How To Tuesday: Chocosaurus Rex.

I'm presently propped up in bed with some of the fluffiest pillows I've ever had the pleasure of smushing in our hotel room in Winnipeg. This week we're visiting family and friends and keeping pretty busy between restaurants, swimming pools, museums, zoos, rivers, lakes and camp sites to name a few.

I'm the sort of person that never likes to come to a party empty handed. Nothing says “nice to meet you!” like a jar full of chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Add some ribbon and a dinosaur and you have yourself one adorable, unique and thoughtful gift, one that you can be pretty certain they've never received before.

This is something you can whip up easily and inexpensively in an afternoon. I've seen so many DIY posts floating around featuring these plastic animals you can get at pretty much any dollar store, so I just had to try it out for myself. These jars are perfect for all sorts of occasions like a favour for a dinosaur-themed birthday party, a gift for the budding archaeologist in your life, or a baby shower favour. You could even swap out the dinos for bunnies and fill the jars with chocolate eggs for a super cute Easter gift.

You'll need...

Mason jars
Medium sandpaper
Super glue
Small plastic animals
White spray paint (primer)
Colour of your choice spray paint
Ribbon
Tags
Cookies or other treats (of course!)

Start by removing the lids from the jars and sand each piece thoroughly to ensure the paint will stick to the metal. If you skip this simple step, no matter how many coats of paint you apply, it may chip.

Apply a small amount of super glue to each foot of the animals and place them in the middle of each sanded lid. Allow a few minutes for the glue to set then start painting.

Apply a few coats of the white spray paint, making sure to turn or walk around your work surface to ensure you don't miss any spots. We prime it first because sometimes, especially with darker colours, the paint isn't opaque enough the cover the plastic animals and you end up over-applying causing drips, a loss of detail and you may even run out of paint.

Next apply a few coats of spray paint in the colour of your choice. Be sure to leave time for the paint to dry in between each coat and, after the last coat, leave them to dry overnight because you don't want that paint smell soaking into your delicious cookies.

Once the lids are dry, fill the mason jars with your treats and screw on the lids. Top it all off with some cute ribbon and a tag with a cheeky message.