Baby Food Jar Votive Craft For The Three Weeks

We love having guests with sweet babies, and are more than happy when there are baby food jars to craft with!  Even before the guests left I found the small jars that I had put aside from their last visit, and together with some new tall ones, a craft idea was born: baby food jar votives with scenes of Jerusalem. This is our first craft this year with this topic, and the timing is perfect, as we can enjoy these jars for the next three weeks, and when the lights are turned down on the evening of T'Isha B'Av they will be lovely and a good reminder of what the holiday is all about!

Decoupage is a perfect craft for all ages, and results that are both abstract as well as pictorial look great together. So gather some jars, any size of course, and some simple supplies, and make a bunch of votives to use indoors and out!

The simplest way to do this craft is to cut rectangles of colored tissue paper and simply decoupage them to jars. Just that imagery alone, which represents the outer wall of the Holy Temple (which stand today and it called the Kotel, or Wailing Wall) can be really powerful and the more colors the better!

 Of course you can also choose to add some typical Jerusalem scenes like tall cypress trees, domed roof houses built on hills, and for some added fun, doves or pigeons, lots of them!

Add some battery powered tea lights and you have a safe decorative object to put in a child's room, or just about anywhere.

You'll Need:

• colored tissue paper
• jars
• decoupage medium or diluted white glue
• a large brush
• battery powered tea lights

How To:

1. Cut or tear tissue paper into desired shapes.
2. Brush a very small amount of glue onto the jar, place the piece of tissue paper gently onto the glue, and then go over the piece of tissue paper with a brush and a small amount of glue. Tissue paper is very delicate so be sure to show kids how to use only a small amount of glue, otherwise the whole thing will become a torn mess. Small children will generally have a difficult time adhering all the tissue paper, so a parent should go over the piece with a coat of glue to make sure that all the pieces are adhered. In any case a final protective coat is advisable.
3. Place battery operated tea lights in your jars, and enjoy! And just by the way, they do exist with flames that are warm yellow or cool white, and I love combining the two.
4. Happy crafting! This is a perfect project to do with a bunch of kids as the more the better, and the more oohs and ahhs you can make after sundown!

Note: It is now the mourning period on the Jewish calendar referred to as "the three weeks" so it is time to do some crafting which pertains to our holy city of Jerusalem! When we talk about "Jerusalem" what we are really generally referring to is the Holy Temple, which once stood there, and whose destruction we are mourning during these three weeks between the solemn holidays of the 17th of Tammuz and T'Isha B'Av.

Save

Save