THANK YOU

WOW! The #CrazyShoeboxCrew would like to thank everyone that supported our basket raffle fund raisers this weekend

 With your help we raised $6609! That money will help us fill and send gift filled shoeboxes, that will bring hope and the good news of God's love to children in need all over the world through Operation Christmas Child

A special thanks to our sponsors: American Crafts  Art Impressions Rubber Stamps Betsy Burnett-Creative, Cat in My Shoe Crafts, Christian Youth Center of Morris, Creative Options, Etchall, FCC Morris IL (First Christian Church Morris IL)-Priceless Days, Glue Dots, Julie McGuffee, Ken Oliver Crafts, LIFE CHURCH Morris, Minnie's Travel Boutique - Michelle Peters Mudd Puddles - muddpuddles.net, Peddlers Den, Plaid Crafts, Stamp & Scrapbook Expo, Scrap Escape, Therm O Web, Viva Las Vegastamps! and Xyron Together we can do a whole lot of awesome!!!

Modern End Table from Wedding Treasures putting it all together (part 3 of 3)

*This is part 3 of 3 be sure to visit part 1 and part 2

My friend Amy came to me asking for help with her wedding because I am the "creative one." Wanting something different for a guest book and needing something to use as a cake platter. I devised a 3 in 1 project to fit the bill. The first part, a wood round, with their initial burned into it became the guest book. Then I etched a piece of custom cut glass to become a personalized cake platter for their big day.  Today we are going to put it all together to create a modern end table from their wedding keepsakes.

To start I wanted to preserve the signatures on the wood disk. Because they are only on with sharpie and no matter how "permanent" the marker says it is, if exposed to certain chemicals or even harsh sunlight the color can smear or fade. To seal I  first did a light coat of Crystal Clear Enamel Spray from Rust-Oleum and allowed to dry. I used a spray sealer because any amount of rubbing on the marker with a sealer will cause it to smear. This being said, be VERY careful during this step not to touch the area where the marker is. Once the light coat is dry, spray with a 2nd coat and allow to dry as well.

Now it was time to attach the wood to the table base. For the base Amy and Otto wanted something similar to the style of the wedding venue, kind of industrial and a bit rustic. I found this wonderful "counter height" bench on Amazon. It had good reviews, and best yet the seat on the bench was round, so with a bit of luck it should be easy to swap out the seat for the table top.

I removed the hardware from the bench seat and centered it on the back of the wood disk. Then using a drill, screwed the hardware to the wood. From there I simply followed the directions to assemble the bench.

I then placed the glass onto the table top. Remember the "clear bumpers" applied to the back of the glass. I found that by using the raised ones, you could see the etching better. 

From cake platter and guest book to end table!

Congrats Amy and Otto!

May the two of you be blessed on your journey together! 

Supplies used: industrial counter height bench, drill/drill bits.  

Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 to see how the guest book and cake platter were made

Special thanks to the following companies: Plaid Crafts and etchall® 

Modern End Table from Wedding Keepsakes- the glass cake platter (part 2 of 3)

***This is part 2 of a 3 part series. Be sure to visit Part 1 and Part 3

My friend Amy came to me asking for help with her wedding because I am the "creative one." Wanting something different for a guest book and needing something to use as a cake platter. I devised a 3 in 1 project to fit the bill. The first part, a wood round, with their initial burned into it became the guest book. Today I will show you how I etched a piece of cut glass to become a customized cake platter for their big day.  These pieces will then be joined together to create a cute end table for their home.

I started off with a piece of glass cut to match the wood round that would become their guest book. To have the glass cut, I visited Jerry's Glass and Lock, our local glass store. Telling them about my project they recommended the proper thickness of glass. (For those curious it was only about $30 to have a piece custom cut)

I then used a die-cutting machine to cut out Amy and Otto's names and their wedding date out of contact paper. The contact paper became a stencil that I will use to etch the surface of the glass.

I made sure to clean the glass with glass cleaner and a soft cloth before I started.

Then I positioned the contact paper stencils on the glass. To help with positioning, I was able to lay the glass over the wood table round. As I wanted their names and wedding date to circle around the initial.

Make sure all the edges of the stencil are secured down, use a squeegee to help if needed. Because you are working on a flat glass surface it's easy to flip the glass over and see any air bubbles around the openings of your stencil. A quick pass of the squeegee will help eliminate them.

Cover the remaining surface with contact paper and/or masking tape as precaution. Any glass area that comes in contact with the etching cream will become cloudy. So unless you like living on the wild side, covering the remaining glass surface will help you to create a clean etch.

Apply etchall® etching cream to the area you desire to etch.  Make sure you have a nice thick coating. Wait 15 minutes, then using the squeegee, scrape off the etching cream and put back into the jar. The cool thing about this brand of etching cream is that it's reusable!

Wash off your piece with soap and warm water until clean. Dry off and then remove the stencil and protective contact paper/masking tape.

I washed off the glass again and then applied clear "bumpers" to the bottom of the glass to prevent slipping on the table and the wood round when it becomes the topper for the end table. The raised bumpers also helped the etching to show up better when on top of the wood disk.

The glass was then used at the wedding as the cake platter.

Be sure to view Part 1 and the finished project in Part 3 "putting it all together"

Supplies used: cut glass circle, etchall® etching cream, etchall® squeegee, contact paper, masking tape, electronic die cutting machine, clear plastic bumpers. 

Thanks to etchall® for providing the etching cream and squeegee.