Glitter Jar

At our last MOPS meeting, our craft coordinator issued us a challenge. We made jar cookies; that is, we put the dry ingredients for cookies into a Ball jar to take home. After we baked the cookies, Anggie told us we should reuse the jar and then send her pictures. I had no idea what to do with my jar. Make a fancy pen holder? Fill it with marbles? Drink lemonade from my jar?  Hmm.

I finally thought of a project I wanted to try. Some people call it a calming jar, or a settle-down jar. The idea is that you fill it with water and glitter, shake, and watch the glitter settle to the bottom, which has a calming effect. What a great idea for tantrum-prone girls and their mommy! (This frazzled Mommy could also use a settle-down jar, especially now that school’s out for the summer!)

At first, I thought I added too much food coloring, but as I watched the jar, it reminded me of The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. Another use for this simple Ball jar…teaching great art!

Starry Night Glitter Jar

How to make your own Starry Night Glitter Jar:

Fill your jar about halfway with hot water and add some blue glitter glue. (I bought a small bottle on sale, and squeezed the whole bottle into the jar.) Stir. Add silver glitter, blue glitter and blue food coloring. (If you can find some star-shaped glitter, that would add to the effect! I didn’t have any.) Stir, and fill the jar with water leaving about an inch at the top. Fill the jar to the top with vegetable oil. The oil is an unnecessary ingredient, but it did add some fun “bubbles” to the jar. Tighten the lid securely. Shake and whirl to make your own Starry Night!

Starry Night glitter jar

 

I own a series of art books by Mike Venezia. The library also has a lot of kid friendly art books which you can use to introduce Van Gogh and The Starry Night to your own kids. Van Gogh was a very interesting character!

Van Gogh by Mike Venezia

Speaking of Ball jars, I’ve also been the lucky recipient of a jar of strawberry jam from The Mayor of Crazyville. Yum! What other ideas for jars do you have? Leave a link in your comment if you’ve blogged about using jars. I’d love to see your ideas!

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Country Club Breakfast

After posting this picture of the egg casserole I made for MOPS this morning on Facebook, I received several requests for the recipe. My mom used to make this casserole for a special breakfast or brunch, along with a yummy coffee cake that had cherry pie filling in it. I really love to use ham-off-the-bone, and will cube some leftover Easter or Christmas ham to stick in the freezer until I need it. Even though this casserole is easy to put together, it does require a little pre-planning. I usually assemble it the night before I need it, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Country Club Breakfast – an easy egg, ham and cheese casserole

Country Club Breakfast

7 slices cubed bread
1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, cut into strips
1/2 lb. cooked ham, cubed
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1 stick butter

In a 9″ X 13″ pan, place 5 slices of the cubed bread. Place cheese strips on top of bread, then cubed ham on cheese strips. Beat eggs and add milk, salt and mustard. Pour over ham. Melt butter and pour over all. Place remaining 2 slices of bread cubed on top. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Bake for 1 hour, uncovered, at 325 degrees.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Click here to print this recipe!

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