DIY Gumball Machine Waterless Snow Globes!

I am so honored to be teaming up with Hometalk.com and CountryLiving.com as part of their 2015 "Home For Christmas" blog hop. My project is a unique DIY Christmas decor idea that I think you're going to love! So read along and find out how to make one for yourself!
Waterless Christmas snow globes have become quite the decorating trend over the past few years, and don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. You can find them made out of just about anything these days. I'm sure you've already seen them made out of mason jars, baby food jars, and any other kind of jar that you can imagine. But my all-time favorite container for waterless snow globes? Bubble gum machines!


I was inspired to complete this project after reading a pin-worthy blog post over at The Crafted Sparrow blog around Christmastime last year. (See cite for it in my blog post, you can click on my link at bottom of this post.) Their white gumball machine-turned snow globe really captured my heart. So this year I set out to recreate some of that vintage Christmas charm for myself. And I'm pretty excited with how it all turned out!
I picked up two inexpensive gumball machines at my local Goodwill on two separate occasions over a period of months. If you keep your eyes peeled you might just find one yourself between now and next Christmas! Once you have a gumball machine you'll need to round up the following materials:


MATERIALS


Faux snow (or Epsom Salts)


Small Christmas figurines and embellishments


Cardboard


Masking tape


Scissors


Screwdriver to disassemble the machine
Here's the gumball machine I picked up at Goodwill for $2.99. But first things first. You'll need to take the machine apart by unscrewing the screw in the very top of the lid with your screwdriver. Once you do that you're left with this.
These are the "outside" parts.
And these are the "inside" parts and bottom piece you won't need, minus one piece of plastic you will need, explained below.
Here's the plastic piece you'll want to leave inside the machine. However, it does not cover the entire circumference of the machine so you'll have to improvise. Just place the piece of plastic onto some cardboard and trace the open semicircle portion of it. Then cut that out, and tape it inside the piece to close up the hole. Regular masking tape should work fine. Then place it all back into the machine. Now on to the cute little figurines!
For the first (red) snow globe I chose a glitter bottle brush tree and tiny deer with a wreath added around its neck.
For the second (white) snow globe I added a red pick-up truck, a tiny bottle brush tree and tiny wreaths as embellishment. I also added a small chalkboard sign onto which I wrote "Trees 4 Sale".
Here's a picture of the faux snow I used. I just happened to already have it on hand. But you can also use Epsom Salts. They produce an awesome snowy look as well.
Here's the red one.
And here's the white one. Just FYI this globe was actually red as well, but I painted it white for contrast! And in case you were wondering, the fabulous woody station wagon you see in the background was painted by none other than Lucy over at Craftberry Bush. You need to hop on over to her blog (click on my link at bottom and get her link from within my blog post) where you can download this graphic, as well as many other equally amazing graphics! Just be sure to use them for personal use only!
I did not glue my figurines into place since I might want to use the machines for actual gumball machines at some point in the future! That's why it's important to save all the pieces! And I added the snow first, figurines second.


I hope you've been inspired by my DIY gumball machine waterless snow globes! If you don't have a gumball machine I'm sure you can come up with an alternative container in which to make your very own. For more tips on the how-to and photos of this project please visit me on my blog (link below), Charm Bracelet Diva {At Home} and follow me on Facebook and Twitter @CharmBraceletDiva.
Kathleen A. Our Hopeful Home Blog
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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