Stencil Candles with Recycled Jars

I finally got to work on a project I have wanted to do for a long time. Awhile back I saw a picture of a beautifully decorated night time table that used recycled jars with votive candles. I immediately started saving any glass jar I had; spaghetti jars, relish jars, pickle jars, anything that was glass. Then I heard about the glass etching using the Cricut. I watched a ton of videos on youtube and researched the craft on blogs and websites. First I cleaned all the jars and took off all the paper labels. I used a liquid product that takes off glue adhesive. I then cut out all my words using Cricut vinyl and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. I then applied the vinyl to the glass. I didn't need to use the painters tape. I just used a tweezers to add all the little parts of the e and a, and any other letter that had a little piece.

You then add the stencil cream. I got mine at Michael's craft store. I bought the smallest bottle which should last a long time (I barely had to use any). You let it dry for about 5 minutes, then wash off the cream with water and towel dry.

Peel off the vinyl and remove all the little pieces and you have a great stencil.

This was hard to capture in the picture. It is not as strong as a stencil that you get from a professional place but it still looks really nice.

Here is the whole set of jars with votive candles.

This is what it looked like when I lit them all. The words actually show up a lot brighter.

I was really happy with how this turned out. It was very easy and came out better then I expected. I definitely plan to do this again. I want to stencil all my husbands beer glasses with his favorite sports team. I also think these jars would make a great hostess gift. There are so many possibilities.

Cheese Board

A while back I decided I wanted a chalkboard for my house. I searched all over but couldn't find anything I liked for a price I wanted to pay. So I made my own. I bought chalkboard paint and a picture frame. I removed the glass from the frame and painted the square with the chalkboard paint. Viola - a chalkboard.

Recently I saw an add for a Slate cheese board from William Sonoma.

It said you could arrange your cheese on it and then use chalk to label each variety. What a great idea. I started thinking of how I could make this on my own. I already had the chalkboard paint. I remembered I had a cutting board from Crate and Barrel that I never used.

Viola! Cheese slate board.

Halloween

I love fall. I love the cold weather, the change of colors, and best of all Halloween. Every year I buy a couple of new decorations to add to my Halloween collection. Costumes are planned out months in advance. This year I decided to add an apron to my collection. Debbie Mum has adorable patterns and designs. I picked up this pattern at Joann's. I dug out the overlock sewing machine (which had not been used in years) and stitched this up in an afternoon. I love aprons and I didn't have any seasonal ones. Since this was so easy I can't wait to see what patterns come out around the holidays.