Craft Projects, Quick and Easy Crafts

DIY: Mini glow-in-the-dark patio jars

The hubby and I are having a housewarming party in August, and it’s never too early to start planning! I’ve seen a lot of different versions of the glow-in-the-dark mason jar floating around Pinterest, so I figured I’d try to make my own. Instead of mason jars, I turned little peach preserve jars into glow-in-the-dark lights that will be perfect for around our patio. I picked up these cute jars at a yard sale for one whole dollar. What a find!

To get the glow effect, I decided to use glow-in-the-dark paint. Other e have been using glow stick “juice,” but that doesn’t last more than a night. If you use paint, the glow will recharge once reintroduced to light. The paint I chose was less than $2 and I was able to paint half of the jars with it.

I painted half of my jars using a paint brush and the other half with a sponge.

I originally wanted to see if one would cover the jar better than the other, but I liked that the paint brush created a vertical stripe in the paint, while the sponge created a horizontal stripe. I did a thick coat on my jars, then let them dry overnight.

With the inside of the jars covered with glow paint, the jars had a splendid little glow. BUT, I wanted a fantastic glow. So, I squirted gobs of the glow paint into the bottom of each jar, then swirled each jar to spread it around. I then flipped each jar upside down so the paint would trickle down the sides.

I’ll admit, the jars aren’t  super pretty or anything… but man do they look cool at night!

Once it got dark out, I held my glow jar up to a light in our bedroom.

I then went outside and put the jar on our patio to watch it glow.

Pretty cool, huh? For less than $3, I have seven glow jars for our patio! They are too fun.

Recipes

Homemade Chocolate Pudding/Mousse recipe

Ready. Set. Go. Recipe time!

My coworker recently shared her homemade chocolate pudding recipe with me and I am officially addicted. (Thanks a lot, Rachel!)

I tweaked the recipe a bit, subbing Splenda for the sugar and cooking the pudding on the stove instead of in the microwave… and it is ah-maz-ing. Seriously, you have to make yourself.

… well what are you waiting for?

You only need four ingredients for this pudding (five if you want to turn it into chocolate mousse), so get out your grocery list and jot these down:

  1. 2 1/4 cups of skim milk
  2. 3 tablespoons of flour
  3. 1/2 cup of cocoa powder (unsweetened)
  4. 1/2 cup of Splenda (or sugar… or any other substitute)
  5. cups of cool whip (only for the mousse!!)

Combine your milk, cocoa powder, flour and splenda in a bowl and mix. You need to mix them super well, otherwise you might get chunks in your pudding (ew). I cooked my pudding on the stove on a medium heat, stirring constantly. Once the mixture becomes thick (usually right when it comes to a boil or soon thereafter), take it off the stove and pour it into a bowl. Place it in the refrigerator until it cools down and is ready to eat.

Note: Rachel makes her pudding in the microwave, heating it at 2-minute increments and stirring in between. She said it usually takes her 3 -4 rounds until it’s ready. I tried this first, but I wasn’t crazy about the consistency. Having said that, I didn’t mix all of the powder in that great the first time around. I think that was the real problem. Either way, the microwave or the stove works!!

Here’s where you can spice up your pudding should you choose to do so. Once my pudding was ready to go, I mixed in the 2 cups of cool whip, effectively turning my pudding into chocolate mousse. Yummo.

I topped it with a squirt of whipped cream and a few strawberries from my garden. (Only one strawberry made it to the picture… so guilty!) SO YUMMY.

I took this delicious snack outside on our new patio furniture (pictures of our cute set soon!) and ate my yummy summer snack.

The hubs and the Rems joined me. It was a lovely way to spend part of our evening!

Brian annoyed that I am taking his photo and that his friend is beating him at Scramble with Friends.
“Some of that dessert is mine, right?”

So have you added those ingredients to your grocery list or what?! You won’t be disappointed!

Thanks again for the recipe, Rachel.