nymcn

last week we "celebrated" not your mama's craft night. we picked up a few new talents & perfected some old "favorites". (click on pictures to enlarge). christmas inspired mod podged frames (i tried something new & wrapped my $1 frame in some leftover fabric & i'm kinda lov'n the way it turned out). a few altered clipboards were made for the teachers in our lives, & then a little glass etching. we etched everything & anything that had a glass surface... pyrex pans, glass ornaments, glass plates, jars. the glass etching was just a touch more difficult than we thought it would be. it's really not hard, we just had some issues with the bleeding. but thanks to THIS & THIS tutorial, we had lots of help. if you're interested in any of the projects & have some questions, just let me know... although here are a few tips i thought i'd share:

i've worked alot with mod podge, & as much as i love the stuff, it's always remains sticky, even after it dries. so finally i decided to read the directions & discovered... "hard coat mod podge dries clear with a non-tacky surface. if using glsss, matte or satin mod podge apply a clear acrylic sealer to the surface after it has cured." ah ha! that answers sooo many questions, i better go out & pick me up a bottle of the hard coat mod podge.

if you are thinking about doing the glass etching, go for it! vinyl stickers work great, & i've got a gal who can hook you up. but you can also do it the old fashioned way with contact paper & an exacto knife. (you can also use the cricut for this. i borrowed a friend's & it worked perfect!) the hardest part is finding the right pan or surface to etch. you want something with as little logo or raised writing of any kind. the new pyrex pans have HUGE logos, which made it somewhat difficult to etch (we had some bleeding issues, although if you use a credit card to go over those areas REALLY go, making sure to get a good "stick" it helps.) but seriously, you can etch anything that is glass, so use your imagination.

anyway... hope this provides some inspiration. and as always, happy crafting.