Re-cycled jar project!

Yes, yes, another Pinterest-inspired project! Have you noticed all the spray painted mason jars that look so gorgeous? Inspired by these from She Knows and these lovely painted vases by Little Gray Fox and also these by la chica de la casa de caramelo (page in spanish) I dug out a used pasta sauce jar and set to work.

Re-cycled painted jars:

You will need:

• An empty jar that has been washed and cleaned, and left to dry overnight.
• Glue. I'd use ModPodge if I had any, but had to settle for PVA. This didn't seem to affect my results but I don't know how ModPodge would compare!
• Acrylic paint

What to do:

1. First mix up the colour you want to make your jar. You shouldn't need too much, because when you add the glue it should make the mixture enough to cover the jar. But it is always better to be over-prepared!
2. Then add your glue to the paint mix and stir it in thoroughly.
3. Now add the mix to the inside of jar a little at a time, swirling it around the jar as much as you can after each addition. This bit takes a lot of patience - I mean A LOT - but it's worth it to get a clean result.
4. Keep going until the jar is covered at least 3/4 of the way up. If at any point you think you will run out of mixture, add more glue.
5. Now get some old news paper or a plastic bag (something you can throw away after) and turn the jar upside down (so the opening is face down) onto it. You should see the paint run all the way down the jar to cover the last quarter. If not, add more of the mixture to the jar.
6. You'll have to leave the jar stood like that as long as possible (I recommend a good 24hrs!). But to ensure it doesn't get stuck to the paper/bag try to lift it up every few hours and move it to another part of the paper. You'll be surprised at how much mixture is on the paper for the first few times!

And there you have it - a pretty painted jar all of your own making! Do try to leave it upside down for as long as possible, because if you turn it up too soon you'll get horrible streaks down the sides and a big pool at the bottom that won't dry (I'm speaking from experience here).

Bear in mind that if you used normal PVA glue like me your jar will NOT be waterproof! That means only fake flowers I'm afraid. I believe that if you use ModPodge, and give the inside of the jar a full coating of ModPodge after the paint mix has dried it will be waterproof, but I can't back this up!

I'd love to hear about your experience and see pictures - links to my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are to the right!

Katie's Dolphin!

I created this lovely dolphin for my friend Katie, who is crazy about dolphins. The pattern is really easy to follow, and although it isn't free, it's not much to pay for a birthday/Christmas present!

I had a lot of fun making this, and can't wait to give it to her. :)

DIY Flower Tea Light Holder

Something about the sun always brings out the little kid in me, and as soon as my shorts were on I was rummaging through my craft supplies. This project is easy and quick, and could even be done around the out side of a glass! (away from the mouth area of course)

This one is great for getting the kids crafting, and if they have a variety of craft punches (or some imaginative designs that the adults can cut out) there's endless possibilities!

You will need:

• A craft punch
• Mod podge (I couldn't find any in my local hobbycraft so I used plain 'ol PVA instead, and it gave a nice 'frosted effect')
• A glass tea light holder/cup
• Paint brush and something to put the glue in
• Tissue paper in colours of your choice

Step 1: Select your tissue paper. My front room is a mixture of warm reds and yellows, so I chose these.

Step 2: Use the craft punch to make your shapes. You can either be sporadic or go crazy!

Step 3: Place some of the glue on the glass.

Step 4: Then put your tissue paper shape over where you put the glue.

Step 5: Use a little bit of glue to cover the tissue paper. Try to paint from the middle of the shape outwards, going from the centre to north, centre to east, centre to south etc.

Step 6: Continue doing this until the glass is covered how you like it! Leave to dry, and it should dry either clear or opaque depending on your glue.

Don't forget to cover the bottom!

Leave your glass to dry for an hour or so, and ta dah! You're done!
I put a tea light in mine as soon as it was ready and took a few (dark) snaps:

I love this little addition to our mantle, and am definitely planning on making more in different colours, and some glass tumblers too!

Homemade Rolo Fudge!

Sunday baking has kind of gone out the window lately. But this Sunday the sun has inspired my mum and I to re-visit cooking, and what better a thing to make than yummy, sweet, sickly, crumbly fudge?!

I used this simple and easy to follow recipe! The only change I made was, as my microwave doesn't have a 70% power option, during the first 8 minutes in the microwave I did 4 minutes on 80% and then 4 minutes on 50%. For the next 6 minutes I used 80% power.

(Be VERY careful - the mixture gets very very hot, so I wouldn't do this alone.)

The result was a crumbly gorgeous flavour fudge! This mixture made loooads, so next time I'll probably half all the ingredients, as the fudge got quite sickly after three or four squares!

Here's a mound we sent over to my grandparents - not even a quarter of what we made!

Mmmm, look at all that gooey Rolo-goodness!

Look how crumbly it is! It's proper melt-in-your-mouth fudge! :)

How is your weekend going - any fun projects? And to all you UK-ers, have a great bank holiday tomorrow ! :D