Snowflake in a jar

posted in: Crafty Lady | 5

Today this post was featured by Lisa at Insignificant at Best.  Go check her out.  Thank you Lisa!!!

insignificant at best
I seem to have found myself with an abundance of pickle jars and jelly jars.  Pickle jars because I asked someone at church to save them for me so I could a little crafty craft and jelly jars because my mom makes a lot of jelly and pickles in the summer and we are never in a shortage of the afore-mentioned.  Were she a pioneer way back in pioneering days her family would have survived the winter months on pickles, pickled squash and plum jelly…if the “fever” didn’t get them first.

Anyhoo – this craft was inspired by my jack-o-lantern in a jar and recent need to make an assortment of paper snowflakes.  ‘Tis the season for delivering homemade chex mix to your neighbors and hauling out the enormous amount of holiday decor one has amassed over the years.  Here’s one more thing to add to your collection…snowflake jars.

Should you feel so inclined, you will need…

Clean pickle jars or jelly jars
Paper snowflakes (see my tutorial on how to create your own paper winter wonderland)
Glue (elmers or mod podge)
Acrylic paint (I used Metallic Pearl White by Folk Art)
Parchment paper
Glitter
Glitter spray
Clear sealer spray

I started with several sizes of paper snowflakes.  I painted them Metallic Pearl White and quickly gave them a generous dusting of glitter.  Transfer them to a sheet of parchment paper to dry.  I’ve found that they won’t stick to the parchment paper as much as the newspaper.  If you let them dry too long on the newspaper and then try to move them you end up with this…

It doesn’t take long to paint and glitterfy a dozen or so and you have a beautiful collection of snowflakes that would be pretty enough to hang in the window, on your tree or from your chandelier.  But today we’re going to glue them to jars.

After a couple of hours they will be ready for glue.  I used a sponge brush to apply mod podge to the back then transfer them to the jar.  Try not to let the glue get too smudged on the glass around the snowflake but don’t beat yourself up if you do.  If you discover that the glue has gotten out of hand on the jar then just embrace it and apply a layer of glue to the entire jar.  Like so…

When it dries it will have a little bit of a watery-frosted look and we’ll cover up the brush marks with the glitter spray later.

With a little practice I got better at not getting the mod podge everywhere.  I let them sit overnight just to make sure everything was dry then gave them a healthy spray of glitter spray paint.  When choosing glitter spray paint choose one that won’t completely cover everything.  You want just a nice dusting of glitter.  Once that has dried (about an hour) spray with a clear sealer spray.

I put votive candles in mine and will display them as a centerpiece on the dining room table or the mantle or my kitchen bar.  These would be lovely presents with chex mix or candy in them.  A wide mouth jar would be a great container for your Christmas cookies.

How would you use your snowflake jar?

5 Responses

  1. Annie

    These are great inexpensive gifts, and even I could do them!

    I found your blog from SITS. And then lost about an hour reading your posts about Sensory Processing Disorder. My son has Asperger’s, so I was nodding my head through so much of what you said! I appreciate that you took the time to put it all together!

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