I am so excited that Mandy has provided the opportunity to come and share some holiday fun with you. I kind of worried a little bit about what I could show. I wanted it to be just right, you know. Then, Santa stepped in and dropped this off on my porch.
Wasn’t that nice of him?
Hello, Sugar Bee friends! My name is Sarah. I am visiting from a happy little place called Creating Sarah.
I am a busy wife and mother and I keep my blog to help me stay sane, keep my creative juices flowing, and also to help me have an excuse to get all my piled up projects done.
I love the holiday season. Everything about it makes me happy. But, I tend to overwhelm myself with all of the things I want to do. Santa knows this about me, and I think that is why he gave me that sweet little jar. This is what was inside:
Starting with the beginning of November (because I believe Thanksgiving and Christmas go together beautifully), there is an activity for each day. All we have to do is pull out the paper in the morning and follow the directions!
Like I said, Santa made mine, but if I were him, this is how I would have made it.
First, I would gather the following:
- An unused glass jar.
- Red spray paint.
- Red Extreme Glitter paint (I’ll show you a picture)
- A sheet of black felt
- A sheet of white felt.
- White tinsel pom poms
- Various holiday scrapbook papers (I needed 8 pages, but it will depend on how big your jar is)
- Hot glue gun and sticks
- Cardstock
- Craft glue (like Tacky glue or Elmer’s or the like)
- Lots and lots of holiday activity ideas
First, find a pretty glass jar…
preferably one that has been waiting a while for a purpose.
Before doing anything with it, turn it on its side and trace a line around it.
This will help you figure out how big the papers that go inside need to be. Set that aside.
(You can cut it out first if you want to, but that creates a smaller piece that is easier to lose. I would cut mine out right before I needed it…because I lose things.)
Now prep the glass surface for spray painting by roughening it up with sand paper.
That is, if you can stand it. The sound kind of drives me up the wall! *Chills*
Before painting with your main color (red) you should use a primer…
Unless you use this.
It does it all at once!
Spray paint the jar.
I am still figuring out a good technique for the spray painting. Mine still had some drips, but it turned out okay.
I would give it 2 coats and, um, doesn’t it already look so festive!?
Yeah. But now, you get to add some magic.
Grab some of this super extremely glittery paint and paint it all over the jar.
Two coats can’t hurt here either. The more glitter the better, right?
The only problem is the glitter didn’t show up in the pictures. But, trust me, it is sparkly.
Once that is all dry, go and get your felt.
For the belt, I would cut 2 strips of the black, 1 1/2 inches wide.
I would use 2 because one wouldn’t fit around the jar.
I would line them up so that the ends meet in the middles of both long sides, like this:
I would hot glue those babies to the jar.
For the belt buckle, I would cut a 2 x 2 inch square from the white felt.
Fold that in half, draw a half-inch rectangle in the middle, cut that out (while the square is still folded)…
and open it up!
I would hot glue that to the front of the jar, over the belt.
Then I might giggle a little because that looks so stinkin’ cute!
Gather up some of these little white tinsel pom poms.
They look like little magic snow balls.
Using hot glue again, I would stick them around the top of the jar.
Then giggle, maybe squeal, some more…and show my husband, who isn’t nearly as excited as I am.
Now it is time to go back to that outline of the jar you traced out earlier and didn’t lose.
Cut it out and fold it in half to make sure it is symmetrical. Trim it if it isn’t.
Use this as a template to make sure it fits.
Trim the edges if they are too big. You don’t want it to be too snug.
Gather up some festive paper and, as you are preparing to trace the template onto the final paper, you might remember that you have a Silhouette. If you do, use that to cut out the paper.
I would make my papers 5.5 inches x 2 inches (with pretty rounded corners) to fit my jar. Your measurements will be different than mine since you are using a different jar.
If you don’t have a Silhouette or Cricut, it wouldn’t be difficult to cut the papers yourself, just a little more time consuming. But, if you put on a good movie, that might make it more fun.
Now it is time to figure out how many activities you need and make a list (check it twice! hehe).
There are so many ideas on the internet. I’ve been pinning them for a while if you want to check that out.
You can also come visit me over the month of December where I will be posting some of our activities. And, you can e-mail me at [email protected] if you would like a copy of our list.
But, make sure you incorporate some of your own traditions and personalize it to your family.
Print your activities out on cardstock, cut them out, and glue them (Elmer’s glue!) to the pretty paper.
That’s that!
Fill the jar with the fun and enjoy spending every day from now until Christmas celebrating with your family!
Thank you again for letting me visit. I’ve had a lot of fun today!
I’d love to see you over at Creating Sarah. You might like my dot-to-dot quiet book page, my Whipped potatoes, or my Monster Wreath.
And, of course, I’ll be showing off all of our Santa Advent Jar activities!
I’ll see you soon! Happy Holidays!!!
Thanks for checking out this post from www.SugarBeeCrafts.com – – click on over to read it in its entirety – you’ll love it!
Great idea Sarah!!! I’m inspired!!!
Aimee @ ItsOverflowing.com
Thank you, again! It’s so exciting to see my project on such a beautiful blog!
I absolutely love this idea and might try it sometime. Thank you for sharing Sarah!!
<3 Jenn
jenn-mcclure.blogspot.com
This was featured today over at Sassy Sites! Come by and check it out!!
XOXO! marni