Glass Block - Oh Holy Night

Happy Black Friday! Hope Thanksgiving was a wonderful day spent with friends and family! Today I'm showing you a home decor item that I've always wanted to try but was intimidated by - a lighted glass block.

Now you might be saying to yourself, what does this have to do with paper crafting?
It's all about the graphic on the block. I found this perfect pattern in the Silhouette Store and I cut it out of stencil material. Once cut, I used vinyl transfer tape to lift up the design from the material it was cut on so you can apply it on your block in one piece. I used Cricut brand but any will do and you can readily find transfer tape in stores now because of the home vinyl stencil craze. After applying the stencil, I sprayed it with Rust-Oleum frosted glass spray paint. Once it dried, I peeled the stencil off and that's how the pattern was created! The finishing touches on this is adding the garland with the lights to the interior and making a bow for the top. I also wrapped ribbon around the edges of the block to give it a kind of "gift" vibe. I had the perfect glittered holly leaf and berries to add at the top. It was a recycled gift decoration that I had gotten on a package several years ago. Overall, I'm happy with how this turned out. I gave it to the wonderful hostess who invited our family for Thanksgiving dinner.

If you've been wanting to try this, don't be intimidated like I was. It took me a bit to figure out the speed and depth settings to cut the stencil material but now that's figured out, making the next one will be a piece of cake and take 1/2 the time this one did. Like everything new, it's usually a learning experience. I am definitely going to make one or two more of these for gifts this year and probably will try some different patterns as well.

Here's some lessons learned for this project:

1) After some trial and error, I discovered that the Silhouette cut settings for Martha Stewart stencil material are: Vinyl, Speed-8,Thickness-6 and blade depth 1. That worked perfectly.

2) Once the pattern is cut into the stencil material, you need to remove (or weed) all the parts of the image that you want to be frosted. This will create the negative space that remains clear and creates the pattern. Be careful about this and make sure you remove the right pieces of your stencil or you have to cut a new one. Yes, I made that mistake! OR-buy a pre-made stencil at a craft store which seem readily available this year for about $4 regular price.

3) I sprayed this block two times but the next one I make will be sprayed four times so that the frost is much thicker, thus making the design stand out more. This one is a little harder to make out than I would prefer.

4) If you are bow challenged like I am, use something to help you out. I prefer the Bowdabra. I made the Butterfly Bow with floral loop. The directions are in the booklet that came with it.

5) AC Moore and Hobby Lobby carry glass blocks. Michaels and JoAnns does not.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this one as much as I enjoyed making it. Until next time, happy crafting!

SUPPLIES:
8" decorator glass block (AC Moore or Hobby Lobby)
20 bulb light string (AC Moore or other crafting retailers)
Rust-Oleum Specialty Frosted Glass Spray Paint (AC Moore, other craft stores, Walmart, etc)
Oh Holy Night graphic from the Silhouette Store (#52455)
Vinyl Transfer tape of your choice
Martha Stewart Adhesive Stencil Film (crafting retailers)
Garland of your choice
2" wired ribbon for wrapping around block and for the bow
Any do-dad decoration to accent the bow (purchased or recycled)
Bowdabra Bow Maker

CONTEST ENTRIES:
PTE Linky Party-ABC Anything but a Card Challenge-Entry #9-Ends Dec. 1