As many of you know, I have a great passion for captivating children using their imaginations.  To me, there is nothing more beautiful than the sight of a child lost in the magic of their imagination.  It’s one of the reasons I picked photography back up after high school… because I was having children and wanting to freeze those moments in time.

This excitement crosses over into other areas of my life, not surprisingly.  I am that mom that goes all out for birthday parties, Christmas, and other holidays.  I enjoy it.  I truly do.  This year Sasha and I have planned a fairy birthday party (which is happening tomorrow – pictures of that to come later).  I wanted to incorporate an Imagination Session into the fun for her.  She’s very photogenic and really loves to “play” in front of the camera.  I love it!

I had a few fun ideas for her session already mapped out in my mind when a dear old friend directed me to a tutorial online on how to make a glow jar.  I was giddy over the idea, especially alongside everything else I’d planned.  However I had to figure out how to make one for myself.  So I’m going to tell YOU how I did it.  Because some of the tutorials I found were misleading.

I used a 24 oz. (I think?) Mason Jar.  Bought some glow bracelets from the $1 spot at Target  and used 3 in similar shades (the yellow/orange), to keep with the fairy theme (I was thinking fireflies).  First you activate the glow sticks.  Then you snip one end off (over a paper towel or your jar).  Place it open side down into the jar and tap it from side to side.  The fluid should splatter against the sides.  Turn it as you go to get good, even coverage.  And that’s it.  Other tutorials tell you to add glitter.  Or to replace the lid and shake it.  The glitter did not enhance the glow for me at all.  And shaking the jar just made the fluid slide down the sides and gather at the bottom of the jar.  I also read in other tutorials that the glow would last a few hours.  Mine lasted a little more than an hour, if that.

Anyway, here are the photos from her session.  I love the glow jar, but we had a lot of fun with the glitter and her fun new fairy book, too.  Not to mention, just make believing she was a real fairy, dancing in the woods!

“There was a place in childhood that I remember well, and there a voice of sweetest tone bright fairy tales did tell”–Samuel Lover