This is a super-fun way to decorate your own containers for your back-to-school swag! We love using recycled mason jars, but any glass or plastic jar could work. Plastic peanut butter jars are great for little ones who are more prone to dropping fragile things. There are so many ways to decorate these cool jars ! We did three with three very different mediums and techniques.
Supplies needed:
- Mason jars or plastic jars
- Newspaper to protect your area
- Smock or old clothes to craft in
- Foam brushes
- Modpodge
- Nontoxic but permanent paint pens
- Craft feathers
- Pom poms
- Googly eyes
- Model Magic air dry clay
- Pictures printed on photo paper
Steps:
1) Peel off any labels; wash and dry your mason jars. Protect your surfaces with newspaper, as we are working with some materials that can stain ( you can skip the paint pens if you want washable materials only), and put on old clothes to prevent staining some of your favorites!
2) For the Decoupage Photo Jar:
We love this medium! Print out two small photos on white computer paper. Depending on how large your jar is, print the photos so they will be big enough to cover one side without hanging off the edges of the jar. Cut the photo out and make sure it will fit. Next, use your foam brush and Mod Podge, put a little on your brush and spread it on the jar where you want to stick the photo. Then, put some more glue on your brush and coat the picture with glue, applying very light pressure and smoothing out any wrinkles. Let dry. Next, use school glue or tacky glue and frame your photos with feathers!
3) For the Googly-Eyed Monster:
Using any air-dry clay (we love Model Magic), cover the lid of the jar without getting any clay on the inside to prevent the lid from opening and closing. While the glue is still wet, stick googly eyes into the clay, pressing hard enough to let them stick in but without them getting covered up. Using nontoxic but permanent paint pens, draw fuzzy monster shapes on the jar. We like to use the method of drawing repeated letter Xs on top of each other until it looks like a fuzzy ball. Using school glue or tacky glue, stick eyes on the actual glass jar on top of the silly monster drawings.
4) For the Pom Pom Jar:
Write fun school words in paint pens–like “read,” “write,” “sing,” etc.– on the jar. then in places that don’t have the words on it use tacky glue or school glue to glue on the pom poms! Depending on how big you might need to keep your hand on The pom pom for a few minutes to set the glue.
Fill with supplies and display your “back-to-school swag” in style!
Lindsey Peers is the owner of the Craft Studio. To learn more about the Craft Studio, visit craftstudionyc.com!
