Stained Glass Gifts

For the second year in a row, our Alpine office is hosting a few Homemade Holidays workshops.

Last year we made paracord bracelets, oil-based sharpie mugs, hand stamped kitchen towels and key chains and jewelry with shrinky dinks.

These events allow children and families to create a hand made gift for someone in their life.
Last night we painted vases and candle jars with a variety of glass paints.

We purchased candle jars and vases at our local dollar store for....you guessed it....$1 each. We also bought battery operated candles for $2-$3/ 6 candles.

We purchased a variety of glass paints for around $25. The children seemed more frustrated with the glass stain as it made a subtle layer and they were looking for something with more "pop" and control on their end. This was especially true of the younger children. Despite the frustration, the glass paint is perfect to use for candle jars as it helps emit the candle light. If you are only planning on painting vases, opaques will work well.
We had children from K-10th enjoy this activity. The paint takes 24 hours to dry and the items are hand washable but should not be left to soak in water.
Here are a few of the finished products......

The vases were by far more popular, even though the candle jars are more practical (our power goes out A LOT) Overall, an easy and inexpensive gift idea as each item, including the cost of paint, was only about $2. Also if you aren't working in a large group and don't want to spend a great deal on a variety of paint colors, our local craft store had small paint palettes of glass paint for about $3-$4 with around 6 different colors per palette.

Also a special "thank you" to our local Woodfords Indian Ed Center, Washoe Recreation Center, and Alpine County Behavioral Health for transporting the kids to our office for this event.