Quick Valentine's gift ⋆ Julie's Notebook

I dislike the commercial cards and all the balloons and gimmicks that go with valentines day each year. All that money for a tacky gift, no thanks.

I’m going to show you how to make a thoughtful and inexpensive gift. A stained glass effect candle jar. What you need is a jar, some tissue paper, a paint brush, PVA or Modge Podge glue and about half an hour.

Firstly paint the jar in glue. Start ripping up bits of tissue and sticking bits to the jar. White is a great base colour. Mixed up with the white paper are pale pink pieces. I got these damp in a bowl of water so the ink leaks into the white.

If your jar has a lid repeat what you’ve just done. But be careful not to cover the bit that closes so it still works.

Then get a different colour of paper and rip off a long thin strip. Twist it it one direction until it resembles twine. Use this twine drowned in more glue to write a message on the front.

Cover all the paper again in a layer of PVA, this not only glues it all down but will act like a clear varnish. Take care that no decoration is on the inside, this could be a fire risk.
Now you can just wait for it to dry, perhaps whilst dinner is cooking, and present it to your loved one with a scented candle inside.
I’ve gone for a small “red berries” pillar candle from Wilko – smells fabulous but was just £1. You could use a tea light, but a scented one is more thoughtful.

The paper was also cheap, from a pound shop whilst the glue is left over from DIY. That means that this gift cost £2.
I also bought an artist canvas and made this using the paper twining as above.

Name blurred for privacy.

But if craft isn’t your thing maybe give a gift that keeps giving ….

This little widget is made by My Voucher Codes and the good thing about subscription boxes are you can do it last minute. Just scribble something mentioning it in a Valentines card. You could even buy it after the weekend, your other half won’t know.