Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy, you will always be the first man I ever loved!!!!

This year for Father's Day, instead of asking Dad over and over what he would like, I found something I knew he would use and appreciate.  An etched beer mug that says 'Dad est 8-12-86   5-3-88'.  Now, I loved this gift for a few reasons:
1) I could make it
2) it was affordable
3) it used etching paint and I had always wanted to use etching paint
4) Dad would be able to use it multiple times throughout the year 
5) it would have my birthday on it :)

Why is it important to have my birthday on it?  Dad forgot my birthday this year and it's been SO GREAT to constantly remind him of that!  :)  Granted, my father was in another country on my birthday, but it took him a total of 4 DAYS to remember that he had missed it!  While typing this, I am giggling because it is not something that bothered me all that much, but my dad truly felt awful about not remembering.  It became a great joke between my Neal, and I every time we would get mail or my dad would call, e-mail, or text me the days following my birthday.  Neal said, so did dad have anything he wanted to tell you?  To which I would reply, nope!  He doesn't remember I was born! 

Dad, I love you!  I am glad it's not just me with the horrible memory.  If only I could remember to take that Ginko!  Now back to your gift...

Etched Beer Mug Supplies
Mugs - I bought a 4 pack at Target for $15
Armour Etch - Hobby Lobby <$10, use the 40% off printable coupon if not on sale
Stencil - I created my with my Cricut using 2 cartridges, 'Thinking of You' and 'Winter Frolic'
since I made my own stencil, I used a vinyl cut-out w/ a paper to transpose it.
Paint brush
Sink

First I made my stencil by cutting out a border tag with the 'Thinking of You' cartridge and then in the center of that I used the font from 'Winter Frolic' to cut out DAD.  I skipped down 10 paces between the following:  est.  /  8-12-86  /  5-3-88.  I probably could have done a little less spacing to keep it closer together, but I still liked how it turned out. 
I carefully aligned my vinyl with my transposing paper onto the mug.


Then I prepared my sink area with the Armor Etch and paper towels.  Be very careful not to get the Armor Etch on your skin.  It burns the glass, not just paints an etched look, so it will burn your skin!
After about a minute an a half rinse off your paint and lightly tap off the excess water w/ a towel.
Peel your stencil, and Wah-la!  You have a great personalized etched gift!
I can't wait to etch more things like wine glasses, coasters, decorative gifts, and Pyrex dishes!  I also have 3 more mugs like this...hmm whatever shall I do?  I am sure you will see more of these from me in the future :)
Happy Father's day to all you dads!

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