I've been trying to find an inexpensive holiday craft for my students to do for their parents.
Guidelines:
1. Not tacky
2. Inexpensve
3. Useful (because, really, who likes letting something thats just going to collect dust?)
BIG thanks to my favorite bloggers (younghouselove) who made this lovely post .
These people are so clever and practical, if you haven't started following their blog, you really should.
Anyways, I saw their tumblers and thought it would be pretty neat to have my kids decorate a votive for their parents. Out of fear that they would turn into a gaudy piece of artwork that the parents might just throw away when the child turns 15, I went back to the drawing board.
My super, wonderful, better-than-Martha, Aunt Cyndi, had her grand-kids did an etched glass holiday activity. Which I thought would be neat to have my kids do... BUT the more I read about it online, the more I wanted to break out in a cold sweat, because the acid that they use to etch glass is pretty powerful stuff.
Enter: google.
Someone posted in that, instead of using an etched glass kit, you could spray it with 3 coats of clear spray paint- still something my kids can't do, but a little bit less work for me.
So...after much discussion with my mom, we decided that we could probably find some frosted glass spray paint- which we did- definite WIN! But the bottom line is, my kids can't spray paint it, so I will do that for them. Regardless, the end result is pretty fabulous. They were the masters of their votive's destiny, by choosing where to put the sticker, labeling the bottom, and decorating a votive candle with glitter glue.
Supplies and prices:
Votive holders (Michaels): 16 for 7.99 x 2 = 15.98 + 40% off coupons = $9.59
Foam snowflake cut outs (Dollar Tree): 3 packages at $1= $3
Frosted glass spray paint (Home Depot): 1 can at $4.53
Grand Total: $17.12
Math problem: If I have 29 students, and the whole project costs me $17.12, how much money did it cost per student?
Answer: $0.59
Directions:
1. Take the backing off of the snowflake sticky, place it sticky side down on the palm of your hand, and peel it back off (this is to remove some of the stickiness, so that it is possible to take it off the votive.
2. Place the snowflake sticker on the outside of the votive.
3. Put gloves on
4. Hold the votive upside down, and begin spraying the frosted glass spray paint evenly on the votive.
5. Let dry
6. Carefully remove the sticker.
and voila!
