My goal was to hand make every Christmas gift I gave for Christmas 2013. It was crazy. I usually hand make a few gifts, but I have a lot of family and making all of the gifts was a little over ambitious, I will admit.

I wanted to make gifts that everyone would enjoy and appreciate, but I also knew I needed to keep it simple. As in, not make custom gifts for everyone. So for all the boys on my side of the family, I made these etched beer glasses. These were so easy and fun, directions are below.

Just for fun I cut out a small “beer bottle” shape out of cardboard and stuck in a little cash for “beer money.” Had I been in Iowa, I would have bought beer to go along with the gift-but I don’t think shipping beer across the country would have been successful.

Supplies:

• Beer Glasses (I found these on Amazon)
• Contact Paper
• Xacto Knife (I used a janky box cutter, can’t say I’d recommend)
• Self healing cutting mat or something to protect your table top
• Circular objects for tracing the circle
• Etching Cream
• Printer (with paper and ink, because I may or may not have bought some just so I could print out letters for this project)

Directions:

1. Find a font you like and print out letters in a couple different sizes.  Choose which size works best for the glass you’re working with.
2. Lay contact paper over printed letters and carefully cut out letter.  You’ll be sticking the actual letter on the glass, so be sure not to cut through the letter itself.
3. Cut a square or rectangle of contact paper (this doesn’t have to be exact), then carefully trace a circle and cut it out.  So you’ll have a square with a hole in it, does that make sense?
4. Peel off the back of the contact paper and stick on the glass.  I put the circle cut out on first and then lined up the letter inside.
5. Spread a thick, even coat of etching cream inside the circle, being careful not to move the contact paper – be gentle!
6. Leave cream on for 15 minutes, then rinse with cold water until all the cream is washed off.  This was a little weird at first, but just trust the running water.  The cream starts to “peel” off (for lack of a better word) after a little while.
7. Peel off the contact paper and you’re finished!  I used my circle shape for several glasses, but after a few the stickiness started to wear off.

Happy crafting!