Handmade Gratitude Jar

A gratitude jar is a project that has been on my to-do list for a long time.  The idea is to write down the things you are grateful for on a slip of paper and place the slips into a jar over the course of a year, pulling them out to read with loved ones at year's end.

In my household, the jar might be forgotten by the end of the year, so I chose a shorter, more manageable timeframe - daily additions to the jar for the month of November leading up to Thanksgiving.  After we've eaten our weight in turkey and stuffing, we'll pull the slips out and share them with each other over dessert.

Choose a jar to decorate and measure the circumference with a measuring tape.  I'm using a small mason jar with a circumference of about 10.25".

Trim a piece of Royal Sundance Burgundy Linen Cardstock to fit around the jar with at least a half-inch overlap.  Here, I've cut my cardstock to 2" x 11", stamped a pretty leaf design along the length in Versamark ink, added gold embossing powder, and melted it with a heat tool.

Stamp a fun sentiment onto Royal Sundance Natural Felt Cardstock with brown ink.  Since the felt cardstock is fairly textured, you may not get a perfect stamped impression, but I preferred the rustic feel!

Die-cut the sentiment out of the Natural Felt Cardstock and then die-cut a slightly larger mat layer for it out of burgundy linen cardstock.

Wrap the band around the jar snugly and glue into place with Tombow Mono Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue.  Adhere the sentiment label over the seam of the band with foam tabs.

I needed to make a lot of gratitude slips, so I kept them simple by choosing a die with a decorative edge to cut 56 slips (one for both my husband and I for 23 days) from Natural Felt Cardstock.

For just a tiny bit of embellishment, I stamped a sentiment in brown ink in one corner of each slip and a small leaf in burgundy ink in the opposite corner.

I can't wait to focus daily on the things I'm grateful for next month...and who knows, maybe it'll become a habit and last throughout the year as well!

I hope you enjoyed this easy handmade gratitude jar project and thanks so much for stopping by today.  Be sure to visit the CutCardStock store to purchase any of the products showcased today and remember that Royal Sundance Cardstocks are on sale this month!

~ Annie