winter scene night lights--a Christmas craft

November 14, 2020




Is it too early to listen to Christmas music? Not for me; I've had it on since November 1st. It's my music to craft by. My husband has suggested we wait until after Thanksgiving before we turn on the Christmas full force, but everyone knows that crafters start Christmas early for heaven's sake. For the first time I actually feel like I'm ahead of the game: I've started wrapping presents (yay me, I'm early for once) and besides completing the one craft below, I have two other Christmas crafts going: one very big one (that honestly I'm not sure I'll finish this year) and one very small one that is finished and drying. I've also set up the Christmas ornament hospital. I am determined to repair and restore broken wings, bald glitter spots, chipped paint, literally every. single. thing that has bothered me over the years. If I cannot fix it, it's going to get tossed. Wish me luck friends. (I'm really glad you can't see my craft room now; it's a holy mess.)


But today I have a totally finished craft to share. I had so much fun making these Christmas night lights. It's an easy craft and I'll go through it step by step.  If you craft with younger people, this is a craft appropriate for an older child. I made the mistake of starting this with my 3 year old grandson. I gave up after a few minutes and we just played with the deer and smooshed the clay around. When he left, I went back to the craft room and got cracking. Here's the step by step:


Gather your supplies. For the greenery I cut up a small plastic Christmas tree I never really cared for. I gathered up little plastic figures and trims but ended up preferring to use only the deer and the mushrooms. I went through my mason jars to find six jars that did not have embossing all around. Most of mine had "Ball" or "Kerr" embossed on the front side but were plain on the back. You'll want your jars to have at least one plain, unmarked side for this craft. You'll also need the screw cap but not the lid, white air-dry clay, glue that dries clear, and a little bit of faux snow. Next you'll need one package Transform Mason LED Lighted Lid Insert per jar. This light comes with both a regular sized lid and wide mouth lid so you can use either size jar. Lastly you'll need 3 AAA batteries per jar. Shopping links are at the end.


Wash and dry the jars. They need to be sparkly clean.


Roll out the clay to approximately 3/8" thick. Cut rounds (I used a small jar) to make a base that will fit into the jars. While clay is still soft, dab a bit of glue on your greenery and figures and poke them into the clay. Let this air dry overnight. See the pictures below.


When your figurine base is dry, dab a bit of glue to the bottom and place it in the jar. Sprinkle a tiny bit of faux snow around the base. 


Insert batteries and affix the light to the lid as per package direction. Screw the light fixture onto the jar and push the on/off button. Voila! The light is just bright enough to illuminate the charming wintery scene.


I ended up making 6 total and am giving them as gifts with a note saying, "open me now" since they will be so pretty to have out at Christmastime even though I plan on having ours in our bedroom year 'round. They are adorable and I'm so happy with them.


Holy cow! After I wrote this post and was gathering my shopping links, I found that the LED light inserts are near impossible to find for a decent price. I bought mine for $7.50 each but they have now sold out. I found them on some other sites but they were closer to $20 and I don't think they are worth that! Perhaps you'll have better luck than I did with a search. Search "Transform Mason LED Lighted Lid Insert". Good luck and let me know how it goes. As an aside, I also have some solar fairy lights for mason jars that I was planning to use this summer. I wonder if they would work for this craft. They would not have an on/off button, but would be fun for an evening, you'd just have to recharge it the next day with sunshine--no batteries!


LINKS:


My favorite air dry clay is Delight. If you've never used lightweight air-dry clay, you are in for a treat. It's soft, clean and easy to use. 


These adorable little deer are identical to the ones I had in my stash.


These mushrooms look very similar to mine.


Transform Mason LED Lighted Lid Insert: This company is out of stock but they say that more are coming soon and you can get on their notify list. It's as good a price as you'll find. They also appear to be out of stock at Joanne's.



Since Carter is totally in love with Rudolph, I painted a red nose on the reindeer I am giving him.





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xo Kristen xo


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7 Comments

  1. They are adorable. Great job.
    Marilyn

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for sharing this lovely project! They are so adorable for decorations and sound fun to make. Busy with knitting this year, but perhaps one of next years craft projects can be these. Have a wonderful evening! Charlotte from So. Cal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LED Grow Light, I have read all the comments and suggestions posted by the visitors for this article are very fine,We will wait for your next article so only.Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very genius.How solar energy proper utilizes here ,anyone can know this better from here.
    Hi,It's Kathy Jones ,glad to read your article/blog.

    ReplyDelete

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