Mason Jar Snow Globe Nightlight

The Art of Doing Stuff recently posted THIS on their Facebook wall.  I loved the idea and thought it would be an awesome little holiday decoration for the kids rooms at night.  Last night while Kevin and I were at Menards looking for battery powered LED lights for his ice shanty(hmmmm....), I was suddenly reminded of said post and with little effort at all found the perfect lights and Christmas trees to complete the project (thirty precent off too)! It took less than 5 minutes to put together and cost just around $3.50 per jar.   

1.  You'll need epsom salt, a large wide mouth mason jar, a strand of battery powered lights, and little fake Christmas trees...you know the kind people put in snow villages.

2.  Wrap the lights around your fingers to create a contained ball of sorts.  I might advise not unwrapping the lights at all, although I didn't try this so can't promise its the best option here. I do however not recommend putting them in the bottom without any kind of order.  You will need to use half a bag of salt to bury the strands and your tree will end up not fitting in the jar.  Moving on.

3.  Place your large tree(s) on top of the strands of lights.

4.  Cover the lights with epsom salt and screw on the lid!

Now you have yourself a pretty little snow globe that you can put virtually anywhere in your home!  Enjoy!

A BALLin' Teachers Gift For The First Day of School!

As mentioned before, our little one is flying the coop next week and starting her first day of kindergarten.  I thought it would be nice to send her on the first day with a little something for her teacher.   It never hurts to reach out and say (scream) "PLEASE take care of my baby!!" with a mason jar full of pencils.  This was a super easy and inexpensive project. I found this amazing project at liluna.com.

What you will need: 

• A 16 oz mason jar 
• Chalkboard spray paint
• Spray paint color of your choice 
• Twine or ribbon 
• Tag printout 
• Pencils

Directions:

Place your mason jar upside down on a tarp, plastic bag, or something of the like that you're ok covering in spray paint.

Start by spraying the entire jar with the chalkboard spray paint.  You may need to coats.  Allow to dry. Usually doesn't take too long. 

After the chalkboard spray paint has dried, spray the mason jar with your colored spray paint.  I used a pastel pink, but the original poster used a yellow and it was awesome.  

This may take a few coats as well.  

After your jar has completely dried, lightly scratch off the paint covering the lettering on the jar.  You can use a tweezers, penny, your nail. You may want to do a little scratching elsewhere on the jar to further create that weathered look.

Print your tag by clicking HERE or on the tag itself.  You will need to scale it down.  I printed my tag at 40% and it was perfect.  I printed the tag on card stock to ensure durability.

Hole punch the corner of your tag and attach it to the jar with your twine or ribbon.  

Fill your jar with pencils.  Done.  Its cute, it's easy, its something that your child's teacher will actually use and hopefully it will help your child get the school year off on the right foot!