We got the idea from Where Imagination Grows Mason Jar Luminaries.
What you need:
- Mason jars (or as we used, a bowl resembling a fish bowl from the dollar store. )
- Tissue paper (fall colors such as orange, yellow, red, and green)
- Brown construction paper (optional)
- Scissors
- Mod Podge (we used a homemade substitute of school glue and water)
- Sponge brush (we didn't have one so we used a wide paint brush, this is to spread on the "mod podge"
- Glitter, optional
- Candle
What you do:
1. Make your Mod Podge (unless you are using commercial mod podge). I'm frugal and wanted to give the homemade recipe a try. I read that the homemade version moreso works with paper crafts (I tried it on leaves and it wasn't strong enough so I agree). To make the mod podge, you need an equal amount of glue (again we used school glue) and water. I used about 1/4 cup of each. Next, mix them (shake them up together in a jar with a lid.)
Our homemade mod podge:
2. Tear up pieces of the tissue paper into small pieces. I liked to make them about the size of my thumb pad or thereabouts. My toddler joined us on this part but she got tired of it quickly.
3. Take your bowl and working in small sections at a time (so the mod podge doesn't dry), apply the mod podge with a sponge brush or paint brush. Then, place bits of tissue paper onto the mod podge. Continue in this fashion with the mod podge and then tissue pieces until you have covered the whole bowl or jar.
4. The blog where I got the idea from, used brown construction paper to make trees. We did this, but the trees aren't the most visible as hers were.
5. After the whole bowl or jar is covered with the tissue paper, apply a final coating of the mod podge over the tissue paper with your sponge brush or paint brush. You can also sprinkle it with glitter. (As we were working on this craft, I wasn't too sure how it would turn out. We had finished and my daughter picked up the glitter that we had used on the Popsicle Stick Apple Core Craft and started "throwing" it over the tissue paper (and boy did she have fun with that) and then it ended up looking much more awesome.)
6. Let dry.
7. Place a candle inside the bowl/jar and light it and you are done. The candle I bought was very tall so only the top portion of our luminary was lit. I then used a tea candle we had on hand and it lit up nicely.
