Lessons learned on Niffer's first real craft

I've always loved the idea of doing crafts with my kids but it wasn't until I saw this tutorial that I got excited enough to actually put in the effort to make it happen. I'm much more inclined to come up with creative hand print pictures. It's much easier to do that than to actually MAKE something.

So we did it! We made snow globes and yes they did turn out pretty cute. But here are the lessons we learned:

1. When painting the lids to the jars (don't see them painted? keep reading) DO NOT use paint that is easy to wash off of children's hands thinking it will make things easier for you. Yes, the paint washes right off of little hands, but it also washes right off of the lids when they get wet. And trust me on this... when making snow globes, the lids WILL get wet. DUH.

2. When picking out cute little snowman ornaments thinking you found the jackpot because they have fantastic holiday-themed words on their bellies, think again. Those words are blocked by the jar lid. In order to lift up the snow man so that the words could be read, we had to glue him on to a smaller lid and then glue the lid onto the jar lid.

3. And speaking of glue. Make sure you get the right kind. Don't ask me what the right kind is. I could never get the smaller lid to stick to the larger one. For a list of glue options that DON'T work, in hopes of narrowing down the choices, feel free to email me.

4. When finding adorable Christmas trees to go next to the adorable snowmen, keep in mind that since they're fake trees, there has to be something that dyes them the right color. Chances are this "something" won't be water-proof and will turn your snowman and surrounding snow into a slight blue color.

5. When choosing the snow for your snow globe, do not choose snow that is too light. If you do, then your snow will only float and there will be no flurry action that a proper snow globe is known for. Instead of looking like a snowman in a snow storm, you will end up with a polluted little jar ocean with what looks to be a snowman tied to the bottom of the ocean and left alone for the little jar sharks to eat.

6. When choosing the snow for your snow globe, do not choose snow that is too heavy. There is a reason why they're called SNOW globes and not HAIL globes.

7. Sealing off the lid is easier said than done. Unless you have the right glue, which I did not (see #3). Plumber's tape or plumber's putty work well as long as you do not hand the snow globe over to a little person who then unscrews the lid and wonders why the whole thing is now broken.

So, my dedicated readers (all 3 of you)... go out and try to make snow globes! They're adorable! They're cheap! They're fun! They're a pain in the @$$, unless of course you learn from my mistakes.

P.S. A BIG thanks to Daddy for pretty much all the ingenous ideas that resulted in a semi-respectable product. Of course, he had all the great ideas.