Summer Fun Project

It's easy for me to get into a rut...the same things tend to fill even our days that don't have much routine.

So this week, we created a Summer Fun jar...a creative project for me to unwind...full of fun activities to help the kiddos expend some of their energy...and probably create more!

I used:

~ a mason jar
~ Classic Teal paint from Claudine Hellmuth Studio and white acrylic paint
~ leftovers from Jenni Hufford's fabulous mini-album kit she designed for Elle's Studio (you can see my album in the background)
~ alphas from Studio Calico's March kit, "Into the Woods"
~ some bakers twine and a few spare flowers I had laying around
~ a snippet of paper from Glitz paper layers

To begin, I was inspired (by this pin from my pinterest boards) to paint the inside of the mason jar.

It was quite easy...I mixed the teal and white paint until I achieved the shade I was looking for...spooned about a tablespoon or so of paint into the bottom of the jar, and then turned and tilted the jar until the paint had entirely coated the inside of the glass.  Towards the end, I placed a paper towel over a kitchen towel and gently tapped the jar (upside down) to finish coating some spots.  

Honestly, it took about 5 minutes to coat and then overnight to dry.  (I dried it for a few hours with the opening of the jar facing down over a paper towel, and then allowed it to dry with the opening up for the remainder of the night.  This way, there wasn't a ton of paint pooling on the bottom.)

The rest was simply figuring out which letter stickers I wanted to use and how to arrange them.  I centered my title, added a bit of bakers twine, and adhered the sweet Summer poem found on one of the Glitz papers. (Could the colors and sentiment be more perfect?)

I traced the lid on a sheet of patterned paper, cut it out, glued an Elle's Studio tag in the center, and added two flowers for good measure!  Then I adhered it to the lid.

And of course, the most important part: brainstorming activities to fill the jar with your children.  Some of our ideas included roller skating, snow cones, blowing bubbles, planting flowers, sidewalk chalk, getting gelato, running through the sprinklers, etc.

Oh, and "man building time" for building a wooden Anakin spaceship. Yep. That's my boy.  (and obviously a project that requires Daddy. Whew. Thank goodness for Daddy.)

After assembly, smile and enjoy your children's smiles each morning when they select an activity!
Sweet Summer, indeed!