You Win Some, You Lose Some

The Super Bowl may have been the highlight of most people's weekend, and as much as I loved stuffing myself with queso dip, chili, and cupcakes, I will totally be talking about this Pinterest Win all week (although Beyonce was pretty fabulous).

I am a huge fan of girls nights, and I'm an even bigger fan when those girls nights involve CRAFTS. And pizza...and wine...and Dominos lava cakes...

(As you can see, any shred of effort to eat well was shot this weekend. Whoops. Good thing it's a new week!)

Renee, the hostess for the evening, found this adorable tutorial on Pinterest for hand-dotted glass tumblers, and it was the perfect activity to try out on a snowy Saturday evening in Arlington. All you need are some plain drinking glasses/tumblers/votives/shot glasses, acrylic paint, and q-tips. 

The Pinspiration

This was everything I love in a craft-- easy, mindless, and looks a lot harder to make than it actually is. 

I also love when a craft so simple still allows everyone to customize it to their personality with the colors...placing of the dots...thickness of the dots...I mean really. The sky's the limit here.

Once you allow your paint to completely dry, you're supposed to 'bake' them in the oven to set the paint. A quick Google search instructed us to place the tumblers in a cold oven set at 350, allow them to warm up gradually, and then bake 30 minutes before allowing them to cool completely in the oven. The paint will also be set automatically after 21 days, so it just depends on how quickly you want to use your glass, and/or if placing glass in your oven freaks you out.

After the success of the tumblers, it only made sense to continue with another Pinterest-inspired craft: stamped coasters! As you might have seen in the supplies photo, we had various hues of ink, pretty stamps, and stone tiles that had been previously washed and dried. The steps for this craft were even simpler than the first--just stamp. Easy enough, right? Well. Let's go over a few pointers:

1. Cheap ink will not work. We had a few 60-cent options which didn't even come off onto the stamp, let alone onto the tile. The only color that worked was green, which had been a little more expensive. No big, right? We'll just make Saint Pattie's Day coasters!

2. Make a game plan. Look at all the stamps you have, and then decide which ones you want where. Don't just go with the first option in front of you, because then you will see the one across the table you like better and will be sent into a pouty, stamp-induced hatred for your coaster. Not that I don't love vines and birds.

3. Once you've stamped, it's time to seal your design. 

4. Read the directions. If it says to spray the solution onto a cloth first, don't spray directly onto the tile. Please.

Nailed it.

5. However, if you weren't happy with your design to begin with, this stuff will completely wipe your slate clean and give your tile a new beginning. 

6. Decide that you have mastered the q-tip dotting technique, and make a coaster to match your tumbler.

 

7. Don't be jealous of Amanda, who's coaster rocked.

What have we learned here? You win some, you lose some.