On the day of completing them, you add water with some drops of baby oil to them (the more oil you add, the slower the things fall down when shaken) then you can drop in glitter. Use contact cement around the inside lids ridge and put on the bottle, closing tight. They stay on always. When you shake the bottle then set the bottles upside down and you'll see it snow onto the objects that you had glued into the lids top on the inside.
You can also add tiny shapes from craft foam like fish stars etc punched from hole punches. Make themes like under the sea, trees for Christmas, use popsicle sticks cut for wooden people draw on them first with markers, put plastic beaded jewelry inside to move around when shook up. Or put a wooden stick in the center lid and add rings (toy kind) inside floating around to see if they can land them on the stick. They are real fun to play with. And the kids can even paint the outside with their names, etc., curled up tiny pieces of ribbon work good too for floating around inside.
By Julie
By Dolly
By Ann
By Jess
Take a string of mini Christmas lights and stick one light into each jar and secure with glue (test it first if using a glue gun),then, stuff fire proof angel hair in around the lights to hide the wire. If you wish, glue the bottom row of the tree on a narrow piece of wood (paint stick), and then set that on top of a short narrow cap or something to be the tree holder. I saw this at work and it was just beautiful with the lights on!
By Wanda
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have a 9 month old baby girl and plenty of baby food jars. They are just to cute to throw away. In a month, I am having about 10 girlfriends over for an evening of fun. I would like to use the jars to make individual gifts for all the girls. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
This was a children's Bible school project and turned out well: Tear pieces of different colored tissue paper in small strips. Dip into tacky glue (or any glue that dries clear) and place on the outside of the jar. When it dries, put a small candle inside and it will look like stained glass. Other decorations could also be added, such as beads, bits of ribbon, etc.
On a smaller scale, this would work fine.
TREASURE HUNT JAR
1 clean plastic jar with lid
(such as a peanut butter jar)
Finch bird seed
Fill the jar half full of bird seed. Add whatever small items you can find, such as a screw, jingle bell, rubber band, piece of macaroni, button, needle, bead, screw, paper clip, penny, marble, pop tab, etc. Put 20 items in the jar. Fill with bird seed, leaving a space at the top for the seed to move around. To prevent people from opening the lid, you can add some glue to the threads of the lid, then screw it onto the jar. Keep a list of the items you put into the jar because it's almost guaranteed that the person you give it to will not find them all!
Add the following poem:
Some pirates got it all mixed up
And did things wrong way 'round.
They put the treasure in a bottle
And buried the map in the ground!
Their treasure was some silly stuff
Like needles, screws and beads.
Then dear old Polly Parrot
Added all her extra seeds!
So find the twenty items here
No two are quite the same.
Don't open up the bottle though
As that would break the game!
*******KITCHEN BITES*********
January 4, 2001
A Recipe Goldmine Publication
Copyright © 2000-2001 - Lisa Johnson
Hi Pepsi:
Why don't you just get a bunch of odds and ends of craft stuff, plenty of glue and let everybody decorate their own jars at the party.It sounds like a blast. Little paper copies of pix would be cute on them too. I have one of those eyeball cameras on my computer, if you do you could take pictures of your guests and if you can figure out how to get them small enough they could glue them on the jars.
- Linne
Get some mini-figurines, cool buttons or other cute things that you like. Glue to the inside of the lid. Fill the jar with water and glitter, add the lid and you have mini-snowglobes!
You could turn the baby food jars into votives. Purchase colored, scented votive candles and matching ribbon. You can even paint the jars with enamel paint.
- Julie
Dear Pepsi
If your friends have children aswell this project will be a great one for them. Make them into little shakes. Fill them with coloured rice. Colour the rice with food colouring (for the best effect encorage different colours to be used). Fill the jar a quarter to half full with rice then put cylicone or hot glue (use the cooler setting to prevent breaking the jar) on the top of the jar towards the inside then put the lid on it. If any residue does manage tomake its way to the outside of the lid just wipe it off before it hardens. These make great raddles and are easy to clean just through it in the dishwater when washing the dishes. If the jar does get oppened everything inside is completely safe to eat.
OR
For an adult craft.
Fill the jars with layers of colored sand or aquarium gravel of different colors. You can create various designs in the sand using a toothpick and gentlely drag the toothpick along the side of the jar starting from the bottom working your way up.
The science teacher at our church grammar school was thrilled to have donated baby food jars. The teacher showed the students how to fill the jars with potting soil and how to grow seeds.
I have spray painted the tops of baby food jars various colors (silver/gold/red/green for Christmas); pink/blue/yellow for birthdays). I keep a supply on hand in various colors. I also glue little items on top of the lid such as tiny silk flowers, buttons, seashells, charms, coins. Add a few shreds of pretty ribbon or shredded papers - color coordinate. Excellent way to give a pretty pair of earrings, money $$ - wrap/fold up green bills or use quarters, half dollars. A (soft) bracelet will fit in the jar. IOUs on slips of paper can be placed in the jar: IOU to wash the dog/IOU a game of checkers/IOU to a movie/etc etc. Remember there are tiny baby food jars and there are the larger ones too. Never turn down the opportunity to be given some free baby food jars.
Christmas Tree
Get a 3' by 5' piece of wood, 15 baby food jars, christmas lights and tintsle. Glue the baby food jars to the wood in a triangle shape (5 jars on the wood, than 4 on top of them, then 3, then two, then one). Glue guns work best. In the lids of the jars hammer a hole and put just the lights of the christmas lights in the hole. Put the tintsle in the jars and put the lids on the jars and decorate any way you like. That is your baby food Christmas Tree. Merry X-mas!
I found this recipe for Cinnamon Honey Butter that my mother made and distributed to her friends in baby food jars. She got rave reviews.
2 sticks Butter and 2 sticks Margerine, both soft
Mix at medium speed
Slowly add the following:
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup Honey
1 tsp. vanilla
Whip until well blended
Refrigerate before using
I used baby food jars for baby shower thank you favors. I put candy inside the jars and then decorated the jars with blue or pink mesh, tied ribbon around the mouth of the jar and tied little pacifiers (the kind in the craft stores ) to the ribbon. I attached a little thank you note from "mom and baby" to them. Everyone got a kick out of them!
I used baby food jars for baby shower thank you favors. I put candy inside the jars and then decorated the jars with blue or pink mesh, tied ribbon around the mouth of the jar and tied little pacifiers (the kind in the craft stores ) to the ribbon. I attached a little thank you note from "mom and baby" to them. Everyone got a kick out of them!
Don't forget to add glycerine to the snowball jars so the "snow" will "float" a little slower.
I am looking for ideas for using empty baby food jars for Christmas crafts.
Nancy from Pryor, OK
When I was a kid we used to make snowglobes out of baby food jars. You glue an ornament (water-friendly) to the jar lid then fill the jar with water. You can add glitter to the water or food coloring. Close the jar very tightly and if nessessary, hot glue around jar edge. If the metal lid bothers you, it can be painted to match. Tie a ribbon where the lid meets the jar and voila, homemade snowglobe. Hope this helps:)
Smear a thin layer of ModgePodge on the glass and stick on (slightly overlapping) small pieces of colored tissue paper. When you've covered the jar, put a thin layer of ModgePodge over all the tissue and let it dry. Put a tea light candle in the jar and you'll have a "stained glass" candle holder.
I saw Carol Duvall make a tree similar to this on TV several years ago:
crafts.kaboose.com/
You could also do mini Snow Globes in them.
crafts.kaboose.com/
When I was in kindergarten (many years ago), we made crafts out of baby food glass jars for our mothers for Christmas. We stacked about 3 jars, (2 with tops together), and glued them together. Before gluing, we filled the jars with plastic mistletoe or some other sort of greenery, and some shiny little metal (I think) balls, about the size of cranberries, of assorted colors that were inserted loose in with the greenery.
The stack of 3 jars was glued onto a teacup saucer plate, as the top of the end jar fit perfectly in the center ring of the saucer. Finally some red ribbon was tied around the outside. It was unique, cheap, and easy. My mother saved it for a long time, but I don't think she has it anymore.
jelly jar deodorizers
2 cups liquid potpourri
4 packets knox gelatin (plain unflavored)
Jelly jars, lids and rings
Plastic wrap
Decorations (i.e. lace, ribbons, fabric, etc.)
Bring 1 cup liquid potpourri to boil in a non-reactive saucepan. Do not use your good pans!
Add packets of knox gelatin and stir to dissolve.
Add 1 cup of liquid potpourri that is at room temperature and stir.
Pour into jelly jars, cover with plastic wrap and put into refrigerator to firm.
After they have congealed, add lids, rings and any decorations.
These will last several months when uncapped. Just set in a room and let them do their magic
Here's a picture of the baby food jar "Christmas tree" my daughter made for my friends 80th birthday.
Materials:
17 Baby Food Jars
1 35 light string of small lights
Car Mirror Glue
Glitter Garland
Instructions:
Drill a hole in the tops of the lids.
Paint them black & let dry.
Glue the jars together in a tree form. (17 jars) (She first used hot glue, didn't work well. We also tried super glue, that was a disaster.) USE CAR MIRROR GLUE.
Cut 2-3 inches of glitter garland for each jar and place in the jars.
Use a 35 light string. Put 3 lights in the top jar, in through the hole of the lids, put 2 lights in the rest of the lids and tape with black electrical tape, to hold them in.
Plug in and enjoy. I still have the one my daughter made over 15 years.
Since I now have a grandchild, throwing away the baby food jars is hard. I have used them for inside drawers putting in small items, and have used them to keep things like nails, etc., but now I am looking for crafty ideas to do with them. Ideas?
I saw an ornament at a craft fair that was made out of baby juice jars that looked like they were melted a little and pressed together. Before they melted and pressed it together, they had placed a picture of a snowman or whatever on the inside.
Does anyone know how to melt the jars and press them flat like that?
