How to Personalize Gifts with Etching

If you hadn’t already heard, our town was hit by a massive tornado on Thursday, and we spent the weekend picking up the pieces. Our new home was right in the path of the twister, but we were so lucky and sustained very little damage compared to our neighborhood and other parts of town. Just downed trees and debris everywhere in our yards.

It was a crazy experience to say the least. Our little town made national news, and we’re so grateful for all of you readers who reached out to see if we’re ok. I could write a whole blog post about these past few days (we were at the house when it happened), but I’m just ready to talk about something cheerful. Mkay?

The twins recently had a birthday (SEVEN YEARS OLD!), and I did a little DIY for them that I’ve been meaning to share with you.

*This post contains affiliate links*

Della is my girl that loves to collect little treasures. Jewelry, of course… but also rocks, gems, shells, fossils, marbles and pieces of broken glass. These things are of GREAT value to her. And she’s been wanting a ‘big girl’ jewelry box to keep her treasures.

I found this one on Amazon that was just perfect. Originally my plan was to have my friend Dana use her laser to put Della’s name and a little design on the outside of the jewelry box, right into the ‘leather’. But because of the material, it couldn’t be lasered on… so I had to get creative!

I decided to ETCH her name onto the corner of the mirror on the inside!

Dana cut me a little vinyl stencil to use with the acid etching paste. You could also do this on your Silhouette or Cricut.

The stencil is cut backwards, because this is the sticky side that will press against the mirror!

Now that we have our little vinyl decal stencil in place and pressed down firmly, I used some Frog Tape around the edges to keep the etching paste from spilling over the edges at all.

Time to slop on the etching paste! This is the stuff I use. One bottle of this stuff will last you for hundreds of etching projects. You only need to use about 1/4 teaspoon to etch something this size!

Using a craft paint brush, just start globbing the stuff on, making sure to cover all the mirror parts with a good layer of etching paste.

Normally, you should rinse the etching paste off with running water, but since the mirror is very much attached to this jewelry box, I didn’t want the velvet to get wet. So I just used several wet paper towels to wipe off the paste until I got it all. Then peel off the painters tape and vinyl decal.

It’s so amazing how the acid eats away at the mirror to create a dull, matte finish in those spots. You’d think it wouldn’t be very easy to see, but it’s surprisingly vibrant!

It turned out so cute, and most of all, Della LOVES it! It took her exactly zero time to fill this baby up with her treasures.

 

We had the same design lasered onto Paisley’s ukulele! Unfortunately you can’t etch onto wood with acid etching cream. But if you have a friend with a laser, the world is at your fingertips. 😉