DIY: Photo Snow Globes

photo snowglobe DIY custom - Photo Snow Globes featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

photo snowglobe DIY custom - Photo Snow Globes featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Momphoto snowglobe DIY custom - Photo Snow Globes featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

Here it is. Our fifth sibling gift project for Christmas 2010. And I think it turned out charming. Oscar made photo snow globes for each of his siblings (and one for himself too).

We had every thing we needed for this project right in our house, expect white PVC pipe. So we stopped at the hardware store and picked up a 1 foot length of pipe for .33 cents, then we were ready to go.

DIY MAGICAL PHOTO SNOW GLOBES

photo snowglobe DIY custom - Photo Snow Globes featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

If you’re looking for an easy last-minute gift your kids can make, this is a great one. A fun project for big kids or little kids.

photo snowglobe DIY custom - Photo Snow Globes featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Momphoto snowglobe DIY custom - Photo Snow Globes featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

1) We split this photo snow globes project into two parts. One evening, we prepped our baby food jars — we scraped off labels and painted the lids. Then we let them dry overnight. (Although really, they would have been dry enough to work with in about an hour.)

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2) The next morning, we finished the project. We made “snow” by grating the PVC pipe on our cheese grater.

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3) Then we prepped the images. We printed out image strips that measured 1.5 inches high by 5.75 inches wide. We used a smiling and frowning photo for each child. We trimmed out each image strip so there were no white edges showing.

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4) Then we waterproofed the images by laminating them with clear packing tape. We used a piece of tape on each side of the image strip and then trimmed them out leaving a little edge of tape all around.

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5) After the photo strips were laminated, we used more packing tape to loop them into circles.

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6) Next we placed them into the bottles. We forgot to put them upside down! So we had to take them out and do it again.

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7) Then, we filled the jars about halfway with water, added a few drops of glycerin — about half a lid — and filled the rest of the bottle with more water. (Glycerin is there to help the snow drift more slowly. I heard clear corn syrup works as well.)

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8) Once the bottles were filled, we screwed on the lids as tightly as we could and turned the jars upside down. Voilá: Photo Snow globes! Shake them and admire them to your heart’s content.

snowglobe photo DIY custom - Photo Snow Globes featured by popular lifestyle blogger, Design Mom

Need more sibling gift ideas? We made several fun projects this year: Monogram Mugs, Bleached Out Tees, Bottlecap Magnets and Custom Leather Patches. You can also find a list of projects from past Christmases here.

108 thoughts on “DIY: Photo Snow Globes”

  1. Two things: 1. This is SUCH a great gift idea! I want to make these as favors for my 2 year old’s birthday next month! 2. Thank you for sharing the sibling gifts. They are all absolutely adorable ideas.

  2. so cool! I can’t wait to make these some day.

    We made the monogram mugs for my husband’s staff–we stuck starbucks cards in them and wrapped them in festive ribbon. My husband rarely has time to stop and smell the flowers, much less do a crafty project, but he really enjoyed it and it was a great bonding time.

    Thanks for the inspiration Gaby and Merry Christmas!!

  3. I have been dying to make little snowglobes but couldn’t find anything cute to put in them. This idea is perfect! Now my kids can make them for each other! THANK YOU!!

  4. Very cute. I love your homemade sibling gifts. We’re doing duct tape wallets, bead bracelets, and boards found under the porch glued onto junk and painted with chalkboard paint. Awesome.

  5. Eli was so excited to see Oscar on the computer today! Miss you all – maybe we can make time for a playdate this week?!?

    Great project. I have a bag of artificial snow that I think I will try. We don’t have baby food jars around any more, but I do think my honey jars will work. Hmmm….

  6. you totally read my mind. we are making snowglobes at our christmas eve party with some minature animals and trees i picked up from our hobby store. i’m glad to hear corn syrup might work because i’m almost out of glycerin. love the smiley/frowny faces :)

  7. I just realized I called you gaby in my comment! Sorry about that. I have a friend named gabrielle so I call her that but I know not everyone is up for having their names shortened. Anyway, Merry Christmas ;-)

  8. Brilliant!! Honest to gosh, i just today looked up craft ideas for using baby food jars (with a 7 month old im starting to have quite a lot of them just like you). I found the snowglobe idea but not with photos. I was just going to use waterproof glue and small plastic ornaments. The phot idea is even better! Love it! Thanks!!!

  9. so wonderful…you have inspired me to do sibling gifts….and your children’s names melt my heart……I just love the names…..my oldest is Stella (and she really lives up to it, glamorous and an old soul)……christmas blessings to you and yours!!!!!!!!

  10. What a great project idea! I wish I knew about this sooner. It would have made a fantastic craft activity for the classroom parties as well — there are only so many handmade ornaments made from foam stickers that I can handle… Next year, for sure!

    Happy Holidays!

  11. when you do these gifts, do the other siblings know what is going to be made for them? and i know that ralph has posted on here before, so they probably read the blog if they feel like it- is the surprise still possible on Christmas morning? i’m just wondering because i’m working on my brood of a family and trying to wrap my brain around how this works! :)

    1. Great questions, Kristin.

      We do try to keep each gift/project a secret. Since each of the kids know they’ll get a turn to make something, they’re pretty great about not trying to peek while the other kids have their turns. We’ll put on a Christmas movie for the family, or send everyone on a walk, and then one of the kids will stay with me and make gifts. It’s not perfect, but it works all right.

      As for the blog, my kids know that they’re forbidden to read it for about 5 weeks before Christmas. Again, they enjoy the surprises, so they’re good about abiding by that injunction.

  12. I loved this idea so much I decided to do it for our last minute “gift toppers”. I’m having fits, however, trying to get the photos printed in such an odd size. I can’t convince my home photo printer to do it, and any online site is cropping the photo back to a standard size. Can you offer some advice on how you made this work?

    Many thanks for all your lovely ideas and inspiration!

  13. Dear Gabe,

    Hello there from Wellington, New Zealand. Thought I should finally email to say hello and Merry christmas to y’all.
    I have been reading your blog since May I think, and I really enjoy your enthusiasm and creative charm. Man you do motherhood well, ( I imagine everything is done well). So thank you for sharing your lovely blog.

    I have made 15 bleached t shirts this chrissy and they have turned out fantastically well. And I generally dont excell at crafts.

    Congrats on the French move, think its brave and wonderful.

    All the best for a happy festive season,

    Phillipa
    ( mummy to her gem Jimmy James )

  14. Thanks for the great idea. The kids and I made one today and it turned out great. I used contact paper instead of the packaging tape (didn’t have any!).

  15. To make them more leak proof, run a strip of Teflon tape around the jar threads a few times prior to putting on the lid. It’ll make for a better water tight seal. Couple hundred feet of tape runs about $0.50-$1.00 at any hardware store.

  16. Can I ask where you got the photo strips printed? Or did you print from your personal printer? I’m having a hard time getting any of the mass printing services to cooperate with the size you suggested.

    Thanks

  17. this is a very lovely project! love the idea with the photos! i’ve been making snowdomes for many years, but with little items glued inside the lid.
    i prefer using more than just a few drops of glycerin.

    another thing i want to strongly recommend is to use destilled water for this project. it will help keep your photo snowglobes beautiful for a much longer time!

  18. This is great!! Thanks, it got me to try snow globe making again!! I used this, with a few changes, to make some snow globes with my daughter’s preschool class yesterday!

  19. I did a test run before doing the craft with 24 Kindergartners. I followed everything to a “T” but my image began to bleed. Is there any way to make them better at being waterproof. I tried to double-wrap but the image just doesn’t look the same. H.E.L.P!

  20. Your snow globe project was a perfect choice for my son’s class room. My son is 9 y.o. and on the autism spectrum. He is highly visual and mesmerized by the swirling snow globes. I offered to coordinate the craft project for his class holiday party and their “peer buddy” volunteers. Shouldn’t have been surprised that the 10 and 11 y.o. children loved the globes too! Thank you for the inspiration!

  21. would glitter work as well with the snow? i was thinking a little sparkle mixed in with the snow would look especially festive!

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