Girls Weekend!

A few weeks ago, my mom asked if she could come visit me for a weekend. I of course said yes and couldn't wait for her visit! That Friday, I was cooking dinner, when she pulled into the driveway. Allen told me to go out and welcome her and he would keep an eye on dinner. So, I walked outside and gave her a hug then went to help her get her things out of the trunk. When she popped the trunk, this is what I saw:

I screamed and jumped back and then realized it was my wonderful sister!! I was completely, surprised (and excited!)

The next morning, we woke up and Allen fixed us eggs, biscuits, bacon and grits! (He did a great job spoiling us all weekend, and he has been invited back to the next girls weekend!) Then we went to get manicures and pedicures.

After our nails were done we did some shopping and eventually headed to Michael's and Hobby Lobby, where we decided we were going to craft!We got on pinterest (of course!) to get some ideas and finally decided to make shadow boxes and wreaths.

Mary made a Halloween shadow box, Mom made a fall one, and I made an NC State one.

We got Allen in on the crafting too.. he cut some wood for Mom and Mary in the shape of an S and an R. Then they decorated it with leaves... to use for a fall wreath. I made an NC state wreath.

After pizza and crafting, we decided to end the night with some chocolate fondue and fruit! (We let Allen join in too!)

Sunday morning, we woke up, went to church, and then Mom and Mary headed back home. We all had such a great time and I can't wait to have another weekend with my favorite girls!

Etching Glass

One of my favorite new crafts is etching glass.  I have etched several Pyrex dishes (with people's last name) , a glass for Allen, and most recently, I etched wine glasses.  There are so many different things you could etch.. I keep thinking of new things I want to try!

So, here is a quick tutorial on how to etch glass!

Things you will need:

- Something glass

- Cricut Machine (or stencil and utility blade)

- Vinyl

-etching cream

- sponge brush

-paper towels

Step 1:

The first thing you want to do is get ready: Wash the surface of the glass you are using, and set your Cricut machine to a blade depth of 5. (If you don't have a Cricut machine, you could try cutting your own stencil by using a utility blade. I haven't done this, but I'm sure it would work.)

 Step 2:

Next you want to cut the words, letters, shapes, or numbers that you plan to etch. To do this, use your Cricut to choose what you want. Once you know what you are going to etch, load a piece of vinyl into the Cricut machine and hit "cut". 

 Step 3:

After your stencil has been cut,  gently peel the vinyl away from the backing and place it in the desired place on your glass. 

 Step 4:

Now you will apply the etching cream.  Dip your sponge brush into the cream and then carefully brush the cream onto the glass.  (Make sure it's not too thin of a coating)

 Step 5:

Wait. --The directions on the bottle say to wait 5-10 minutes, but I usually wait about 30.

Step 6:

Once time is up, use a dry paper towel to wipe the excess  cream off. Once the excess is off, peel off the vinyl and then use a wet paper towel and wipe over the area you etched. 

Step 7:

Clean your glass and ... TADA! 

Wall Words

I'm sure many of you have seen the vinyl sayings you can buy to put on your walls. Every time I go in a store and see them, I look through the many sayings to find something I like enough to put on the wall. However, I usually can't find a saying I like, or if I do, it costs more than I'm willing to spend. So, I decided I would attempt to make my own :)  Here's how I did it:

My Cricut Machine.. I love this thing! 

I bought brown vinyl at Michael's for $10. I cut a strip to fit in the machine, typed in the letters and watched as it cut.

Next, I peeled off the scraps and was left with my letters

Then I arranged my letters the way I wanted them to look on the wall

Then I covered them with transfer tape

Here, my awesome husband helped me by "burnishing" (big word they use or rub/press) the tape to the words

Next I flipped the transfer tape over and took the back off my vinyl letters



Ready to go on the wall



Then we just took the transfer tape and put it on the wall. "Burnished" the letters and slowly peeled back the tape.

Ta Da!

I love the way it turned out! If I do it again, though, I don't think I'll use the transfer tape. I think it made things more difficult and more time consuming than necessary. Next time I'll just use a pencil to draw lines on the wall to line everything up and then erase the pencil marks - but overall this was a fun, inexpensive, and easy project! :)