The same Mason jars you use for preserves can also be used for cute turkey crafts.
Mason jars are a staple for preserving vegetables, pickles and homemade jelly, but you can also use them as the basis for fun fall crafts. Children and adults alike can enjoy making turkey-themed decorations and gifts to help set a Thanksgiving table, enliven a harvest dinner party, or make a home more festive in autumn.
Napkin Holder
Schoolchildren sometimes make a turkey napkin holder out of cardboard tubes with a fan-folded napkin to simulate the turkey's colorful tail feathers. A mason jar makes a heavier base for this project, and it is reusable. Wrap the jar in construction paper or fabric. Glue or stitch on wings, feet and face made out of felt or construction paper. The napkin will retain its shape better if you lightly starch and iron it before the fan fold. To retain the pleats, iron it again after folding.
Handprint Turkey Tail
Another way to use a mason jar as a base for a turkey decoration reinvents a favorite children's Thanksgiving craft in which the tracings of a child's hands and feet are used to assemble the turkey's body and tail. To begin, wrap a mason jar with brown construction paper. Use a foot tracing glued to the front as the basis for the breast and face. Trace the child's hands on construction paper in fall colors, then cut them out and tape them to the ends of bamboo skewers or wooden chopsticks. Fill the jar with dried beans to weigh it down. Place the skewers into the jar, arranging them to simulate tail feathers.
Turkey Dinner Kit
Instead of turning the mason jar into a turkey, use a decorated jar to help prepare a real turkey for dinner. Jennifer McDonnal, writing for Scoop! Magazine, suggests packaging the dry ingredients for Valentine's Day cookies in mason jars. Adapting this idea, try decorating a jar with a picture from last year's family dinner, turkey stickers or die cuts. Fill this jar with the dried herbs from your favorite turkey recipe, such as sage, thyme, kosher salt and black pepper. Because these ingredients are not bulky, use a smaller size mason jar. Finish with a color-coordinated cloth topper, and tie a ribbon around the jar.
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