Easy Christmas Gifts
Always looking for something which might look homemade, but actually be easy to create, I turned to the Christmas ideas articles with much anticipation. I am about as crafty as my left shoe, but I enjoy pretending so I thought this might just be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the first craft I encountered was a light bulb painted to look like a snowman. The picture was darling but the actual creation seemed, to me, not much more difficult than climbing Mt. Everest and bringing home snowballs to make the thing take on that “real” feeling. Okay, so that’s out of my league. Perhaps I’ll just let you know what I did last year and you can decide for yourself if it is easy enough.
Go to the store and purchase some cheap glass jars with lids. Places like Dollar General, K Mart, and dollar stores sell these pretty cheap. Find the craft center of a store you like and purchase my favorite of all craft items: Mod Podge . You will also need a sponge bush (one of those sticks with a gray sponge on the end). So far you should have spent about $8 (but the Mod Podge can be used for several items so if you take that out of the equation you have only spent $ 2-3). You will also need colored paper, wrapping paper, napkins, pictures or material with a cute design on it-note the OR-you will not need all of these, just one of them.
Cut out the design from whatever medium you chose-it can be as big or small as you want but it needs to fit on the outside of the glass jar. Spread Mod Podge on the jar with the brush. It will appear white but ignore this because it will dry completely clear. Place your cut out on the Mod Podge and brush a second coat over the whole thing. Let it dry for a few minutes and brush on a third coat. When the third coat is dry you can embellish the now beautiful Christmas container with glitter paint (also at the hobby store-buy some when you pick out your paper or material so they match) around the edges of your design. I went ahead and put Mod Podge even on the parts of the glass which did not contain design just so the whole thing would have the same sheen.
You can fill them with whatever treat you want-candy is good with most people but I made a mix which everybody seemed to like quite a bit. I used honey roasted peanuts, milk chocolate chips, cashews, sunflowers and red and green M and Ms, but you could mix and match whatever sounds good to you. Fill the jar (or jars if you, like me, have to make more than one gift for colleagues and friends) with the mix, tie a ribbon around the neck and slip them onto your co-workers’ desks.
The only warning about this project is that Mod Podge can become a bit addictive. I’ve used the same technique for Sunday school candle holders, boxes for birthday gifts, even my son’s Valentine’s Day box for school. You do run the risk of being told by your children that you are Mod Podge fool, but I suppose there are worse things you could be-like giftless at the office when everyone else is busy exchanging their latest creation.
