My Joy Jar

I saw this idea on Facebook.  The purpose behind what I have named my "Joy Jar" is to write down little things that bring me joy throughout the year,  tuck those notes in my Joy Jar, and watch the jar fill up. Then on New Year's Eve I will open it, read each note, and be reminded of some of the neat things that brought me happiness throughout 2014.

If you are like me, as the year goes on it is easy to forget little things that happened last week let alone last month.  It is so easy to get so focused on what tomorrow will bring, or what is around the corner,  that I often don't take time to celebrate the little moments as they happen and soon those moments are history.  Being intentional about writing them down right away will help keep me in the moment but also remind me of those special moments down the road.

So with the new year here I knew I had to make one right away and on New Year's Day I headed out to get what I needed for my Joy Jar. 

Here's what I bought:

1 glass jar (half price - $2.50)

1 spool of ribbon (half price - $1.99)

1 pkg of 3 Mixed media labels (clearance $1.24)

 I also bought a mini glue gun and glue sticks in case I needed them.

I wasn't sure what I wanted my jar to look like so I started out using the ribbon.  

 I tied some ribbon around the jar and made a bow.  I liked this look - I thought it looked like such a "happy" jar!  But I really wanted to use one of the mixed media pieces I bought and put the word "joy" on the front - obviously there was not room for all of it.

So I started over. 

I cut a length of ribbon long enough to wrap around the jar and hot glued it in place on the back where the ends met and overlapped just a bit.

I then took one of the mixed media labels and with a permanent marker wrote "joy" on it.  I used the hot glue gun to adhere the label to the front of the jar on top of the ribbon.

Mine is pretty simple as I wanted it to blend well in my kitchen.  You could make it as blingy as you want.

I thought it looked perfect in this corner of our kitchen and the ribbon matched  our lamp well.


Not only will I enjoy reading the things that happened throughout the year, but it will also be fun just to see the jar filling up.  It will be a visible reminder of how blessed we are with joyful moments! 

Let the joy begin!