Etched Glass Snowman

It was cold and frosty outside this morning..... brrr!  Made me think of the holidays, christmas trees, twinkling lights and snowmen!  Love snowmen... they're full of personality and they seem to go with all kinds of decorating trends.  Snowmen are eternal - unless of course they're real and the sun comes out.

I was browsing the other day, looking for nothing in particular, when I found this little, round glass jar with a screw top lid.  It reminded of a particular brand of jam my mum used to buy.  Didn't really have any plans for it, but picked it up anyway.  I happen to like glass and I particularly like etching glass, so I'd figure out what to do with it later.  Later, however, happened sooner than I thought.  I'd been working on some projects for the CHA trade show that's coming up in January and I had some half balls of Smoothfoam lying around on my workbench.  I'd also been etching something else, which you'll see on Monday, and suddenly the penny dropped.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my little roly poly jar!  Look!  Isn't he sweet!

 

And these are the supplies I used to make him happen, plus a few odds'n ends: 

 

First of all I removed the lid and filled the jar with etchall® dip'n etch™ being very careful not to let the etching liquid splash onto my granite counter top.  I didn't really want to etch the counter top again... LOL   While the dip'n etch was working its magic,  I cut a 2" Smoothfoam ball in half and glued one half to the top of the lid using a cool temp glue gun.  

    •  His nose is one half of a teeny tiny clothespin.  Remove the spring and you have the perfect shape for a nose.  The ones I had were colored, but if you have plain ones, paint or color it orange.  Use the tip of a pencil to make a pilot hole where you want the nose to be, then push the wide end of the half clothespin into the hole.  

    •  I used a cotton swab to rub pink powder blush on his head for cheeks.  

    •  His eyes and mouth are black, adhesive back acrylic jewels.  

    •  To make his ear muffs I cut about a 3" length of red chenille and pinned the ends at each side of his head by pushing a straight pin thru a small red pom pom into the end of the stem into the head.  You could glue it too I s'pose.  

    • His scarf is a 1/2" wide strip of felt which I glue around the rim of the lid.  

    • I also added adhesive jewels to the front of the glass for buttons.

 

The inside of the jar is now etched (it takes about 20 mins - please read the directions), then very carefully pour the dip'n etch back into the bottle!  This product is REUSABLE, yes, that's right you get to use it again, and again and again!  I said it was magical.  Thoroughly rinse the inside of the jar then dry it with a soft cloth.  Fill with your favorite candy, or bath salts, or anything you like for a one of a kind gift - an LED votive candle would look cool too!   

You could etch the outside of the glass of course, but I like the frosty look of the inside being etched and the glass still shines on the outside. 

 

Are you itching to etch?  Click on the "etchall" link in my sidebar for a whole range of etching products!  Enjoy........ y'all come back now!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!