Thursday, September 20, 2012

DIY: Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

Here is the much awaited (since I announced it yesterday) tutorial for my Will You Be My Bridesmaid? Wine Bottle and Goblet Project

The "Will You Be My Bridesmaid?" Wine Bottle and Goblet Project:
Materials:
Wine glasses - I purchased 4 from Dollar Tree.  They are a bit on the large size!
Contact paper - I also purchased this at Dollar Tree.  You don't need that much so I would recommend purchasing the smallest amount necessary
Etching cream - Hobby Lobby
Foam Brush
Scissors
Cutting surface
Craft knife

Wine of your choice - something that has a removable label will make your life easier
Martha Stewart Labels - I purchased a pack of 6 removable labels that were 3.75 x 5.2
Computer and Printer

Steps:
1.  Find a font that you want to use and print off several different sizes to see what will cover up the wine glass the best.  I chose to use the font Fashion Victim that can be found at dafont.com.

2.  Trace the letters onto the contact paper.  Make sure that you trace on the plastic side rather than the paper side or else you will cut your letter out backwards.  True story.
  

3.  Cut the inside of the letters out with a craft knife and position on the wine glass.  Press down well and remove any bubbles around the edge of the letters.  It won't matter if there are bubbles on the outside edges of the contact paper, but it needs to be smooth where the letter is.
The top left corner looks like a bubble, but I actually just cut the contact paper and overlapped those edges because there previously was a bubble that I couldn't smooth out.

4.  Apply a layer of etching cream to the exposed areas of the glass where the letter has been cut out.
  

5.  After the etching cream has set for 5 min, rinse the wine glass completely.  There are warnings against getting the etching cream on your skin so be careful!  I removed the contact paper, did a little drying/polishing and then your glass is set!

Now onto Part 2!
1.  The Martha Stewart labels are made by Avery which means that in Microsoft Word there is already a template for the dimensions of the label. So it starts out looking like this...and then I worked on the design.

#1

#2

2.  I ultimately decided on Style #2, trying to match the color of the blue to the border on the labels (the borders on the labels came blue and green - three of each).  Since there were only three of each color and I have 4 girls, I used a green border for my MOH's label.

3.  I printed off the labels using a regular inkjet printer.  I did have some issues with printing!  I don't know if the labels were slippery, but my printer kept printing too high up on the labels and then they were off-center.  Since I didn't want to go out a buy more, I just ended up cutting the labels so that they were symmetrical. (No picture, so sorry!)

4.  Remove old wine label.  My new labels were smaller than the original labels on the wine bottle, so the old one had to go.  Thankfully, Relax Riesling uses a clear plastic label, so it came off really easily.  I did wipe the bottle down to get rid of any remaining residue with a warm, damp cloth. 

5.  Add the new labels on and smooth!  I worked in an X shape to smooth down the labels so that there weren't any bubbles.  These labels are actually removable, so if you mess up, you can peel it up and start over.

6. Combine with the personalized wine glass and you have yourself one classy set!

7.  To finish if off, I wrapped the wine glasses in tissue paper and then put both items into paper gift bags that I bought at Dollar Tree.  I also wrote each girl a letter, printed off an envelope with their name on it and added it to the bag.

I wrote each girl's name on the front of the bags with a silver sharpie.   I kind of wish that I would have put more effort into decorating the bags, but I didn't!  In hindsight, I would probably stencil their initial onto the front and maybe throw some glitter in there!

8. Now they're all ready to be sent out into the world!

Price Breakdown:
Wine glasses - $4
Contact Paper $1
Etching cream - on hand (but it had a $7.99 sticker - take a 40% off coupon with you!)
Gift bags $2
Wine $40
Labels $3                 
Total = $50 ($12.50 per bridesmaid!)

So what do you think?  Is there anything that you would have done differently?  How would you have decorated the gift bags?  Have you done any similar projects?

2 comments:

  1. Love this idea! I've been thinking of a different way to ask my special ladies to stand by my side but haven't decided on anything yet. I absolutely love the wine glasses!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I've tried glass etching before so I was a little skeptical, but I was really happy with how they turned out. I think I might have to make one for myself!

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