Stress Jar

Now at the end of the quarter, it is safe to say that the past few weeks were very stressful. Homework, tests, and essays piled up and got finished leaving me with minimal sleep and therefore, a short temper. Well, maybe not a temper, per say, but definitely leaving me a little less patient. For this reason, my project this week has to do with relieving stress. Apparently, a stress jar is a commonly used craft in many Preschool-Kindergarten classes because it gives kids something to focus on making them forget what they were mad/stressed about. Basically, a stress jar is a jar with glitter or other shiny/interesting things suspended in fluid. When you're stressed, you shake the jar creating a snow globe like effect and wait. You wait until all the floating glitter is back at the bottom of the jar, by which time, you should be little bit calmer.

I don't know about you, but I would feel a little silly shaking a glittery jar in the middle of a classroom to get rid of my anxiety, but hey, if it works it works.

What you'll need:

Note: NO CORN SYRUP :D

• a jar (glass or otherwise, I'll be using a cheap plastic one)
• glitter
• water
• superglue

What you may want that is completely totally optional:

• Sequins or something else glittery to put in instead of/with the glitter
• food coloring
• nail polish remover (for those of us who are scared of glueing our fingers together)

Procedure:

1. Get your jar. (Like I said, mine's a cheap one I got from Staples for fifty cents because I do love a sale. You can most definitely use a glass jar, just make sure it's not huge.) Then, if there are any labels on the jar, get them off. Clean. No one wants icky residue on their jar when they're trying to de-stress. 
2. Once you have about 75-90% of your jar filled, stop and put in glitter. It's completely up to you how much glitter you want in it. I like glitter. I got a bunch of glitter at the same sale I got my jar at--I love sales. 
3. When completely satisfied with the amount of shiny in your jar, the tough part of this tutorial arrives. We must glue the lid of the jar down. With jar lid and superglue in hand, beware, because you don't want to glue your fingers together. (No worries if you do though, just use nail-polish remover to get it off. Just use a cotton ball or q-tip and rub the spot that's glued gently until the glue is gone.) Now, line the inner rim of the jar lid with super glue--you're going to have to squeeze quite hard on a superglue bottle--and screw the lid on. Give the lid 1-5 minutes to dry, depending on how cautious you are, and then lightly tip it on its side to see if it's sealed.
4. If it is, tada! You're finished. 

Have fun de-stressing!