Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Capture a Scene in a Jar with #giveaway

Hello folks!

Amber Schamel here. I'm taking a break from deer processing and holiday food preparation, and boy does it feel good to sit down for a minute! I hope you are all looking forward to a warm and happy Thanksgiving.

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite holiday crafts. Although, I'm starting to expand into more than just Christmas with these. :) AND I will be giving away one of these Christmasy jars, so keep reading.

For this project, I use the jars from candles that I've burned. You can use regular jars or apothecary jars as well, but the candle jars are pretty, plus you get to enjoy the candle. Win all the way around, right?

First, pick out some candles you enjoy and burn them down. I chose a small candle from the Dollar Store.

Once they've burned out, clean out the remaining wax. I do this by placing the jar on the coffee pot burner and leaving it for a few minutes. The heat of the burner will melt the remaining wax, then you can pour it out. After that, I use dish soap to wipe out the jar and clean it.

Melting out the wax
Once you have your clean, pretty jar, you need to decide on the scene that will go inside. I've made several with different designs. You can find items at Hobby Lobby or a craft store sometimes even Walmart. Depending on how big your jar is, you can put in items from a Christmas village, animals, or miniature garden items. For this design, I'm using small deer and trees I found at Hobby Lobby.
Items from craft store

You will want to lay out your scene inside the jar to determine exactly how you want it before you begin. Once you know that, use Super Glue to fix the main pieces in place.
Fix the main pieces with Super Glue

After you have the main pieces glued in, I use a little paint brush to spread School Glue along the bottom of the jar and along any edges of the pieces that would naturally collect snow. Then I poor cheap salt in over the scene.

 Once your "snow" is in place, let it dry for a few hours. Then I Super Glue the lid on the jar so that it doesn't spill salt or upset the scene.
Add salt for snow.

Tada! Here's my finished Winter Wonderland scene in a jar. The one on the right is the one I'm giving away today.
Finished product!

Of course, there are lots of variations on this. You could create almost any scene you want to. You can use sand instead of salt. You can also get grass-like powder from the craft store if you wanted a Summer scene. The possibilities are endless. I love these because they are like capturing a moment and containing it in a jar.
A couple other scenes I've made.


Now for the giveaway! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think about the jars, or what your plans are for Thanksgiving and I'll throw your name in the jar to win the Winter Wonderland scene. Winner to be announced in the Weekly Windup.

*****

Author of over half a dozen books, Amber Schamel writes riveting stories that bring HIStory to life. She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".  She lives in Colorado and spends half her time volunteering in the Ozarks. Visit her online at www.AmberSchamel.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!

10 comments:

  1. Amber, you are so creative and your jars are just beautiful. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving. My family will be coming to my house and with three precious grandchildren, we will have a great day!

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    1. Hello Melanie!
      Thanks for stopping by this morning!
      Thank you, we are looking forward to tomorrow as well. We have some family coming over and they have small children, so I am coming up with a few games for them to play.
      Have a blessed day!

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  2. I like this. Have you seen the fairy gardens the Bristers do? They are really creative.

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    1. Hi Sharron!
      I have not seen those. They sound beautiful. I'll have to ask Rebekah about those. :D

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  3. Those are adorable! Very creative. We had our Thanksgiving a day early. I start decorating for Christmas tomorrow.

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  4. Amber, thank you for sharing. You are one talented young lady.I've seen these in the past but not recently and to make them yourself is even better. Have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving with loved ones. God bless.

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  5. Wow, those are crazy creative! I love it! I have an old fishbowl I was going to get rid of - now I want to put a scene into it. :) Thank you for the inspiration!

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  6. I love your hard and I appreciate that you have shared directions with us. The Women's Mission group of our church served a community Thanksgiving Dinner so I took part in that.
    Happy Thanksgiving Amber!
    Connie
    cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com

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  7. Wow! This is such a neat idea. Thanks.

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