where I left it. Right where I thought it was but couldn't find it for the life of me.

*Sigh. At least it's found.

 
Goodness gracious me, and I finally made my lavender sea salt scrub.

Do you have any go-to gift ideas that you make? Or other homemade body scrub recipes you love? I want to try the honey/brown sugar body scrub too. I just need more almond oil...

'Till next time.

~Lisa

a Tootsie Roll birthday card

(*aaaaaand .... we're back!)

One of my piano students birthdays was last week (the same day as my mom's actually - happy birthday, Mom!) and I had sudden inspiration the day of to make her a fun card.

She said her favorite candy was tootsie rolls (or pops) so I made her a "bouquet" of tootsie pops and broke out the mad decoupaging skills and made her a Tootsie Roll card during naptime.

Super easy. I took brown, red and white cardstock and cut a brown rectangle, two red strips and then two rounded "candy ties". I made one tie and then inverted it and cut out the other so it would match. (If you look close you can see that the brown/red part is a little bigger than the white - it was already glued down, otherwise I would've trimmed it up. Oh well, perfection is not the goal.)

Then I googled the font on Tootsie Rolls and came up with Cooper Black. Thankfully, we had it in Word and I typed out a few different sizes of her name and printed it out. Size 60 was just perfect, so I painstakingly cut out the little letters (I left them connected in little spots so it would be easier to attach) and then decoupaged her name on so it would all be shiny like a real candy.

I am (slightly embarrassingly) still super excited about this card. Love it!

a baby gift

For my best friend's little girl, who we just (very excitedly) met, I wanted to make something special.

I found the idea here and she found it on Pinterest. (Side note: I'm totally on pinterest and still don't really know my way around ... isn't that sad or what?)

Anyway, I loved it and it worked perfectly with a four letter name like Ella and I started with the above color of embroidery thread. However, about halfway through I realized that there was not going to be enough ... and quickly changed to an ombre type look. I actually really love it!

I finished up with a pretty yellow dandelion and re-stretched it across the hoop. It wasn't quite as straight as I'd hers - my stitches must've been different tensions and the fabric different - but I still think it turned out SO cute.

The back, however, is a different story.

So I used a piece of knit (that won't fray) to cover the back... and used another uncovered ring. (The yarn covered one was cute but made it difficult to get everything together without breaking.)

then trimmed the whole thing up! Pretty sweet, huh?