Snow globe craft saga

First of all, let me preface this post: this is not a DIY success story. We had seen a local shop offer a craft session on DIY snow globes, but we missed the event. I figured this was something we could do as a family in time to give to the kids’ teachers before the winter break. I envisioned cute little vintage ornaments standing in a swirling glittery cyclone inside mason jars from the pantry.

Instead, the entire project was fraught with challenges. We visited numerous thrift and dollar stores, in search of small items such as trees for the globes, but returned almost empty-handed. I visited some antique stores in Fort Langley the following day and did snag a few cute objects.

We had only a couple more evenings after work (and around Christmas concerts) to finish up the snow globes. We gathered all the craft supplies in the house and began creating the tableaux featured in the photo. First we stuck the snowmen and trees (that I eventually cut off existing Christmas decor around our house with scissors) into plasticine. That, of course, was a disaster once it hit water. So my husband used the jigsaw and cut out circles of wood to fit inside the lids and elevate the scenes above oddly-shaped-bottle level. He painted them with a water-resistant paint. Nonetheless, the paint started lifting underwater. The blue glass “ponds” came loose. The acorn caps on the snowmen floated around, discolouring the water.

On the final evening, we had most of the scenes reconfigured, the problems trouble-shot. We decided not to add water until the last minute before school. Please, cheap glue gun, hold these scenes in place until the snow globes have made it into the teachers’ hands!

Of all things, our son’s preschool closed due to snow, so his two snow globes sat soaking and there was no way these globes were going to wait 16 days to be gifted in the new year. So after a day of sledding, we made arrangements to get the globes to the teachers’ houses! We ended up giving one of them with just glitter and no water.

I think next year, we’ll go for chocolates or stationery!