DesignsandEvents: A January Snow Globe--Kind of~

Hi all! How is January going for you? Mine has been going pretty well but busy with all sorts of things. I am finally able to get back to blogging. Today I am sharing somewhat of a transitional craft. Transitional seems to be the word of the month for me :). I've done transitional decorating already this month with more to come, as a matter of fact, and today I am doing transitional crafting.

I have always loved magazines and have the reputation of saving quite a few. In looking through my old Christmas magazines this fall I found two craft ideas that I decided to combine. I ended up with this snow globe-looking decoration. The reason I say it is "kind of" a snow globe is because you really shouldn't shake it up. It is not sturdy enough for that but, that is exactly what my daughter, Amanda, did when I gave one to her on Christmas Eve! It lived through the ordeal but never really looked the same afterward.

Ok, so here is the list of supplies for this craft:

(3) Single-colored Christmas balls in dark blue or any color of your choice

Paint Brushes

White Craft Paint

Elmer's Glue

Craft Glitter

Mason-type Jar-Mine came from the Dollar Store

White Ribbon in 5/8" Width

Epsom Salts

Toothpicks

To start, you will need to paint the "snow-covered ground" on the ornament. To do so, paint approximate 1/3 of the bottom of the ornament with white paint using a paint brush about 5/8" wide. Paint the first coat and let dry. When dry, paint a second coat.

While the second coat is still wet, roll the bottom of the ornament in the craft glitter. I did this to eliminate having to add another step of adding glue and then rolling the ornament in the glitter. It worked pretty well except there was a lot of glitter on the bottom of the ball. I ended up rubbing some of the glitter off after it dried because I thought it was glitter-overload for January. If it had still been December I think that amount of glitter would have been fine.

Next I painted "trees" on the ornaments. I divided the ball in thirds and painted a cluster of trees in each one-third quadrant. I also added "stars" in the sky. This step requires only one coat of paint. I was going to make the trees Birch trees using gray paint but decided against that idea since I am not that great of an artist and I also thought it might change the whole look in a way I would not like.

On one of the ornaments I placed the moon in the sky, just for a different effect for one of the ornaments.

Next, I placed a tab of Elmer's Glue on a disposable paper plate. With a toothpick which had been dipped into the glue I started to add glue to little sections of the ornament and then immediately sprinkled some glitter using my fingers onto the freshly applied glue. I "glittered" some of the stars and portions of the trees trying to add just enough glitter to give the ball a little sparkle but, not too much to overpower the whole look.

I glittered the moon too~

My intention was to create a winter's evening scene with the three ornaments together.

The next step would incorporate the second idea I found in one of my old magazines. I took a covered jar ↓ that I had purchased from the Dollar Store and...

punched two holes in the top of the jar. The holes are about 3/4" apart.

Next, I took a piece of ribbon approximately 20-24" long and threaded one end through the top of the jar down to the underneath of the lid. Next I tied a loose knot on the top of the lid. Continuing from where the knot was tied, leave enough ribbon length to make a loop at the top of the jar. I would guess the measurement to be 1 1/4- 1 1/2" long. Tie another loose knot there and thread the other end of the ribbon into the hole going to the underside of the lid as you did in the first hole.

I am not going to kid you, this next step is kind of a pain-in-the-neck. You will now have the two ends of the ribbon hanging down from the lid. At this point you will take the ornament, thread the ribbon through the wire loop that usually holds the hanger and tie another knot creating two ribbon tags on either side of the ornament. See photo below~

The tricky part is finding the right length from which to hang the ornament. You will see in a minute why this is important.

Next, you will take epsom salts and pour them into the bottom of the jar creating a "snow" layer.

The difficulty comes when you need to make the snow layer deep enough to look credible but not so deep that the ornament does not "float" in the jar. You also want to make sure the ornament is not so high in the jar that you can't see all the pretty artwork you have done :). This might take a few tries before you get it just right...or just to the point where you can live with it :).

Here was my final product. I originally was going to place them on a table in a row but, I ended up liking the different level look.

When I made these globes earlier during the holiday season, I found some really pretty pre-made Christmas ornaments and used them for this craft. I have to say, that way was much easier. I also, however, painted some solid green balls in a similar way to the ones above but, I added a red cardinal to the trees. I kept the scenery more winter-like for these January globes. I think January is probably the last month you could make this "snow globes" but maybe some kind of variation could be made for Valentine's Day, as well. I'll have to think about that one :).

Enjoy!

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