Gratitude jar

Remember our adventure to Goodwill last weekend to pick up the perfect jar?  I've been waiting to make it over into a gratitude jar, but since it involved spray paint Dave wouldn't let me work on it unless I was either outside or in a ventilated area...that meant it had to be daylight, not raining, and not so cold I'd freeze.  Today was the perfect combination of those 3, so I got to work.

I printed out a few pages full of 'thanks' in different fonts and sizes, not knowing which one would be just right.  Then there were too many options, so I handed them to Dave and asked him to point to one.  Very scientific.

I put some painter's tape on a cutting board, and then taped the thanks, chosen by Dave, on top of the painter's tape.  Then I used a craft knife to outline the letters.

Once all the letters were cut out, I removed the painter's tape from the cutting board and lined it up on the jar.  Then I wrapped the rest of the jar with newspaper so I wouldn't get spray paint all over the glass.

I used the glass frosting spray that I used for my pantry door project, which was a half-fail because I didn't frost both sides of the glass. 

I let it dry for about 45 minutes between coats and probably sprayed 3 coats on it because I wanted it to stand out rather than be a subtle frosting.  Wop-wop, when I took the tape off after the jar sat in the sun all afternoon, I  noticed some seepage and uneven lines.

I almost cried until Dave suggested I use the craft knife to straighten up the lines - worked like a charm!  It's still definitely not a professional job, but most hand-made things turn out that way.  I think it makes them original :)  I wish I had a picture of my face while I was doing this step, because the determination would inspire thousands :)  Haha.

Here's the finished product - love it!

I just found out my mom is coming to visit for a few days, and that will inspire the first note of gratitude dropped in the jar!  I'm so used to seeing her 1 week out of the year, so having 11 days with her instead of 7 this year is a treat!

Here's the jar, along with some fally sheets of scrapbook paper we'll use for our notes of gratitude...I wrote a few so far, but will be doing at least one a day between now and Christmas.