Christmas Snow Globes

A dear and beautiful friend of mine (who is also a vintage junkie but she's more like a vintage queen and I'm more of the junkie) inspired me to make some of my own snow globes/jars this Christmas. She displayed hers throughout her house so interestingly: on cake plates, shelves, food platters, and even on candle sticks. I loved the idea and set out to create some of my own. The hardest problem was time. You see, the looks I get when I bring one (let alone all three) of my children into an antique store is one of sheer disgust. No words are spoken yet all I hear is "You break it you buy it lady." I quickly send them a telepathic message communicating I get it, been there done that, I accept your rules of engagement, can I just get my shop on now please?!

The first project is a small plastic nativity scene that I placed into a large glass jar. I was looking for a jar with a screw on lid that I could glue shut and turn upside down, but I was not able to find one large enough to place the figure into. The glittery snow is a combination of epsom salt from Walgreens and snow glitter from the JoAnne's craft store. This simple yet charming display looked nice on my dining room table runner. I always laugh when I see snow and nativity because as we all know Bethlehem wasn't exactly a nostalgic winter wonderland. In fact, I should use sand next year... but how can I get it to sparkle?! Oh the dilemmas in life, right? For now, this will have to do. This nativity set was found by the vintage queen herself at a local garage sale. I have a parking angel I am sure of it. And I believe my friend has a vintage angel. That and wicked good style sense. I will let you know when she starts her blog and/or book, business, tv show, you get the point. 

My second project was to take figures I found in my Grandma's Christmas box and somehow display them in a snow globe. I found a vintage mayonnaise jar that was the perfect size. The three boys were actually used to place in flower arrangements. I had to remove the green garden stakes that were glued to the bottom of each figure. The boys were made in Japan and dated around the 1950s. Once I cleaned them up, I hot glued them to the lid of the jar. Then I placed the same snow glitter from the craft store into the bottom of the jar. After the boys were dried, I carefully screwed on the lid and turned the jar upside down. After this, I hot glued a small ribbon around the lid to add some decoration. I moved this display around my house a few times already this holiday season. I put the boys on a cake stand and placed chocolates and caramels all around the jar. What a lovely touch to an ordinary holiday treat!