Craft Ideas Using Empty Baby Food Jars

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There is just something about a baby food jar that makes you want to prolong its usefulness. Its stout cuteness spurs the imagination. If you have children, there is a good chance you also have a stash of empty baby food jars hidden somewhere. Here are several fun craft ideas using empty baby food jars, so you can finally justify keeping them all this time.

Storage Containers
Baby food jars make great storage containers for individual colors or types of beads, buttons, and other crafting tools. Make sure the jars are clean and dry and fill with craft tools of your choice. They are pretty enough to store on an open shelf.

Candle Holders
Baby food jars make great candle holders for tea lights or votive candles. You can also make candles from hot beeswax, melted crayons, or melted candle wax scavenged from used candles by pouring it into a baby food jar over a suspended wick. Tie the wick to a heavy washer on one end and a toothpick on the other end. Rest the toothpick over the opening of the jar with the wick and washer dangling inside. The wick should be just long enough for the washer to lie flat and the wick to remain taut.

Jar Gardens
Make a jar garden with baby food jars. You’ll need a small amount of clay or florist foam, silk flowers, glue, and a small swatch of fabric. Unscrew the cap from a clean, dry baby food jar. Glue the clay or florist foam to the lid. Arrange tiny silk flowers in a design on the foam. Screw the jar onto the cap, being careful to get all the flowers inside the jar. Glue or tie a square of fabric around the jar lid for a pretty presentation.

Shakers and Sound Makers
Empty baby food jars make great baby toys. You can make shakers or sound makers by filling the baby food jars with different items. Try rice in one, nuts and washers in another, beads in another, and more with pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters. These toys are pretty enough to be displayed. Take care to always supervise children when they are using these toys. Baby food jars are made of glass and can break, and many of the fillers are choking hazards.

Dispensers
Baby food jars make cute dispensers for salt, pepper, cinnamon-sugar, and homemade spice blends. With a drill press or awl, poke holes in the jar lid. Fill with desired spice, and screw lid and jar together tightly. Try garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper for a great steak seasoning. You can also use this kind of dispenser as a glitter shaker.

Air Freshener
Poke holes in the jar lid with a drill press or awl. Fill jar with potpourri, room freshener gel, or essential oil and water. Try lemon and grapefruit essential oils for the kitchen, lavender and lemon essential oils for the bedroom, and rose potpourri with rose oil instead of a sachet in your linen cabinet or clothes drawers.

Snow Globe
Here’s how to make an innovative gift out of a baby food jar. You’ll need a strong water-proof glue, large grain glitter, water, and a toy or object that is small enough to fit inside the baby food jar. It needs to have a flat surface that can sit flush with the baby food jar lid. Glue the object to the baby food jar lid and let dry for several hours. Add 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of glitter to the baby food jar. Fill the baby food jar with water, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top. Put glue around the inside edge of the jar lid and screw lid on, carefully inserting the toy. Flip over the jar and you’ll see glitter “snow” falling around your toy inside the globe.

Learn About The Bad Side Of Organic Foods

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Are you interested in making the switch to organic foods? If you are, you may want to first verify that you are making the right decision. You likely already know the many benefits to eating organic foods, as these benefits are often prominently displayed and advertised. With that being said, we rarely hear the disadvantages to eating organic foods.

One of the few disadvantages to eating organic foods is the cost. Do you know how much most organic foods costs? If not, you may first want to examine those costs before you make the decision to switch to organic foods. There is nothing worse than being blindsided or surprised with the cost of organic foods. After a close look, you will see that organic foods do cost a little bit more money, but that increase in cost can add up overtime.

Although the cost of organic food may turn you and other hopeful eaters away, it is also important to know that there are multiple ways in which you can go about saving money. For example, you can search for organic food sales at your local natural food stores or supermarkets. You stock up when you see those sales or choose to shop at a store that is know for their everyday low prices on organic foods. Organic food coupons can also be used. These coupons can be found online, with a standard internet search, in many stores, as well as in weekend newspapers.

In addition to costs, another disadvantage to eating organically is the limited selection of products that some individuals are faced with. Luckily, not everyone is faced with this organic food eating disadvantage. Often times, those who live in small cities and towns find it the hardest to buy organic foods. With that being said, it doesn’t matter whether you live in a small town or a huge city, there are still a number of different ways that you can go about buying organic foods.

A great way to buy organic foods if you live in a small town is by going directly to the source, organic farmers. This is great way to get your organic fruits and vegetables, as many small towns now have organic farmers. You can also search for specialty organic food stores by using online business directories, your local phone book, or by asking those that you know for recommendations. The internet can also be used to shop online.

As previously stated, you can shop online to buy organic foods, but it is also important to know that there are a number of cons or downsides to doing so. This is mostly due in part to the requirements of shopping online. For example, a computer and internet connection is required to shop online. Many online shoppers also need to pay for shipping costs. Speaking of payments, most online food stores only accept credit or specific debit cards, namely those that can be processed as credit cards.

Although there are a number of disadvantages to eating organic foods, it is also important to remember the benefits or advantages to doing so as well. For starters, organic foods are all natural and safe to eat. There is no having to worry about potentially harmful chemicals, additives, and pesticides. Organic foods are also helping the environment and the economy.