Homemade Snow Globes | At Home With P. Allen Smith


Uploaded by ehowhome on 30.11.2012

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Transcript:
How about a really fun project that you can make with your kids? Snow globes. I don't
know about you, but I remember these snow globes from when I was a kid. I always thought
they were a lot of fun. You could roll them around and you had this wonderful little scene
with glitter and snow falling everywhere -- fun! A nostalgic gift that is so easy to make.
You know, the origin of the snow globe isn't really clear. It's believed that they started
in France in the late 19th century, and by the 1920s they were popular in America. Let
me show you how to make snow globes. They're really easy and it's great project for kids.
What you wanna do is you wanna just come up with a little scene. You know, find a figure
like this, maybe a little tree. What you wanna do is you wanna superglue these to the underside
of a fruit jar. So that's what we're using here. Here's the lid, and I'm turning it upside
down and here's where you'll just apply the superglue. And all you wanna do is just take
a little bit, apply it to the bottom like this and stick it down. The same here. And
position it. And you just wanna make sure that it is well within the line of where the
ring is. And you can see, there's that little seal. You wanna stay within that because you
don't want this to leak. Okay, now this really needs to dry for 24 hours. And so, yesterday,
I actually put this together so I'd be able to show you. Now I did this one with a much
smaller lid. This is with a pint jar. So you can see, it's stuck to the bottom of the lid.
There you go, look at that. So, here's a guy presenting presents behind a Christmas tree.
So, now, what you want to do is you wanna create your solution. The solution is very
simple. What you're going to do is you're going to use water and glycerin. Now, the
reason for the glycerin is the glycerin is viscus, meaning it thickens the water, and
the more glycerin you use, well, the slower your snow will fall. So what I like to use
is about 2 or 3 tablespoons of the glycerin. So I've added it into the water here, and
now it's a matter of the snow. You can use anything you want. I'm being kind of traditional
here so I'm going with all white with just a little bit of color in the glitter. Now
you wanna make sure that it stays really clear. So one thing to think about is the water you
use. You wanna make sure you're using distilled water so the water doesn't become discolored.
So I have about a tablespoon of glitter here, just pouring it in like that. And now it's
just a matter of taking my little Christmas scene and turning it upside down, dunking
the little guy. There we go. Push down so the seal is tight. Then I take this screw
ring and twist it down like that and make sure I have a tight seal. And then I shake
it up and there he is -- he's in there in a big snow storm. These are really run to
make. And I suggest you get some kids together and make some. And they make wonderful gifts.
If you like these tips, make sure you check in with us regularly because we have a lot
of them for Christmas. Tell a friend about us and make sure you subscribe to eHow Home.
Oh yeah.