Well, obviously this idea came from Pinterest. I'm sure you've seen all sorts of variations and mine is no different. Well, no, it is different...wait did that make sense at all?
I loved the idea of the water-less mason jar snow globes, but decided to give it my own twist by frosting the glass and creating little windows for viewing the scene inside.
Here's what I used to create my globes with. Depending on your chosen "scene," your materials may be different.
My intent was to use good ol' mason jars, but I found these bulbousy jars that I liked a little better -- it was like a jar and a globe got married and had a baby.
I did mock-ups of each globe -- woodland animals with different trees -- to make sure they would fit in the jar.
I used the sparkly white felt as a base for the scene to sit on, but it probably wasn't necessary. The inside of the lids were white, and with the snow, you really didn't notice it. But, hey, never hurts to do a little extra, yeah?
So, you glue down the felt piece to the lid, then you glue your animals and trees to the felt. Simple.
Aren't they cute just like this?
I tried to create some sense of scale when I paired the animals with the trees: the big tree with the rabbit and baby deer, and the less mature trees with the fox. My practical side gives me a need to make things more realistic I guess. Or maybe it's that proportion thing that was drilled into my head in design school.
I also took those little red seed beads and added berries to my trees. I mean, come on, red & green? A Christmas must!
So, here's how I did the frosted window. I wanted it to feel like you were taking a peek into a snowy scene in the forest, so I knew I wanted to frost the globes, but had to figure out the "window" part.
I found some small paper doilies for my "windows" -- which I thought would be perfect because they would give a little lacey edge to my windows. But they were a little too large, so I cut off some of the lace around the edge -- I just followed the pattern and let that tell me where to cut.
Because the jars bulged out a bit, I wouldn't be able to just lay the doily flat, so I cut a slit from the edge to the center {radius}, then overlapped the new edges to make a smaller circle. This created a slight cone-like shape, which helped conform better to the bulbous shape of the jar.
After I taped all my "windows" in place {two on each jar to see from the other side as well}, I spray painted the jars with frosted glass paint.
Now comes the snow filling. I can't honestly tell you what I used. Except that I know it was some kind of salt. I had inherited this glass container my mom had used to store her Splenda in, and it still had its contents. Only, it wasn't filled with Splenda the last time it was refilled. I know this because after adding a couple spoonfuls to my oatmeal one day, I quickly spit it out. By far the nastiest, saltiest oatmeal ever! So I know I used salt for my filling, but I don't cook enough to tell you what kind it was. Just that it was super light and fluffy and would be perfect for snow {since I wasn't cooking with it}.
So for filling I used a few spoonfuls of this light & fluffy salt, mixed with some silver and opalescent glitter.
Making sure the figures were completely stuck, I screwed the lids on the jars, and did the magic flip.
Obviously, there's no "snow" floating down like in your traditional snow globes, but seeing the snow settle on the trees and creatures like it really would is beautiful in its own right. Just magical.
Aren't they sweet?
I just loved these additions to our decor. The only thing missing was an owl. I'm on a mission for one this year!
Because the jars bulged out a bit, I wouldn't be able to just lay the doily flat, so I cut a slit from the edge to the center {radius}, then overlapped the new edges to make a smaller circle. This created a slight cone-like shape, which helped conform better to the bulbous shape of the jar.
After I taped all my "windows" in place {two on each jar to see from the other side as well}, I spray painted the jars with frosted glass paint.
Now comes the snow filling. I can't honestly tell you what I used. Except that I know it was some kind of salt. I had inherited this glass container my mom had used to store her Splenda in, and it still had its contents. Only, it wasn't filled with Splenda the last time it was refilled. I know this because after adding a couple spoonfuls to my oatmeal one day, I quickly spit it out. By far the nastiest, saltiest oatmeal ever! So I know I used salt for my filling, but I don't cook enough to tell you what kind it was. Just that it was super light and fluffy and would be perfect for snow {since I wasn't cooking with it}.
So for filling I used a few spoonfuls of this light & fluffy salt, mixed with some silver and opalescent glitter.
Making sure the figures were completely stuck, I screwed the lids on the jars, and did the magic flip.
Obviously, there's no "snow" floating down like in your traditional snow globes, but seeing the snow settle on the trees and creatures like it really would is beautiful in its own right. Just magical.
Aren't they sweet?
I just loved these additions to our decor. The only thing missing was an owl. I'm on a mission for one this year!
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