Thankful Candy Dish

I love candy dishes. I want to have Martha Stewart's expansive kitchen cabinets. Just to have enough space for candy dishes (oh, including cookie jars! sigh ). However, that is not my reality. So, I try to keep things simplified. I found this small dish and thought it would be perfect. My thought for it is to have it out on my counter for during November. I like as many things around, that remind us of gratitude, during the Thanksgiving Season! If you want to see how easy it is to etch, check out Erika's post on it from earlier this week. I knew this cute little dish was perfect for etching a fun thankful design onto. Instead of etching the design, however, I etched the negative. I used the word "thanks" in many different languages. I put them onto the cup, in what I think is kind of a "wordle" design.

When I pulled off the extra vinyl from around the cut out words, I just couldn't trash them (I have this problem often, like with empty drink holders, etc). So, I grabbed a clean glass jar (yes, this also points back to the before-mentioned problem of keeping things that I "might" be able to use in the future). I put these onto the jar and etched the words themselves onto this jar.

Back to my candy dish. Once all my vinyl words were put onto my dish, I actually contemplated leaving it that way. Since I was only using it as a candy dish, having vinyl on the dish would not have been a problem as I would just wipe out the inside of the jar (so I wouldn't have to worry about throwing it in the dishwasher and having the vinyl ruined). I just really liked how the vinyl looked on the dish (see the top photo for the example of this...I probably will do it this way in the future!). But I charged forward, as I already had a vision in my head that I wanted to finish out. To reverse etch this jar I had to put the etching cream all over the outside of the cup part (the area you see etched, just above). I'm glad that I went ahead with my plan and didn't keep the words as vinyl. Instead you can now see through where the vinyl letters had been and the rest of the dish is frosted. I love it.

Here you can kind of see how the jar turned out, using the vinyl from around my words. I only etched the words. After I decorate the lid, fill it, and tie a ribbon around this, I will be using it as a gift for my daughter's teacher.

This was an interesting project for me because I had it in my head for a bit. Once I started to work on it, my vinyl cutter and I got into a fight. When I say fight, I mean a full blown fight (I went through 2-3 feet of vinyl, a blade, and LOTS of my time). I prodded and coaxed her (or him...maybe that's why she's mad at me, because I don't even know if she's a she or a he...) for quite a while. I went through so many modifications and just couldn't get her working for me. But it's ok now. We got back on speaking terms in time for me to finish up this project! I don't know if she's kissing up to me to make up for her temper tantrum with me, but I swear the last 2 days she has cut better than ever! I finished at least 7 projects with her just today!

The best part of this? I didn't even keep my candy dish! I know, I know, after all that work (really the etching and all was easy, it was the all-out fight with my cutter that was tough). But it went to a super cause. Every year my sister's and I go to my Mom's church for a Service Auction. It is so much fun. Really, it's because of the auctioneer! She is one of my Mom's best friends and she is an absolute hoot! It makes for such an enjoyable night, with her at the podium and gavel in hand.

I have to give you a quick run-down on this event because it is always so much fun. People sign up to donate handmade items, food, or service. On the night of the auction you peruse the list of donations. Each person also fills out a questionnaire. It is a list of things that you get set amount of points for. A few questions are: "If you made your bed today. (10 points). If you are 18-25 (10 points)" There were 47 questions, and you are on the honor system. You tally up your points and that is how many points you have to bid with. Some of the items to bid on were crocheted baby items, cards, jewelry, homemade breads, a yoga session, babysitting, and even cleaning of your baseboards (it's supposed to be all homemade, but some "stretched" the truth on that one!)! I tell you, some people get so creative. There are secret items that you don't even know what it is, just who it's from. You can join your points with other people. I think one of the reasons that my Mom, My Sisters and I love this night so much is that we join our points together to make sure we get stuff. The bidding gets crazy (sometimes we bid against each other...just because it's fun). Although, it was not fun that Anjeanette bid against me for the salsa. I called it first! ;( Neither of us got it, so we'll be ok. ;)

Rebecca