Snow Globes From Scratch

     I have had this little craft up my sleeve for such a long time maybe even since last year- suddenly DIY snow globes are everywhere you look- this is the hot craft of 2012! At any rate I knew the Littles would have a great time designing their own and so we collected the materials over the weekend and got down to brass tacks. What you will need is a jar- we used plastic containers for the Littles and I used an old jam jar- Mason jars work great as well- really any jar with a lid! You will also need some faux trees, plasticine, glitter, glycerin, tiny animals, epoxy or hot glue and water.

    Start off by gluing down your critters to the lid- we got ours from Collage Collage for only a few cents a piece and glued them down with hot glue- I used the glue gun and the Littles just stuck their animals down in place. You can also use epoxy but once again I just used what we have on hand- plus epoxy stinks.

    Once you have your animals (or dinosaurs) in place glue your tree firmly down and any other decorations you might want. Cover up the bottom of the jar with the plasticine- this is to cover any extra glue as well as the ugly lid plus I think it sort of looks like the ground.

   Fill the jar almost to the top with water; add in a pinch of glitter and a dash of glycerin to keep the glitter from falling too quickly. Be a bit judicious with the glitter- we learned that if you add too much  it turns into a blizzard and you will not be able to see the scene that you so carefully set. Screw on the lid tightly being careful not to dislodge the figurines - flip over to watch the magic!

   As you can tell from our wintery wonderlands these snow globes are limited only by your imagination- try to find plastic or ceramic figurines and tree foliage as metal ones are prone to rust. This was a very easy little project that took maybe an hour but has provided hours of entertainment!

P.S. If you don't feel quite up to the challenge of making your own snow globe from scratch
Collage Collage has some really cute- waterless snow globe kits for only $18- these would make a great gift for any crafty toddler or novice crafter!