Guest Post: DIY Mason Jar Snow Globes

Happy Holidays and welcome to day 9 of our Holiday Hoopla here at the Crafting Journals! I'm Shane Hershey and I am so happy to be a guest blogger here at the Crafting Journals. I've had the pleasure of working with each of these artistically talented women for several years and love sharing ideas with each of them as we craft our way through the seasons. I have been in the craft industry for more than a decade and have been personally crafting for as long as I can remember. Currently I have the pleasure of being a Creative Content consultant which allows me the opportunity to work and play with amazing products each week.

For me crafting has always been a release and an opportunity to express my thoughts, both artistically and linguistically. There are times where I can spend hours creating a single scrapbook layout, days laboring over a mixed media canvas project, or months trying to get the wording just right on a new poem. However, as our calendars fill up quickly and schedules begin to overwhelm our days there isn't always as much time to craft as we would like. Fear not! There is no reason that we need to sacrifice our creative selves in the process.

I have three rules for myself when crafting to make sure that I maintain a steady outlet of crafty goodness:

1. Projects have to be fun! Whatever we are working on needs to inspire us and it needs to make us smile. If a project doesn't do that, it will notoriously end up on the "half-finished" project shelf, waiting to be deconstructed for spare parts.

2. Projects have to be simple! Less is more! I can't count the number of times that I have heard family and friends lament the fact that they don't craft because they think the act of creating needs to be a labor intensive effort, or can't craft because they don't have the time to devote to learning how to make something. That is when I point out the store bought wreath that they purchased and added their own ornaments or ribbon to it. Or the store bought blank cards to which they added a few embellishments.

....and finally, but certainly not least:

3. Projects need to be practical! The last thing that we want is for something that we put our heart and soul into creating to end up in a shoe box in the closet or on the table of the next garage sale. We want to make things that will stand the test of time, or serve a practical purpose in our daily lives, whether it be a party favor, a holiday decoration, or a decorated picture frame.

That's why I was so excited when I stumbled across the inspiration for today's DIY Snow Globe project. It was something I have always been mesmerized by since I was a child watching the snow settle back to the bottom before vigorously shaking it up again. As I started crafting I realized how simple and fast it was to make. Aside from drying time, it was less than half an hour, and now I have a beautiful new Christmas decoration for my holiday decor!

So let's get started...

What you will need:

• A mason jar or any jar with a screw on lid
• E-6000 Adhesive
• Mini Christmas Ornaments or other water safe decoration
• Rhinestones
• Glitter
• Little B LLC Winter Snowflakes paper tape and Mini dimensional stickers.*(see disclosure below)
• Water

Step One: Glue the Christmas ornaments together using E-6000. Once dry, glue them to the underside of the jar lid. (Tip: I also glued the two lid pieces together to create a watertight seal)

Step Two: Glue rhinestones onto the ornaments. Let dry. (Tip: When choosing a decoration for the inside of your snow globe, make sure that it fits the jar nicely without being too big or too small.)

Step Three: Add water and glitter to your mason jar (Tip: Start with less water than you think due to displacement when adding your ornaments. For the glitter, you can always add more if you want more sparkle later on.) Once you are satisfied, add E-6000 around the rim and screw on tightly. Allow to dry before going onto the next step.

Step Four: Embellish your mason jar. (Tip: Remember the rule - less is more! Let your ornament be the star of the project and the embellishments the supporting cast!)

Finally sit back and let it snow...let it snow...let it snow!

Hope you enjoy making these, and feel free to follow Little B LLC on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

(*Embellishments were provided by Little B LLC)