Baby Shower Gift Craft Idea : Baby's First Keepsake Jar

This craft project uses a recycled baby food jar to make a lovely keepsake gift for new a parent. It makes a wonderful baby shower gift or a first birthday gift for the new parents you know. I've made several of them as gifts, and they're always well-received.

Start with a clean empty baby food jar and its matching lid. One of the short ones works best. First we will make the lid. You will need a circle of fabric that's about 1 inch bigger than the lid all the way around. So if you are looking at the diameter of your circle it will actually be 2 inches bigger than the diameter of the baby food jar lid.

If you would like to add a decorative edge to your fabric circle, cut out your fabric with pinking shears. (Pinking shears are those special siccsors that make a zig-zag edge when then cut.) You can find pinking shears in the sewing or crafts department of your local discount store.

Run a bead of glue or hot glue around the outer edge of the lid. Put of few cotton balls or a small handful of fiberfill on top of the lid and lay your fabric over the cotton balls or fiberfill so that it lays down and the edge of it sticks into the glue. You should end up with your circle of fabric glued all around the edge of the jar lid, and a little puffed-up spot right over the top of the lid so it's not quite flat.

Take a piece of ribbon an wrap it around the edge of the jar lid. This will cover up any wrinkles or imperfections in how you laid your fabric onto your lid edge. If it doesn't seem stable enough you can add an extra bead of glue to hold it together as well.

On the top center of your jar lid fabric you can add a message saying what should go in this jar; 'Baby's First Curl', 'Baby's First Tooth', 'Baby's Belly Button'. Whatever you think the new parents would like to use this keepsake box for.

If you embroider, you may wish to embroider the words onto the fabric before you glue it to the lid. Otherwise you can use puff paint, craft pens, or any other medium to mark out the words.

Paint the outside of the baby food jar with craft paint to coordinate with the fabric that you used on the top and give it a chance to dry. Put a layer of fiberfill or soft flannel on the inside bottom of the jar as a resting place for the keepsakes that will be put in it later. Add a drop of glue underneath it to anchor it to the bottom of the jar.

Give everything a chance to dry in place and then screw the lid on loosely before you wrap it. You have a beautiful keepsake gift that any parent would love!

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