Ever walk through the craft store or flea market and see a great THING and think “That could be something amazing” but not know where to go from there. I think of myself as pretty crafty but I come up blank with ending ideas very often. I feel like I try to do to much, think of something too grand. Re-purposing and recycling doesn’t have to be difficult. Sometimes the smallest changes to something can make a beautiful and purposeful impact.
These simple mason jar DIYs are a great start to get your creative muscles a workout.
Start with mason jars of all sizes and colors. Buy what appeals to you. I have an obsession with antique Blue Mason Jars with Zinc lids. I collect them when I can find them and actually use them all over my kitchen to hold baking supplies, spices and sometimes flowers
Adding some decorative touches to a mason jar will immediately transform it. My daughter is obsessed with Washi Tape so she’s wrapping it around everything she can get her hands on similar to this Washi Tape Jar from Nileey Sphere shown above. Maybe paint is your thing. Where you brush it on or spray it on it’s going to look amazing. These painted and distressed jars from It All Started With Paint can hold flowers, plants, paintbrushes and kitchen utensils for years to come when treated properly. Use what you have. Start simple and be proud of everything you create.
Using an 18-count egg carton Sabreena fashioned her own Mancala board and grabbed some glass gems from my craft cabinet. Within 1 hour of her big idea she and Shae were playing. Like I said I didn’t know how to play the game but apparently Shae did and they went through about 4 games before dinnertime. This is now a nightly ritual, one I don’t mind at all. I’m gonna bring all the quiet games into the living room so we can have nightly intellectual games instead of tv and video game time. Materials and Directions
Cut 2 sections of 2 cups to use as the “store” and cut out the dividers of those 2 pieces. Glue the store cups on the ends of the remaining carton, set aside to dry for several minutes. Seal up the holes in the “store” cups with paper or tape. 
The girls used colorful tissue paper and mod podge. This just made the game board a little more festive.
Your game is ready to play with marbles, rocks, seeds, beads or in our case glass gems.
Mancala is the word for this type of “sowing” game. There are many versions of it around the world from many cultures. 
