Add some Holiday Cheer to that old clear glass....

So if you're like me, then you probably have an entire cabinet full of clear glassware that despite it's great shapes and lines, it still fits in the "BLAH" category. Well cheer up, because I have a quick and very inexpensive way to transform your plain glass ware from this:

To This:

What you will need:

Clear glass

Mod Podge

Food Coloring

Water

Wax paper

Cookie baking sheet

First, cover your cookie baking sheet with a piece of wax paper and set to the side for later. In a bowl or cup that you will not be coloring, mix Mod Podge and Water and food coloring to desired. I have found that a 2:1 ratio seems to work best (e.i. 2 tablespoons of Mod Podge and 1 tablespoon of water.) I have also found that preparing this in an old tupperware bowl with a lid allows me to keep any left over mix to use later. Remember when adding your food coloring the simple principles we learned back in grade school.... that mixing white with a color will make it lighter. So when adding Duke blue food coloring to the white Mod Podge it will appear to be more like a Carolina blue or even a Panthers teal, but will finish like the jars in behind the green glass shown in the picture above. 

Once you have your mixture prepared, pour it into the glassware and slowly roll it around ensuring that you have covered the entire area. Now pour the excess mixture out and back into your mixing bowl. Flip your glassware upside down and place on the wax papered cookie sheet and let it continue to drain for at least an hour or two. This will help spread the mixture more evenly and help with bubbles. (Bubbles in the bottom of the finished are pretty much inevitable but you can control the size by time spent draining)

Heat your oven to 170 degrees (or the lowest setting your oven offers. Mine only goes to 200.) Once your glassware is done draining, place the cookie sheet in the oven for 15-25 min. (until a more dry appearance is  present, not completely dry but not wet either) and then flip it right side up on the sheet and bake for another 30 min or until completely dry.

Let the piece cool and you are finished.

The best thing about this is that if you are not happy with the color you can recoat to make it deeper or soak it in water over night and the water soluble Mod Podge will dissolve and wash right out. Which brings me to another point, this is not a good choice for glassware you are planning to use for fresh flowers.