Sharpie Snowflake Block

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Ahhh Sharpies. One of my favorite office supplies ever! I have loved creating with Sharpies for years on school projects, posters, and especially in crafting. I love how Sharpies come in every color imaginable, and love seeing all the different project ideas out there. I'm excited to share my newest piece of holiday decor using Sharpies and hope you love it as much as I do!

Supplies:

Glass Block - You can find these at craft stores or places like Home Depot. The difference is ones from craft stores are around $6-10, and usually have a cutout where you can add a light or string of lights inside the block. The ones from Home Depot are about $5 each, but don't have a cutout. Either kind works great, it just depends on if you want to add a light inside or not.

Metallic Sharpies - Found at Staples for around $3.35 on sale

Vinyl

Snowflake Stencil or Vinyl Cutter with Snowflake Shape

Cut out a snowflake out of vinyl (any color or patterned vinyl will work great - you will be throwing it away when you're done with the project). I used a snowflake design from the Cricut® Close To My Heart® Artiste Cartridge. The snowflake measures about 4.5" square.

Mark the center of the block with a pencil, or use a Sharpie if the center is open (like my design). Place the vinyl snowflake on the block, and press all the edges well to make sure you don't have any air bubbles.

Turn on a movie and get out the Sharpies!! This technique is typically called "stippling", which just means you are creating a design using dots. This is super easy, but just takes some time. Starting at the edge of the vinyl, start tapping the silver Sharpie (not too hard), keeping the dots more concentrated at the edges, and spacing them out as you get farther away (think ombré).

Keep dotting, or stippling, around the entire snowflake. I also filled in the center of the snowflake with dots, keeping them concentrated around the edges and spacing them out a little more in the center. This really is much simpler than it sounds, and it goes by fast. Even older kids (who you trust with permanent markers) could do this project!!

Tip: If you make a mistake or don't like some part of the dots, don't panic!! Though Sharpies are known for being permanent, there's a special trick to removing Sharpie from glass - a dry erase marker!! Sounds crazy, I know, but I did mess up myself (took the dots out too far on the block and didn't like how it looked) and tried this. It worked fabulously. Simply color over any of the Sharpie'd dots you want gone with a dry erase marker (any color), and wipe off with a tissue or baby wipe. Voila, your Sharpie marks are gone!!

For a little more depth, I added a few dots of both gold and bronze Sharpie. I ended up putting too many dots on (I ended up liking it more silver with specks of gold and bronze instead), and kind of panicked. Do I start over? Leave it though I don't like it?!! Nope. Just cover some of the gold & bronze dots with silver Sharpie dots until it looked the way I wanted it. Easy enough!

Let the block dry for a little while (though the Sharpie dries fast), then carefully peel up the vinyl. Even though I pressed the vinyl on well, there were still a few spots that bled underneath. Again, don't worry if this happens. Your block isn't ruined. Get that dry erase marker back out and carefully color over the bleed spots and wipe away. Problem solved!!

The block is done! You can leave as-is (don't eat off of it!) or spray with a sealer if you're worried about the Sharpie coming off. If you have a block with a cutout, add a LED light (usually used for night lights) or a string of Christmas lights. If yours is a block like mine, just add to a shelf or mantel and enjoy!

I also love that a snowflake decoration can be left up all winter long!!

You can get the Sharpies right now at Staples. At $6 for multi-packs and $4 for metallic packs, you can get some for everyone on your list (or keep a whole collection for yourself)!!

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