Encouragement Jar-Friendship Series #2

I often try and think of ideas to encourage my friends. One of my friends just had a birthday and I wanted to give her a special gift to encourage her, not only on her birthday, but whenever she might need it.  This particular friend is in a hard job situation right now and anyone who has been in this situation before, knows that it can be a real struggle to be positive everyday when there is continual negativity all around you.  It can be a challenge to go into this situation every day.  I decided to give my friend an "Encouragement Jar".  I told her that whenever she needs encouragement, she should go to this jar and pick out one envelope of encouragement.  Each envelope is filled with a candy bar and an encouraging verse from the Bible.  Here are the steps to making an encouragement jar.

1.  I went to the Dollar store and found a glass jar that would fit several small envelopes.  You might find a jar at home or an old candy jar or mason jar that you could recycle for this purpose.

2.  I used a Sizzix die with my Big Shot to make 15 small envelopes, big enough to hold a piece of candy and a Bible verse.  You can purchase small envelopes for this purpose or use the Envelope Punch Board from my last post to make your envelopes.

3.  I typed different encouraging Bible verses and then printed them out.  I cut them apart and folded each one separately to put with my candy.

4.  I purchased Andes mints and Dove Dark Chocolate for this gift but you can use whatever candy you want or find out your friends' favorite candy to use.

5.  I then decorated the jar with a ribbon that matched my paper envelopes and made an accordion flower for the top.  To make this I measured the top of my jar. My jar lid was 4", so I cut a strip of paper, 2"x12".  I made score lines every 1/4" with my scoreboard and then folded the paper back and forth like an accordion.  Glue the ends together and then flatten to form the flower.  Glue a 1" circle to the back to hold it and also one in the front.  I then added a matching button with a glue dot on top. You could also purchase a fake flower for the top of the jar and glue to on.

Here are the pictures of the finished encouragement jar:

My friend already texted me that after a bad day at work, she was going home to pick an encouragement out of her jar. Hope you liked this idea.  Go encourage your own friend today!