Mosaic Bath Jars for Mom

Mosaic bath jars filled with homemade bath salts make great gifts for moms this Mother's Day. Thanks to this craft project from Heidi Borchers of Inspired at Home, she can relax in the bath with a reminder of your love. Use the recipe below for bath salts or read more bath salt recipes here. 

You can also listen to this project as you craft, read by Heidi Borchers.
 

Materials:

• Clear self adhesive laminate film (like Contact paper)
• Glass jars
• Mosaic pieces (ceramic and glass tiles, mirrors, stained glass, china, beads)
• Embellishments (optional) – charms, tiny flowers
• Goggles
• Scissors
• Wheeled tile nippers
• Texture Magic Dimensional Paint - (available in assorted colors or you can tint the white with acrylic paints)
• Palette knife
• Tweezers
• Yarns
• Glass beads
• Aleene's® Stop Fraying® Glue

Instructions:

1. To create the stencil, trace half of a heart shape onto the paper side of the self-adhesive film. Fold in half and cut out. You will be using the outside part of the film on the jar and the inside heart shape as the placement pattern.
    
2. Place the heart shape onto workspace. Arrange the alphabet letters and mosaic pieces onto the pattern to determine placement. Use the nippers to cut the pieces as needed. (Always use goggles when cutting tiles and glass.) When placing onto pattern, leave a small amount of space between each piece.
    
3. Remove the paper backing from the film piece that you cut from the self-adhesive paper and place sticky side down onto the glass jar or bottle front aligning to be certain that it is centered. This is now the stencil that you are going to use to create the heart shape from the dimensional paint.
    
4. Squeeze the dimensional paint onto the glass in the heart area of the stencil and spread evenly to approximately 1/8” thickness using the back side of the palette knife. This dimensional paint will be acting like the grout for your tile pieces. While the paint is still wet, carefully lift the stencil from the glass.
    
5. Carefully place the alphabet letters first. Then continue to transfer the mosaic pieces from the pattern onto the wet paint. (Use tweezers to help pick up small pieces.) Allow paint to dry.
    
6. Tie pieces of yarns around the neck of the jar. Place small amount of glue onto the ends of the yarn. Let dry. Thread the beads onto the yarns and knot the ends.

Heidi’s Designer Tips: You can add layers of accents to your mosaic tiles. To attach pieces on top of the mosaic, place a small amount of the dimensional paint to the back of the embellishment, like this cute little flower, and place on top of tiles where desired. Let paint dry.
 

Scented Bath Crystals

In a lidded container – to each cup of rock salt, add 3 – 5 drops of vegetable food coloring, mixing with spoon or shaking well after each couple of drops until desired color is reached. To colored crystals add 20 – 25 drops essential oils. Lavender, Rose or Geranium essential oils provide a lovely scent. Mix well or shake container until oils are thoroughly absorbed. To make them glisten like little jewels, add 1 teaspoon glycerin. Package in your pretty jar. To use, add ½ cup to your warm bath.
 

Find this homemade gift project and more Mother's Day crafts in the Crafts for Mom: 30 Free Craft Projects for Mother's Day eBook.