Etch-A-Sketch (the adult version)

So Jackie (my seester in law) tells me she's got an idea. I put on my seatbelt...haha actually I walked around the corner to her house and checked out her awesomeness....She shows me this picture of a pyrex baking dish with the glass etched with a name. She goes "Kristin, there's this stuff at Joann's that you put on glass and it etches it." I say "Let's go get some..." And the ideas in my mind are endless...

My idea is...hey ,my sister in law ,who just got married. could use an awesome homemade Christmas gift...so I get a tall vase (courtesy of Jackie's wedding & an abundance of tall vases) and an idea. I'm gonna give you a run down on how to do it...because the outcome is amazing and it's really simple to do.

Items that you'll need: (at least I did!)

That includes:

Armour Etch (I got it at Michael's)

Contact paper

A Stencil

Pencil (I used a photo pencil)

Pen knife

Paint brush (nylon is best)

A Vase

Ribbon

Ok now what you're gonna do is take your stencil (I used their monogram for the vase). I arranged it in Photoshop CS5 which made placement super easy and exactly how I wanted without having to free hand it. After you have what you want...print it out.

Place your stencil underneath the contact paper and trace it on...

Now make sure your vase is clean. Don't use window cleaner on it because there are repellents in the cleaner that will keep the armour etch from working properly.

Take the backing off of the contact paper and place it on the vase the way you want it. You're gonna want a bigger piece to cover the vase...the armour etch can run and you don't want it etching things you want to stay clear...

What you're gonna do now is the hardest part...take the pen knife and cut out the stencil. This is really hard. Especially if there are lots of curves...I had an awesome time with it...please catch the sarcasm...finally I sat down and said I'm gonna do this and you're gonna work. After we had that talk...it worked beautifully...you might wanna lead with that! :)

Now this part is optional...I used a hair dryer to warm the contact paper...then made sure all the bubbles were out and the contact paper was snug against the vase so the armour etch wouldn't get underneath it. Let it cool off.

Now take your armour etch and your paint brush and brush on a THICK layer of the goop. Make sure everything is covered completely. It says leave it on for 10 minutes...I say minimum 30 minutes...I like the result of 30 minutes...I left mine on for an hour. It's a good look.

Once the time is up...I scrape the excess off and put it back in my jar. Take the vase and rinse with water. Then take some windex and clean it up really good. Dry.

Now all you have left to do is tie your bow or decorate it any other way you'd like!



My finished project. After everything was cleaned up I added a dark green candle and the little Merry Xmas card!