Mason Jar Snow Globes {tutorial}

The kids are still home on Winter Break so we've been doing a lot of art projects.

I knew this one would be a hit...and who cares if it's after Christmas? We've got snow outside so in my opinion, unless they have Santa Claus or say "Happy Birthday, Jesus", they're fare game for Winter decorations!

When I had gone into Anthropologie before Christmas, I had found these fantastic snow globes {below}

I forget now how much they were {$30?} but I knew I could make them for mere pennies

Here are the items you'll need:

mason jar

ornaments, etc

epoxy

glue gun

white glitter

glycerin

water

I found lots of ornaments on massive sale at Hobby Lobby & Joann's & let the kids choose which ones they wanted to use

Ezekiel wasn't interested in doing the project so I got to use his mason jar. I decided to place a tree at the bottom and glue a french horn to the lid so it'd hang down. Make sure you use an epoxy...I used Gorilla Glue so it will hold in liquid & through lots of shaking

Let the glue set for a few hours {or whatever your glue's label instructs you to do}

I have learned that a tablespoon {+ or - depending on the size of your jar} of glycerin mixed into the water helps the glitter to not stick together & float around better

Next comes the fun part...the glitter...and the water!

Don't freak out if your glitter clumps up like mine did {see above}, it'll come apart with shaking {especially with a lot of 3 & 4 year old shaking}

I experimented with a lot of items before I ended up with my finished product!

I love the fabric floating around the bottom

Once you like the way it looks & are ready to commit to how it looks {for example, we added more water after this photo was taken}, grab your Gorilla Glue again and squeeze it around the lid so it won't come open during the vigorous shaking. I plugged in my glue gun and ran a quick line around the outside of the lid as well, to make sure it was sealed really {reeeeeally} well.

In Anton's words: "I like it. Mom, I do like your idea. It was easy & fun!"

. . tip . .

if you use the green trees like we did, spray fix them first or the dye will come off and turn your liquid green {learn from our mistake...poor Laith has had to start over}!

TERESA