Welcome to Day 1 of 12 Days of Handmade Christmas! Today’s gift idea is perfect for a hot drink lover – we’re going to make a painted jar and fill it with your favourite (or homemade!) hot chocolate, apple cider, tea, coffee – whatever you want to put in it!

Age Range – 4 and up

Time Required – 1 to 2 days (for the paint to dry!)

Skills – Need to be able to pour, get a bit messy, and have patience :D

Supplies:

  • 1 jar, pint size or smaller (either a mason jar or one from the dollar store)
  • acrylic or folk art paint (Michaels, Walmart, or again, the dollar store)
  • container to put your paint in
  • water
  • modge podge (or 2 parts glue, 1 part water)
  • design cut out of your choosing (to put on the outside of the jar)
  • hot drink mix
  • small plastic bags (for the drink mix)

Step 1

To start, pour the paint colour of your choice into a plastic container.

Add a bit of water to the paint – you want it to pour easily into and around the inside of the jar.

Step 2

Pour your paint into the jar. You’ll need a good amount to cover around, but not too much or you’ll be spending most of the time waiting for it to drip out.

Step 3

Roll the jar.
Oh the concentration on his face is hilarious!
Roll….roll….tip and roll….and roll some more. Keep rolling until the whole inside of the jar is covered.

Step 4

Pour out the excess paint back into your plastic container. Here is where you may lose the kids for a bit. The boys did all right though, we hadn’t poured too much paint into the jars. Once the paint is poured out, wipe the edges wherever paint has dripped, and stand or lay down to dry.
You may need to check them every so often to check if there is a lot of extra paint in the bottom. If so, just roll again or let it drip out.

Step 5 

After the paint is dry (which may take 1-2 days!), pick your design to decoupage on the outside of the jar. My friend cut out nativity silhouettes with her Silhouette for our co-op group, and there were some left over, so we just used those. If you do not have a Silhouette, or similar cutter, you can use scissors, or a craft knife. I highly recommend getting one! I purchased just a basic one for less than $10 with a 40% off coupon at Michaels, then found the tiny Designer series one at Walmart for $6 on clearance! So they’re a reasonable price, and totally worth it.

Step 6

Paint the outside of the jar with the modge podge. (this is the part where I forgot to take pictures – oops!) Place your selected design on top, then decoupage over top again. This should dry in about an hour or two.

Step 7

Measure out your hot drink mix(if you want to go homemade, this recipe is a great one, and contains none of the dairy creamer!). Place the bag into your jar. You can either leave the lid off, or put the lid on, depending on how you want it to look. 

Step 8

Tie a ribbon and a chocolate dipped spoon around your jar, add a gift tag, and PRESTO!
You have a beautiful gift for the hot drink lover. Of course, you can put any number of things into these jars – candy, cookie mix, potpourri – just make sure whatever you put inside is in a plastic bag first!

 

I hope you enjoyed this first gift. Come back on Friday for another great idea!