Holiday Gift Jars

I've always wanted to make these animal apothecary jars, and figured this was the perfect opportunity.  I thought they would make a neat, inexpensive gift for coworkers and/or neighbors.

Here are the basics I started with:

Pictured:
-Plastic moose (only 35 cents from Party City!)
-Bakers Twine (from Amazon)
-Red spray paint (I got mine from Hobby Lobby)
-Mason Jars (Mine is from the dollar store, but I recommend getting a case of them if you're making a bunch)
-Tag Punch from a craft store
Not Pictured:
-Craft Paper, or brown paper lunch or grocery bags
-Hot glue gun, or any strong glue (maybe super glue or gorilla glue)
-White paint
-Small paint brush to paint moose
-Single Hole Punch
-Wax or parchment paper (optional)
-Working Printer (optional)
-Flat sided gem stones (optional)
-Yummy goodies

So the first thing you need to do, is prime the moose (I think he looks like a reindeer!) with white paint.  I tried to skip this step.  Do not do that.  You will regret it.  The red spray paint did not cover the dark parts of his fur/antlers, and I ended up soaking, and wiping him down with mineral spirits.  What a mess that was!

It doesn't have to be perfect, but I painted all of him to make sure the red paint went on evenly afterwards.

When the white paint dries, find a well ventilated space, and prep the area to spray him red.  I did it in the garage (with the door open), laid down cardboard, and put him on a paper plate so that I could rotate him without touching him.  I strongly recommend do that.

Spray paint the mason jar lid now too.  If you have painters tape, it might be a good idea to tape the inside of the lid.  I didn't do this, so when the lid was dry, the paint rubbed off on the mouth of the jar where it screwed on and off.

While waiting for the paint to dry, you can start working on your tags.

-I have craft paper, but it's in storage.  So, I used brown paper bags from the grocery store.

-To print the "Happy Holidays", I cut the paper bag to the size of a regular sheet of printer paper, put it in the paper tray of the printer, and used Power Point to create the text.  I used one of the french scripts, chose size 28, and centered it.  The reason I used Power Point instead of Word, was because I was able to get the words stacked closer together.  You might have to play with the font size depending on the size of tag punch you have.  There's also nothing wrong with writing your own message by hand either!

- I added the rhinestone because I had some.  It's totally optional.

-Next, punch a hole at the top so that you can string some ribbon through, and attach it to the mouth of the jars.  I used bakers twine, and to get this look, I probably used 15 ft of it.

When the paint on the moose and lids are completely dry, glue the moose to the lid.

I filled this jar with store bought caramel corn/nut mixture.  I don't trust myself in the kitchen, and no one will know the difference, haha!  Besides, I'm focusing more on the presentation than anything else for this post. Other things you could fill the jars with (either homemade or store bought) are:
-Chocolate covered pretzels
-Peanut brittle
-Peppermint bark
-Candy
-Vegetables you've canned yourself, from your garden
-Trail Mix
-Cookie Mixes

I tried making Christmas lights out of bakers twine and clay, and strung them through his antlers.  It was cute, but a lot of work!  Totally not necessary. :)  I filled this one with trail mix to match the "lights".  It looked better in person.  Sorry, I was struggling with my lighting (grey, rainy day) with my photos.

Here I was playing with punches and tags.  I like both (but wouldn't add the snowflake punch next time).  This jar of cookie ingredients is actually something I won at a baby shower.  I just changed out the lids and tags to show you what it would look like if you went this route.

I think these turned out really cute!  I actually have a jar of the trail mix on my desk, and snack on it constantly.  For this reason, I'm thinking these would make great gift ideas for coworkers.

Can't believe it's December!  I'm freezing here in PA.  I'm at the tail end of my visit for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I'm very much looking forward to landing in 80 degree weather in Texas on Wednesday!  Hope you all are staying warm!

xoxo
Ashley