I’m really into homemade gifts and crafts for each holiday. However, with two young kids, the crafts need to be quick and easy so I can actually complete them in between crises like “Mama, Emma’s eating the garbage!” and “Mama, I peed in the laundry basket!”
Last year my Mother’s Day craft was the incredibly simple Coconut Lime Sugar Scrub Recipe. It was a MAJOR hit! Everyone was shocked at how delicious it smelled, how soft it left their hands, and how simple it was to make!
This year, I decided to try my hand at painted mason jars that can be used as vases, pencil holders, or pretty much anything you want 🙂 And since we were giving these as Mother’s Day gifts to grandmas and great-grandmas, I added the girls’ handprints to them as well.
Here’s what you’ll need:
– Mason jar w/ lid (not pictured)
(I used quart-size Kerr brand jars – a wonderful lady on the Buy Nothing group I’m a part of gifted me 4 of these for this last minute project! I had planned on using a smaller size that I already had, but realized last minute that my 2 year old’s hand print wouldn’t fit!)
– Acrylic paint of your choosing
I chose three shades of purple (one for each jar) and then the white for the handprints. If you want to use the same colors I did, I used Delta Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint in
– Sponge paint brush (optional)
You could just dip your child’s hand into the paint, but I like using the sponge brush so I can regulate how much paint is on their hands. I’ve found that if you use too much paint, the handprint doesn’t look as nice)
1) To paint the inside of the jar, simply squirt the paint into the bottom of the jar, screw on the lid, and shake until the paint covers the inside completely. I let mine dry overnight, upside down on parchment paper, moving them periodically as the excess paint will pool around the inside of the rim.
I would plan for these to take at least 24 hours to dry, if not longer. I don’t know if I just used too much paint on the inside, but they were still slightly wet to the touch at 36 hours after I painted them.
This is what mine looked like after painting the insides:
You could definitely leave them like this, but if you want to add handprints, it adds a little sentimentality to it.
2) Paint your little one’s hand with the contrasting paint color (in my case, white). This step might take two people if you have a baby or young toddler. It was much easier for my 2.5 year old to do it without much assistance, but our 9 month old was squirmy – you’ll see the results in this next photo 🙂
As you can tell, my 2.5 year old’s handprint turned out a lot better than my 9 month old’s because she was able to hold still easier. I still love them and I think our mom’s and grandma’s loved them too. After I finished making these, I realized I should have made one for myself! I looked around the house and found two different sized mason jars and an old Frappuccino bottle and made a set for myself. I’ll put handprints on them eventually 🙂
What colors would you use on yours? I think I’d like to do a variety of neutrals on my next set – different shades of grey or cream maybe?
