Customized Cup for a Teacher

I customized this cup for a my niece's tutor.  It is hot pink and lime green vinyl using the "Janda ChunkyGirl" font.  I cut a big 3" G in hot pink and then overlaid "Mrs. Garcia" in the lime green.  Polka dots and rings of various sizes go all around the cup.  Usually I would put ribbon on the straw but this was a rush job and I'm out of it at the moment (Yay - a trip to Hobby Lobby! :)  I'm pleased with the result.

30th Birthday Basket

I love Pinterest.  I'd been searching all over the place and found several ideas to celebrate my friend's 30th birthday.  Thank you for all the inspiration!  This is a picture of the basket I created.

It started with the teal wineglasses I had etched below and grew from there.  In the back, is a bottle of wine with a tag that says "When all else fails, drink a glass of wine."  I decided a basket was required to hold it all and I scored this adorable black canvas basket at T@rget with a white floral design. 

In the back is a little pot with 30 lollipops and a tag that says "30 Doesn't Suck."  The front tag with "Give yourself a makeover" is attached to a bag with lip gloss and two finger nail polishes.  The tiara has a tag that says "Play dress up." 

Finally, in the back is a customized candle tagged with "take a bath by candlelight."

I wanted to give a thoughtful, personal gift.  What do you think?

Glass Etching

Last night, I etched glasses.  I found these adorable teal stems at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago and wanted to try out a new design I read about on Pinterest.  I used etching medium I bought at a local hobby store.  

First, with clean classes, I made my design.  For the polka dots, I used hole re-inforcers.  Do you remember those?  We used to put them on our notebook paper when the holes were torn.  They worked great!  They are the perfect size and much easier to work with than vinyl. You want to stick them down firmly so none of the etching medium gets under the edges.  I'm a random gal, so I put them all over with no specific pattern.  Next, fill in the centers with etching medium.  Put it on thick.  My experience is that if you don't use it generously, the etching can be mottled looking.  After letting it sit for a while (the directions say 5-7 minutes), I usually let it sit longer, rinse it under warm water.  The hole stickers come off at the same time so it's a quick process.   You are finished. 

For the line, I used a ruler and marked all the way around the glass.  Then I put painter's tape around the glass connecting the marks.  I did this twice to make either side of the stripe I was going to etch.  I had a really hard time getting it straight and it looks pretty good in the picture but the back is a little bit messier.  I don't know if I'll do the stripes again.  I really like the look but getting that straight edge and line is hard.  Again, layer on the etching creme THICK.  I think this is key to getting a consistent look.  After the requisite waiting, rinse with warm water and take off the tape. 

Overall, I'm really happy with the final result.  These are going in a gift basket for a friend turning 30 this weekend.  I'll post a picture of the gift basket too.

Teacher Appreciation Gifts!

Teacher Appreciation gifts are done!  It's always a relief to send these to school.  I have two very experienced teachers so I tried to make the gifts practical and cute.  The box is about 6 inches deep so I think it has a lot of function.  On the right are a bottle of hand soap (clear) and a bottle of hand sanitizer (green).  I usually just get these items at the Dollar Tree but for some reason, I just could not get the adhesive off the hand sanitizer bottles.  I tried Goo Gone, finger nail polish remover, soap and water, and rubbing alcohol.  I finally decided that my time must be worth more than hours of scrubbing and went to Wally World and got a different brand.  The label came right off that one.  The bigger font is "Curlz" and the ruler has "Teen".  Our school color and symbol is the green shamrock (leprechauns) so I scored some excellent St. Patrick's Day ribbon on clearance to use.

Teacher Appreciation School Supply

A big shout-out to my friend Mary over at http://ifonlyihadtimeto.blogspot.com/ for the cutest ruler idea ever for Teacher Appreciation week.  Simple to make and turned out very sweet.  Used "Teen" font and black vinyl.  My boys are very excited to take these to school for their teachers!