Christmas Under Glass

This past Saturday morning I told myself that in my one hour of discretionary time before leaving for the day, I would pick up the house.  All went according to plan for about 10 minutes.

Then I came across a stash of vintage Italian crèche figurines that had not sold last year.  Reprice? or ..... What about all of those great shaped peanut butter jars I had found last spring?  (Click here to see the Halloween Still Life (s) with the same peanut butter jars.)

I decided to do little groupings of crèche figures under glass -- and a few with cheesy Santa scenes as well.  Because once you stop picking up the house, you may as well totally lose focus.

I made thin cardboard circles that fit in the bottom (or lid if upside down) and secured the figures with a bit of hot glue.  Then carefully set the figures on cardboard in place.  Next I added the snow (or Spanish moss -- which I snipped into tiny bits) to cover the cardboard. 

Lastly I attached the vintage postcard to the inside of the glass with Loc-Tite superglue.  TAADAA --
"Christmas Under Glass" x 8 (plus an enormous mess to worry about.... later.)

Halloween Still Life In A Jar 2016

I came across a stash of old wide-mouth peanut butter jars a few months ago.

I knew instantly that they would be perfect for "still life" jars.

I'm saving a few for Christmas-themed jars.

I think I made five this years,

but only managed to photograph these three --

and I think all three have already sold.

Loved the skull on a stand that Dollar Tree

offered this year.  Perfect size for this jar.

Another of the peanut butter jars...

With a knob attached to the top it would

resemble a cloche.

Halloween "Still Life" In A Jar Using Dollar Tree Items

Thanks again to Dollar Tree for selling crows, spiders and owls for a meager dollar.  Last year I did a couple of these, incorporating natural elements in kind of a macabre still life.  This year I came up with six large jars with lids.  Probably gallon size.  So I made six still lifes (lives?).

I wanted them to look like a Victorian curiosity cabinet exhibit, so I included real branches and leaves.  Real moss.  Real tree fungus (make sure this is good and dry or it is stinky).  The birds had wire already attached to their feet, but I added hot glue just to make them secure.  A couple of the birds are "holding" bones in their beaks. (Hard to get a good photo of them behind glass.)
 This was accomplished by snipping apart tiny dollar tree skeletons.  Using the forearm piece, I snipped a place in one of the bones so that I could glue it to the underside of the beak and still have it look like it was coming out on either side of the beak.  Other "parts" of the skeleton I scattered around underneath.

Two of the jars were not large enough for the birds, but did have a wider opening.  I was able to put a real nest in each of these.  Scatter more tiny body parts, and make this the eerie home of a big hairy spider.  I'm only asking $12-$14 each, but the enjoyment factor I got from making them was priceless.