Make an Etched Mirror, Plus a Giveaway!!!

I love old stuff. I love the dusty smell the years leave behind and the memories tucked into things that have lasted long beyond their owners.

I particularly love old mirrors, the kind that have real silver on the backs and bubbles in the glass and hand-glued labels on the wood. I haul them home whenever I can, and my husband gives me that husband look that says he doesn’t appreciate blurry, wrecked mirrors the way I do and he wonders if we don’t already have enough already?

As if.

One of the mirrors I scavenged was from a church garage sale. It was framed with barn boards and the silver was delightfully scratched and it weighed about half as much as me. I lugged it home and when my husband rolled his eyes, I said, “Don’t worry. I’m going to do something with this.”

Which, in point of fact, was not the part that worried him.

My plan was to make an etched mirror. For years, I toyed around with what to do. I even bought supplies to make my own stencil, but I couldn’t quite find the right thing and I was a little afraid I would ruin the mirror (never mind the fact that my husband thought it was too late for that).

So, I was thrilled when I turned on my computer one day and found a link a friend shared to Fruitful Vine Creations. They make gorgeous vinyl wall decals in every shape and size, including the one below.

Micah 6:8 happens to be one of my favorite verses. I even named a child after that book of the Bible. I was in love.

The size of this decal was perfect for my mirror. I knew I could affix the vinyl piece to it and the hardest part of my glass-etching project would be done for me!

Best of all, this particular letter art was being featured that week as the company’s Fruitful Deal. Every week, they offer one vinyl letter design at a deep discount. I scored this design for 50% off!

Once my order arrived, I positioned the vinyl decal on my mirror.

Then, I secured the design with tape on one edge and peeled the back off. This way, I could flip the design back onto the glass. (All the directions are included in the package, and they are super easy to follow, so don’t worry if that part doesn’t make sense. It will when you see their step-by-step tutorial).

I squeegeed the design onto the glass, pushing out air bubbles and making sure the design was stuck on tight. Since I was going to be applying glass etching acid to the top of this vinyl, I wanted to make sure all the edges were sealed.

Once that was done, I carefully pulled the top sheet off. The decal was perfectly positioned underneath.

Now it was time to get to work with the etching.

To etch glass at home, all you need is glass etching goo. This is what I used to do the job. This is the link to the product description on my Amazon affiliate page. But, it’s crazy expensive. I highly recommend using a coupon and getting it at your local craft store if you can. I got mine at Hobby Lobby for 40% off.

Using a paint brush, smear that stuff all over the mirror, right on top of the vinyl, until it is evenly coated.

The product is a little lumpy. Ignore.

The directions on the Armour Etch say to leave the product on for 60 seconds. I tested this with a smaller bottle and that amount of time was not nearly sufficient. Maybe it’s because my mirror is very old and things were made better back in the day. I don’t know. But I had to go back and purchase another bigger bottle and try again.

Bother.

I let it sit for about fifteen minutes, or until I could see the glass was cloudy underneath. Then, I washed off the creme, cleaned the mirror, and let it dry.

You will notice that the glass-etching product did not take evenly. Grrr…I am telling myself that the variations in cloudiness are in keeping with the weathered look of the mirror. I may go back and purchase another jar of Armour Etch if I decide not to leave my children an inheritance.

You will also notice that the vinyl looks just as good as it did before I applied the acid. In fact, a simple design might be able to be used again.

For me, it was time to remove the vinyl letters and see if the etching worked.

It did!

This particular design from Fruitful Vine Creations is very delicate, so I was a little worried that the acid might get underneath the thin parts. It didn’t. The vinyl stuck tight, just like it was supposed to, and gave me beautiful, crisp lines.

It’s hard to tell because the mirror creates a double image, but the lines are so clean. You can even feel them with your fingers, just like on real etched-glass.

I love the way the Scripture verse looks on the mirror. The light catches the words in different ways at different times, and it is beautiful. Even my husband has to admit that this old mirror isn’t so bad.

Aren’t you all dying to get your hands on some vinyl letter art so you can create your own etched mirror masterpiece???

You are in luck! I contacted Tonya over at Fruitful Vine Creations and told her what amazing readers I have and how much you all would love to shop on her site. She offered to give you all a chance to win a $50 shopping spree from Fruitful Vine Creations! This gift certificate can be used on anything in their store, including shipping! The only exclusions are the My Fruitful Deal decals (which are already a smashing great price, you might just want to sign up for their sale e-mails so you don’t miss any).

To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter below! I will draw a winner at 6 pm Monday, April 14. Enjoy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Simply Homemade: Bells and Burlap Wreath

This post is part of the Simply Homemade series. To see the rest of the posts, start here.

Well, things have not been going as planned over at the Glover household. I don’t know about you, but Christmas is a study in flexibility, and I don’t mean seeing if you can still touch your toes after eating all that peppermint bark. Schedules get rearranged, simple errands take longer than usual, and sometimes, instead of doing the things you should, you opt for a long winter’s nap.

So. Today’s post was supposed to involve fabric, scissors, and the Oh-So-Scary sewing machine. It doesn’t. My plans were derailed because someone forgot to take pictures of the final result of the sewing project and didn’t realize it until the dark of night when it was too late to do anything about it.

Enter the Backup Plan. Instead of doing a project involving minimal sewing skills, we’re doing to do a project involving minimal gluing skills. Yippee! Here’s a sneak peak:

Bells and Burlap Wreath

Okay, that wasn’t really a sneak peak. That was more like the reveal. But it’s Christmas, and aren’t we all tired of waiting for the good stuff?

Now you’ll just have to stick with me while I back this train up and tell you all about my Bells and Burlap Wreath after you’ve already seen it.

Whilst walking around my favorite charity the other day (ahem, Hobby Lobby), I spotted these fabulous burlap canvases on sale. I snagged one in a lovely shade of 12×12.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it until we walked past a whole herd of jingle bells, also on sale. Now, I’ve always wanted to make a jingle bell wreath but I’ve never done it. I said to myself, “What could be easier than making a jingle bell wreath on burlap?” Practically nothing!

We hauled it home and got started. This is what we did:

Step 1: Make a Circle

Find a plate or a bowl to use as a guide to draw a circle on the burlap. Do not center it. Leave more space at the top of the canvas than the bottom because you will be adding a bow later and you don’t want it looking weird.

Step 2: Add Jingle Bells

I bought a package of 75 bells for this project (and hoped it would be enough). You could use more, but I wouldn’t use any less. I was barely squeaking by with the bells I had but I didn’t want to go back to Hobby Lobby because I swear, it costs me $50 just to walk in the door.

Using a hot glue gun, glue the jingle bells to the burlap. Place them together side-by-side on the circle you drew. Then, create an inner circle but this time, space the bells a bit apart so they don’t look too planned or perfect. Wreaths should be random!

Kya, my seven-year-old daughter, put the bells on the burlap and you can see they got a little bunchy at the bottom, but it doesn’t matter. After you create an inner circle, randomly glue a few bells on top of the bottom two rows. Adding the extra layer of bells makes everything even out. See?

Step 3: Add a Bow

Make a bow with some nice wide ribbon and secure it to the burlap with a bit of glue. It helps to tack down the dangling parts of the bow too so it all stays where it should.

Also, I should have ironed it. Oops.

Now, you could be done at this point. I thought I was until I asked my husband what he thought of my project and he did that thing that husbands do where their eyes glaze over and they say, “Ummm…”

Apparently, it needed a little something-something more. So…

Step 4: Embellish

If you look back to the first picture in this post, you’ll see that I added “stuff.” But wait–don’t scroll up. Here it is again:

Jeff thought my Bells and Burlap wreath needed a little green. He also thought there was too much space in the middle. I could have added another layer of bells, but like I said before, there was the whole problem of entering Hobby Lobby for “one thing” and coming out $50 poorer.

Instead, I decided to use what I had on hand (what a concept). I added a cardboard gift tag with the word “Noel” (because I like that word) and some smaller bells on ribbon. There’s also a sprig of green, just for my guy.

He said it was an improvement so I kissed him.

Step 5: Give (or Keep) Your Bells and Burlap Wreath

You could give your project away. That’s the whole point of this series, right? Or, you could realize that the Bells and Burlap Wreath is the perfect addition to that shelf you have in the stairway.

Ahem.

Looks like I might have to go back to Hobby Lobby after all.

P.S. Save yourself the trouble and make two from the get-go.

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Simply Homemade: Inverted Christmas Tree

*Another Simply Homemade post! To see the other ideas, start here.

I am a little nervous about this post.

I’m just not sure you all are going to be able to stick with me when I show you my crazy project. I should trust you by now–after all, you’re still here even after I hung a metal mattress spring on the wall and called it art.

But I may have crossed the line this time.

It all started years ago when a woman at our church hung a full-sized, decorated Christmas tree upside down from the rafters in the foyer of our sanctuary. It was all lit up and massive, and when I walked into church the first Sunday after she did it, I gasped because I had never seen anything like it before. It was a Christmas tree chandelier!

That tree caused no small disturbance in our small community. I mean, an upside down Christmas tree? What does that even mean? It could be sacrilegious and since that was before the Internet was really a thing, no one could Google it so no one knew for sure.

Some people liked it and some people hated it and practically everyone agreed that the board should have been notified before a Christmas tree was hung upside down in church.

Personally, I couldn’t wait to grow up and make one of my own.

So this year, I did.

Inverted Christmas tree and mattress art

Now, before you disown me, let me say that we have since arrived in the modern age so I Googled “What does an upside-down Christmas tree mean?” before I actually hung one from the ceiling. To my relief, Google assured me that an upside-down Christmas tree is no more irreligious than a regular Christmas tree. So that’s good. I think.

Also, you will notice that my inverted Christmas tree is ombre. I’m probably about three years too late for the ombre trend, but such is my life. For instance, I have finally made my peace with chevron and I’m pretty sure that trend is over too.

Anyway, I thought the shape of an upside-down Christmas tree lent itself to a variegated color scheme, so I went for it, trend or no trend.

Is ombre over?

Also, I had the little problem of the color scheme in our rental house. I had to pick colors that wouldn’t clash with the mustard-on-terra-cotta look we have going on. So, that’s not hard.

I could have gone with plain gold or silver ornaments, but I wanted something with more impact. So, I decided to start out with rich chocolate ornaments, fade to deep crimson, then copper, gold, and finally, silver.

Anyone want to talk to my landlord about those walls?

You could do an ombre tree in any colors your husband won’t divorce you over. I think deep purple fading to silver would be fantastic (except it wouldn’t look good next to mustard-fading-to-ketchup walls). I was tempted to go with various shades of green, but since I already had quite a few gold, silver, and burgundy ornaments in my stash, I decided to spend a little less on “charitable giving” to Hobby Lobby this year and use what I had.

If you’re still reading this post, you might want to make an inverted Christmas tree yourself. Or, perhaps, you wonder how I convinced my husband that Hobby Lobby is a home for disenfranchised children and all those credit card charges are really donations to charity.

It’s simple (the tree, that is). This is what you’ll need:

An artificial tree (mine is 3′)

Lights!

Ornaments! Go ombre or go home! Just kidding. You can decorate however you like. I’m not a hater. Just make sure you have a LOT of ornaments (see below).

Ribbons!

A ceiling hook. I used two Monkey Hooks because they hold a ton of weight.

Green floral wire

Ombre inverted Christmas tree at night

How to Make an Inverted Christmas Tree

(Ombre Optional)

1) Discard the flimsy little legs that come with your tree and make sure that the trunk has no moving parts that might come loose when you flip the tree upside down. If it does, toss those too. You want a solid trunk, nothing more.

2) Wrap floral wire around the trunk to create a loop by which to hook the tree from your ceiling.

3) Wrap lights and ribbon around your tree. Wrap the ribbon all the way up the trunk to the ceiling to cover the hook so it looks like the trunk is going right into your beautiful popcorn ceiling (see below for a flashback to the ceilings of yesteryear).

4) Now you can start adding ornaments. You’ll need a lot. I mean, somewhere between a bazillion and a gazillion. You might think you have enough when you start this project, but you are wrong. Then you will go to the store to buy some more, but you will be wrong again. Just get them all. All the ornaments you can find.

Fortunately, you can pick up ornaments on the cheap at thrift stores, garage sales, or the Hobby Lobby Home for Disenfranchised Children (wink, wink). Place a few special ornaments in strategic places and they will “hide” the cheaper ornaments.

Wire the ornaments directly to the branches so they won’t fall off. If you secure them well enough, you may be able to store them on the tree when the season is over.

5) Stand back and admire your work! Or, if you’re insecure, stand back and wonder if an inverted Christmas tree is just plain weird.

An inverted Christmas tree and a quiet place to write

I happen to like the way it looks over the little freebie desk I decoupaged. I would even go so far as to suggest that this would be a great project to make for someone who can’t have a Christmas tree because of pets or small children, or for the couple that’s just starting out.

Or maybe it makes the perfect place to sit and spend a silent night. And couldn’t we all use one of those?

*Tomorrow’s Simply Homemade project is not upside-down at all. But it does involve duct tape. In other words, it’s one for the guys.

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