For this St. Patrick’s Day I decorated two beer steins using a glass etching and stencil technique. And what goes great with a frosty beer stein?? If you guessed cork coasters then you would be right. 😊I used a technique I learned from Michelle from My Designs In The Chaos to decorate them. If you would rather watch than read, there is a link for a video instructional at the bottom of this post.
I found my cork coasters at Michael’s a while ago but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them. As soon as I saw the templates I used, I knew how I would decorate them. I used a Celtic-style 3 leaf clover and a clover cut out that says “So Lucky”. I sized them in Cricut’s Design Space and cut them out using removeable vinyl (You can use stencil vinyl or cardstock as well).
Once I had the designs cut, I weeded them, leaving a border around the design so I could fill it in with marker (check out the video. The visual may make more sense than I can explain).
I used clear transfer tape to place my design on to the coaster. The removeable vinyl stuck very well, you just have to make sure you burnish it down really well so it doesn’t slip while you are coloring in your design.
For the 3 leaf clover I used a regular green permanent Sharpie marker to fill in the design. For the “So Lucky” one, I used a lime green. When you fill in the pattern the marker will be a bit darker than if you are using plain white paper, so keep that in mind while choosing your colors.
After coloring in your design, just wait a few seconds for the ink to dry and lift your vinyl. It’s really cool how they turn out.
To decorate the beer steins that I found from Dollar Tree (You can find those HERE), I first used rubbing alcohol to clean the outside. Just to remove any dust and fingerprints so my vinyl would really stick. Next I weeded some small clovers that I had cut out, again with my cricut. I used 4 different designs of individual clovers on one glass and on the other I used 3 heart shapes made of clovers.
I again used transfer tape to position my stencils on the glasses. When putting these on, really make sure there are no bubbles or gaps. This will ensure that the glass etching cream doesn’t go anywhere where it’s not supposed to.
Following the directions on my Martha Stewart etching cream, I filled in the clover patterns. Waited 15 minutes for it to set, then rinsed it off. I also made sure to wash the inside of the glass with soap and water to make sure no etching cream got inside during the rinse process.
Really it was as simple as that. I really enjoyed how these came out. I hope you do as well.
Video link: https://youtu.be/s9uNKKsyRm8
*Affiliate link included in this post*
