Are You Afraid Of The Dark?

When I was younger, I was totes afraid of the dark.  Actually, I still kind of am.  As a result, I thought it would be fun to attempt making glow in the dark jars as a DIY project.

Okay, so actually, my friend recommended this DIY project to me when she first heard that Erika and I had started a blog.  (The part about me being semi-afraid of the dark is still true.  I just needed a transition from the title of this post to the actual content of the post...see the tie-in there - being afraid of the dark and making glow in the dark jars?  Eh, eh?  Anyone?)  Anyways, eager to start doing crafts and sharing my experiences, I jumped right on this DIY project.  Below is a list of all the materials that I used for this project:

1. 2, 12 inch glow sticks ($1 for a pack of 4 from the dollar store)
2. 1 Empty jar with lid
3. 1 Pair of latex gloves
4. 1 Plastic grocery bag (or any other sort of protective covering)
5. Scissors

After gathering all of the materials together, I began this DIY project.  Below are the steps I took to complete these glow jars:

1. Put on latex gloves and lay plastic grocery bag out flat on the floor (By reading about other people's experiences with this DIY project, I learned that the liquid from the glow sticks could stain my hands and clothing.)
2. Remove the lid from the jar and place the jar over the plastic bag (I hoped to prevent getting any liquid from the glow sticks on my work surface by working over a plastic bag.)
3. Crack 2 glow sticks so they glow
4. Cut the end off of one side of 1 glow stick and swirl/tap the glow stick along the inner rim of the jar to get the liquid out (repeat this process with the second glow stick)
5. Once the liquid is out of the glow sticks and into the jars, shake out any large pieces of glass that may have fallen into the jars from the glow sticks over a garbage can
6. Put the lid back onto the jar
7. Swirl the jar so the liquid spreads around the whole jar
8. ENJOY!

Creating 2 glow jars took me about 40 minutes to complete - this included set up and clean up time as well as actually creating the 2 jars.  I struggled in the beginning trying to figure out how to get the liquid out of the glow sticks.  At one point while I was working on the first jar, I found myself cutting the glow sticks into tiny pieces and pushing the liquid and glass out with a toothpick.  Super time-consuming mistake.  It wasn't until I started the second jar that I realized that I could get the liquid out by simply swirling/tapping the glow sticks along the inner rim of the jar.  Had I known this from the get-go, this project would have taken me 10 minutes tops.  Or so I like to think...

P.S. The glow jars only stayed glow-y for about an hour.

Do you know of any other fun, crafty projects using glow sticks?  Let us know about your experiences with glow jars and other glow stick projects in the comments below!

- M.