Delight the teacher or principal in your life with a pencil jar. Not just any pencil jar… but a No. 2 pencil jar. Fill with pencils that have pretty felt flowers made your school colors. This makes a great gift for the back-to-school season – or any time!

Difficulty level: Easy
Time required: 1 hour
Age range: 10+

Things you’ll need:
Pint mason jar
Yellow acrylic paint
Felt sheet
Paint brush
Scissors
Hot glue gun and hot glue
Black permanent marker
Small piece of poster board or light cardboard
6-8 pencils

Things to do:
1. Paint your jar with two coats of yellow paint, allowing the paint to dry between layers. Don’t paint around the lip area, since you’ll be screwing the band back on (the band only – you’ll leave the flat metal lid out).

2. Decide how many pencils you’ll have in the jar, and make a round template that’s the size you’ll want the flowers to be. Mark a circle in the center to fit over the pencil eraser later.

3. With a few snips, make your circle template into a flower. Trace onto the felt and cut out however many flowers you’ve decided to use. Make sure you also cut out the center of each flower.

4. Warm up your hot glue gun and glue the flower to the pencil, just beneath the eraser. Repeat for all pencils.

5. When the jar is completely dry, use your black permanent maker to write No. 2″ on the jar so it stands out. Screw the band on the jar. Fill with your pencils and share with your favorite teacher, principal, or school secretary!