Happy Wednesday! This week I want to share with you how to create your own mason jar gift basket! Gift giving is an art and to give the perfect gift you must think about the person you are giving it to and what they might enjoy. What could be more perfect than filling a mason jar with gifts chosen just for that person.
In the following tutorial I will give you a few ideas on how to create a mason jar gift basket. But the sky is the limit, well actually the size of the mason jar would be the limit, have fun and think outside the box, or should I say jar.
Step One: Purchase your mason jar in any size you would like to fill. Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Wal-Mart, among many other stores, are good places to find these. If you are like me you already have dozens around your house.
Step Two: Visit www.bethannerickson.etsy.com to purchase a pre-designed mason jar wrap. The wraps are instant downloads that you print at home and then wrap around the outside of the mason jar to help set the tone of your gift.
Step Three: Trim the print to the correct size, tape one end to your mason jar and wrap around until it meets the other end and tape together to hold in place. (At the time of writing this tutorial our mason jar wraps did not fit around the quart size jars, we have now added a 14 inch file to all the listings on Etsy, but you will need a printer that can print on larger paper than 8.5x11 to be able to use them.)
Step Four: Fill your mason jar with the appropriate gifts for the recipient.
Pedicure Kit: Nail polish (1-3 bottles), nail clippers, nail file, toe separators and any other nail care items you think they might enjoy.
Shaving Kit (Men): Small bottle of shaving cream, new razor and blades, small bottle of aftershave and any other useful shaving items.
Movie Night (Men and Women): Candy, popcorn, popcorn seasoning shaker, gift card to purchase a new movie.
Coffee Lover (Cold Brew Set): Cold brew Mason jar kit (Can be purchased at www.etsy.com/shop/CoffeeSockCo. A special thanks goes out to CoffeeShock Co. for offering to send me a ColdBrew filter to try out. As soon as I receive it I will post a blog about how it works and pictures of a completed Coffee Lover Gift Set.), coarse ground coffee, mini bottles of coffee syrups or simple syrups. (There are various recipes online for making your own simple syrup coffee flavors. They are also sold on Etsy.)
Tea Lover: Nut bag Tea Filter (for sun tea), Loose leaf tea, tea bags, instructions for making sun tea (www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sun_tea), honey sticks (Can be purchased on Etsy or other local retailers.)
Date Night: movie tickets, restaurant gift card, pre-Movie date activities (search online and write them on colorful pieces of paper).
Artist: Mini Colored Pencils, mini sketch pad, small tubes of watercolor paints, watercolor pencils, watercolor brushes
There are so many more ideas; I could go on and on. I am sure you can come up with your own unique ideas. The key to the art of giving: It’s all about the recipient! Who are they? What are their hobbies? What do they enjoy? Focus on them and your gift will turn out perfect.
Thank you so much for reading our tutorial and don't forget to sign up to receive the blog in your inbox each week and we will send your a discount code good at our Etsy shop. Visit www.bethericksondesigns.com//beth-ann-erickson-designs to sign up!
Another wonderful use for mason jars to save money for special trips and/or purchases as shown in the example here of our Road Trip Fund Jar.
Coming Next Week: Mug Love: Mug Cakes as Gifts & more (WITH A FREE DOWNLOAD).
Welcome to my blog! This is my very first entry and hopefully, it will be the start of something wonderful! This blog is dedicated to all things creative. What falls within that category is well...completely up to me. I am an artist, graphic designer, and an Etsy seller (www.bethannerickson.etsy.com). I always have some sort of craft, art, or design project running through my head, and what better way to put them to good use than to share them with you. I hope you enjoy this blog and find it informational, fun, and useful!
Personalizing your own journal or notebook is a very simple and affordable project. It only takes an hour at the most, but usually less. There are a variety of images available for sale online. They come as an instant download in a JPEG or PDF format that you can download and print on your home printer. You get to choose what type of paper you would like to print it on, what style of journal you would like to affix it to, and the color combinations that are most pleasing to you. To guide you through the process I have detailed the steps below. Follow these simple steps and you will have a journal that uniquely yours! It's a perfect project for a rainy spring day! The images used in this tutorial come from Etsy (www.bethannerickson.etsy.com) and there are many more to choose from besides those posted here.
Step One: Purchase a journal or notebook. I found mine at Marshall's but I have also located them at Ross, TJ Max, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Amazon or PaperSource. (Cost approximately $2.99 - $5.99).
Step Two: Search Etsy (www.bethannerickson.etsy.com) for the image you would like to purchase, print and download. (The images I used cost about $3 each). Make sure you are choosing images that fit your journal. The ones I used were 5x7 sized. Purchase and download your images.
Step Three: Decide what type of paper you would like to print your image on. You don't have to use a special paper like I will outline here if your trying to keep your costs down. You can use whatever paper you have at home. Some ideas for paper are Canvas Paper, Bristol (Card Stock) or Watercolor paper as shown in the photo. I chose to use watercolor paper for my prints.
Step Four: Print your image in color onto the paper of your choice and trim the image to the appropriate size to fit your journal using scissors or a paper cutter as shown here.
Step Five: Using Glue dots, glue stick, or scrapbook tape or glue affix the print to the cover of your journal!
It's that easy, now you have your own customized journal that is uniquely yours! This project also works well for gifts! As you can see from my pictures my notebooks came in a set of three so now I have three journals. I can use all three as a gift set or keep one for myself and give the others away.