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Make a Pencil Jar for Autumn

 

 

Yes, we did another Fall kids craft! I just love this season and the leaves and trees are gorgeous.  But I am pretty sure they are about to all fall off and leave us with naked trees. How sad. So I’m holding onto this favorite time of year with crafts, crafts and more crafts.
I am taking a lot of photos too!
How to make leaf art. An easy kids craft for autumn. Take a nature walk and collect leaves twigs pinecones etc. Turn it all into artwork. Fun for all ages. mybrightideasblog.com
This Autumn project is so easy and inexpensive because its all from the dollar store.

You will need:

  • a short mason jar (or a jam or pickle jar from your recycle bin)
  • clear glue
  • leaf confetti (if you have a leaf punch make your own)

 

 

Glue!

Using clear glue is important. Originally, I used white craft glue and it dried very white and milky looking.  So that was a craft fail. Meh!

Fortunately, I could pull off the leaves and wash off the old glue and start again.

 

 

Glue and stick. Glue and stick. Repeat…repeat…repeat.

 

 

My 11 year old worked with me on this. She loves candles so she wanted to make this a candle holder.

Easy gift idea for the kids to make, right?!

 

 

She was right it did look great with a candle light. Unfortunately, we are still in “keep the kids from setting the house on fire” protective parent mode – so we only use candles on very special occasions. So in the meantime, this gorgeous jar is going to be a pencil holder.

 

Thanks for checking out this post. I hope you enjoy Autumn before its gone.

Below are a few more kids crafts I’ve done over the past few weeks. 

Post them on Pinterest or share them on your social media.

See you again soon!


Make Leaf Art – Easy Nature Project!

 

Easy Fall Kids Craft – Rope and Pompom Trees

 

Fall Leaf Rubbing – Super Easy Kids Craft!

Make Healthy Lunches – Mason Jar Salads

Prepare healthy lunches for the week by making salads in mason jars. mybrightideasblog.comIts Sunday and that means its time to have a quick inventory of what we have for this weeks lunches. This past week I gave the mason jar salad idea a try and I loved that it was ready to grab and go. If you are making one salad you might as well chop up the ingredients all at once and put it into 5 jars to be prepared.

 

Start with clean mason jars. I experimented with wide jars and narrow to see what I prefer. Also different lid options are available. In the past we have taken juices in mason jars and found the metal ring lids to be a pain to fumble around with when you are on the go. The white lids are easy to find where ever you purchase mason jars.

Use Mason Jars for Salad and prepare a healthy lunch for the week. mybrightideasblog.comI noticed that the wide mouth jars fit an apple sauce container perfectly in the neck. This way you could put the salad dressing in separately or you could bring croutons without them getting soggy. How cool is that!Prepare healthy lunches for the week by making salads in mason jars. mybrightideasblog.com Alrighty, lets see what salad fixings we have in the fridge and get the cutting board and favourite knife. There is so many variations to this that you could make a different salad every day.

Prepare healthy lunches for the week by making salads in mason jars. mybrightideasblog.comHere are my favorites…

Salad Ingredients List. Prepare healthy lunches for the week by choosing your favorite salad fixings from this list. mybrightideasblog.com

Now we add the layers of salad to the jars. If you don’t happen to have an apple sauce container for your salad dressing, you simply put the dressing in the bottom of the jar.

Put the heavier items on the bottom like peppers and cucumbers. Lighter things on top.

Anything that would be your toppings normally would go close to the top. Olives, cheese, nuts and seeds. Lettuce goes fairly close to the top and stays very fresh and crisp. Also the idea of having the salad dressing on the bottom is so that when you pour it out into a bowl in the staff lunch room the dressing is drizzled on at the end. However, I would skip the bowl (and the staff room) and consider just shaking it before you eat it and eat it out of the jar. Saves dirtying a dish and talk about fast food!

I love mason jars, I love not having to chop up a salad every day of the week. I would definitely recommend making your lunches ahead on Sunday so you can avoid the temptation to run for a burger drive thru at lunch. Grab your mason jar salad and go find a patch of grass to sit on. Kick off your shoes and really take a moment to relax and enjoy your lunch.

Have a great week!


  • Choose a dressing
  • Vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, celery, peppers, onions, carrots
  • More Veggies: mushrooms, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, peas
  • Protein: chickpeas, black beans, edamame, boiled eggs, tuna, salmon, ham, bacon, chicken, shredded cheddar, feta
  • Starch: cold rice, pasta, couscous, quinoa, croutons (keep separated)
  • Herbs: basil, mint, parsley, chives
  • Dried Fruit: raisons, apricots, cranberries
  • Fruit: mango, strawberries, blueberries, apples, grapes
  • Toppings: chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, olives, pickled beets
Prepare healthy lunches for the week by making salads in mason jars. mybrightideasblog.com
Prepare healthy lunches for the week by making salads in mason jars. mybrightideasblog.com
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