Better Than Anthropologie - Snow Globe Tutorial

gather some old canning or jelly jars

add a bit of glitter

some mini faux trees

maybe a mini deer

equals an easy peasy snow globe - for about $1

I had a fun idea to make snow globes this year...sans the water...and I used leftover Mason/Ball jars that I've had laying around the garage. Of course, I gave away most of them in a yard sale, which was NOT smart, but luckily I've been scrounging for more from friends. Hee hee.
Then, today I saw a photo in Country Living of cute Mason jar snow globes! Wow! I searched on the anthropologie.com website and couldn't find it forever...then I found them. And I have to say mine are WAY better! I even found little deer to put in mine, and beautiful glass glitter...the anthro ones were SO dull and guess how much they wanted? $25-38 each. Uh? No.

Anyway...here's a quick tutorial on how I made mine, although it's a pretty self-explanatory craft.

You will need:

Various sized Mason jars with the lids (clean as possible)
White felt
Glitter (I used a silver glass glitter)
Small trees from the craft store (you can stock up after Christmas for next year!)
Small animals from toy or craft store (or from your kids toy boxes)
Glue gun and/or regular glue
Small rocks or natural things from outside (such as pinecones, acorns, leaves, etc.)
Little sticks or rounds of wood
Note: I had all these items already, so only purchased the vintage glitter for $5 and the deer were 99 cents a packet which I got 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby. I picked up a enormous bag of little trees for $2 last year. So my jars are only costing me less than a dollar each.

I was also digging through the garage and found a giant gallon size pickle jar! A giant snow globe!

Directions:

-Make sure your jars are super clean and dry.

-Cut your white felt to the size of the lid insert, or maybe a bit smaller. Glue on with hot glue.

-You may glitter or paint your miniature trees. I chose to glitter them with vintage German glitter. I painted the glue on with a brush and then sprinkled with glitter. Let dry completely before attaching to lid.

-Arrange your mini items on the now felted lid. When you are satisfied with placement, you may then glue with hot glue to the felted lid. Be ready with glitter to sprinkle on the glue that oozes out, this hides the shiny hot glue when it dries. You can also glitter anything else you like. I added extra snowy looking glitter to the "snowy ground".

-After everything is secured and dry, you can test to see if your jar will fit over. Make sure to allow for this when you are gluing, as the jar is narrower at the base and gets wider, so if you can squeeze through the opening you'll have more room to spread out (like the tree branches etc.).

-You may choose to glue your lids on, but I don't in case I want to rearrange or add something.

To raise your trees or animals inside the jar, you might try using little pieces of wood or cotton balls to give them the height you're looking for. I tried a rock in one and it looked pretty good with the glitter!

Add a tag to the lid with twine and you have an adorable wintery gift for anyone on your list!

More themes for snow globes: items from nature like acorns and twigs, birds and nests, woodland creatures, farm animals, poinsettias, fairies, mushrooms, doll furniture, tea set on a little table, etc., plus just keep your eyes open throughout the year for miniature anything to put into your Christmas crafts.

P.S. It's really fun (in your spare time, yeah right!) to Google "snow globes" and see all the amazing ideas and tutorials there are on the web.