ETCETERAS: Picnic Glass with Mod Podge

With the beautiful warm weather we’ve been experiencing, it’s no wonder I’m thinking about summer and picnics. I spied some fun picnic theme paper napkins at the market and grabbed a pack.

ETCETERAS: Etched Glass Milk Bottle

I have such a fun project to share with you today. Have you ever etched glass? It’s not as hard as it sounds, in fact, it was super easy and I can’t wait to create more etched glass pieces. I happened upon this project because of a nice reader.

Celebrations: Black Lace Stenciled Treat Jar

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on Halloween décor. Simple items found around your house can be made eerie with a little creativity. Even a recycled jar can work as a treat jar with a little paint and embellishment.

Etceteras: DIY Faux Amber Glass

I wanted to add some pops of color to my fall décor and thought some amber colored glass would be the perfect accent. You  have probably seen many variations of coloring glass jars on craft sites and blogs. I’ve tried several methods and my favorite technique is using food coloring and Mod Podge.

Celebrations: a blue mother’s day

I don’t think I mentioned that I had a blue Mother’s Day. Blue as in accent color.

My brother gave me this pretty dish. I love it!

And my mom saved this cobalt blue water bottle so I could make something out of it. I wanted the bottle to match the swirls of my new glass dish, so I put a few drops of blue and white paint in the bottle, added a little water and swirled it around. It’s a borderline craft fail – not exactly what I had in mind. But is still looks pretty with the dish.


Here’s a better photo of the swirls but the actual color is closer to the photo above this one. It’s amazing how glass changes color depending on the lighting. I took dozens of photos and the color is different in each one.


And while we were celebrating Mother’s Day at my parent’s house, I spied this beautiful bowl outside on their deck. It was once a centerpiece with three large orchid plants in it. My mom didn’t want it anymore so this came home with me too. The bowl is huge, it could hold at least a dozen-plus apples if I use it as a fruit bowl.

I already have blue accent pieces in my living room, so I created a few mood boards to incorporate my new blue goodies. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my “blue” Mother’s Day!

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

I link at the wonderful parties listed here and 

 

Etceteras: his and her mugs

We take our coffee very seriously in this household. My husband leaves for work very early in the morning and makes the coffee. When I get up, the coffee is in the pot is waiting for me. It’s a nice routine that I enjoy.

So even though we don’t have our weekday coffee together, we can now have his and her mugs.

To make these mugs, I simply painted the dots and hearts onto the mug using Martha Stewart Multi-Surface Metallic paint. According the instructions, the paint can be used on wood, glass, metal and fabric. The curing time for glass is 21 days.

These mugs would make a nice engagement or wedding gift. Or, make a holiday basket by adding coffee beans and homemade sugar cubes. 

In the meantime, I’ll be counting down the days until we can use our new his and her mugs.

This project is linked at the parties listed here and 

      

..........................................................................................

Listed under "Carolyns Homework"

Etceteras: cranberry glass

I am obsessed with painted glass bottles and jars. I have seen so many beautiful projects lately; simple spray painted bottles, white paint inside of the glass resulting in a milk glass effect and Mod Podge and blue food coloring inside of the glass which makes beautiful sea glass.

I decided to try to make cranberry glass. True cranberry glass is an art and the glass is typically hand blown.  My cranberry glass is made from everyday jars.

I used the Mod Podge method to make these. The amount you need will depend on the size of your jar. To make the largest jar, I used:

• 2 Tbsp of Gloss Lustre Mod Podge
• 1-2 tsp water
• 2 drops blue food coloring
• 3 drops red food coloring

Mix your ingredients and pour into your jar. Swirl the mixture around and continue swirling as you pour the mixture out. Make sure the entire inside of the jar is coated. Most of the tutorials now say to place your jar upside down on newspaper or wax paper and to wipe the opening of the jar every now and then. I found that the Mod Podge pools and makes a huge messy clump around the top of the jar. I came up with these drying racks made out of strawberry baskets.

Note the color of the Mod Podge – as it dries it becomes darker and translucent. I used varying amounts of food color to get the three different colors on my jars.

I embellished the jars because the color wasn’t quite even around the neck of the jar where the Mod Podge dried thicker.  

 

The jars are purely decorative. Because Mod Podge is waterbase, you can’t fill these with water and use them as vases.

Tips: I’ve tried this project a few times and here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Some tutorials say you can use white glue but I found that the Mod Podge works better.
2. The more water you add the more translucent your result will be. Too much water and the glass will not coat evenly.
3. Make sure the inside of the jar is very clean or the Mod Podge will not adhere correctly.
4. Be patient – don’t touch the inside before it’s completely dry. Trust me on this…

And if you’re not happy with your results, soak your jars in water and start over.



Etceteras: painted glass vase

Have you seen all the pretty painted glass featured around the blogs lately?

There are a variety of styles and techniques being used. Pouring paint into a jar or vase and letting it coat the inside results in a milk glass or jadite look. If you use translucent paint made for glass you can turn plain jars into vintage looking blue or cranberry glass.

I saw some pretty glassware at Anthropolgie that I wanted to try to copy. Some were speckled, some were swirled, all were very expensive.

 

I started with a few vases that had smooth surfaces. I decided to paint the inside of the vase after a test run. Painting the outside didn’t give the vase the same translucent look. The downside is that these vases are only decorative and not waterproof.

 

I mixed Gloss Lustre Mod Podge with water color paints and a little water. It’s a trial and error craft. If you don’t like the color or look, wash out vase and start over. For the speckled vase, I dabbed the paint brush here and there on the inside of the vase in a variety of colors. The swirled vase was created using a thicker paintbrush and alternating the brush strokes of color.

The colors become more translucent as they dry. Be patient and don’t touch the paint to see if it’s dry or you’ll end up with a nice fingerprint in your paint like I did.

  ……………………………………………………………………




Thank you for visiting. Please consider voting for me at

Babble's Top 50 Mom Craft Blogs.

……………………………………………………………………

This project is linked at the following: