Artline Monday - Roald Dahl Day 2018

Ever since I was a child I have absolutely loved Roald Dahl's books so I couldn't let Roald Dahl Day go by without doing something special to mark the occasion!  It falls on his birthday, the 13th September and it is a day to celebrate the wonderful characters and worlds he created and the love of reading he inspired and is still inspiring in generation after generation of children.     

There are so many great Roald Dahl books that is hard for me to choose a favourite but I have always loved this quote from The Twits so I thought it would be nice to write it in my notebook using my fineliners and Artline Supreme brush markers as a little reminder to be kind and have good thoughts.

Roald Dahl quote with Artline Supreme brush markers

Mixing different styles of lettering, pens and colours creates an interesting look and adding extra outlines, swirls and spots shakes things up a little too! 

Okay, now let's move on to the craft project I have for you today, we are making dream jars from the BFG!  If you remember the BFG is a big, friendly giant who makes nice dreams for children by mixing good things together, capturing them in a jar and then blowing them into the ears of sleeping children using his special dream blower.  These jars will also make a sweet nightlight for little ones who are afraid of the dark as well as being fun to make! 

You will need:

• a glass jar - storage, mason or an empty jam/pickle jar
• Artline poster and/or paint markers
• stickers for decoration
• LED tealights
• Glitter glue or glitter paint (optional)

Supplies

In the book the dreams look like little colourful clouds and when they are caught in the jars they shimmer and shine which is why I added the LED tealights to mine to make them look extra magical but before we get to that part we have to decorate the outside of our jars.

Adding colour with my poster marker

You can decide with your children what kind of colours and design they would like on their jar, I started by painting the bottom of mine with one of the poster markers and then added some big, glittery flower stickers.  

Embellishing around the stickers

The base dried very quickly and then I used more poster and paint markers to create a whimsical pattern around the jar.  Both sets of pens work really well on glass and will stay in place once they are dry.

Drawing flowers

When my pattern was finished I wanted my jar to look more cloudy and less see through so I painted the inside of the glass with gold glitter paint (but you can use glitter glue if you like) and then left it dry.  

Pink and flowery dream

The last step was to turn on the LED tealight, pop it inside the jar and put the lid on.  Because the tealight is so small and battery operated the jar will not get hot whilst the light is on so it is safe to use overnight.

For my second jar I decided to deviate from the description in the book and I drew a woodland scene instead.  Again I used the poster markers to decorate the jar and this time I added some cute animal stickers too.

Creating a scene 

I think it looks like a perfectly nice dream to have!  

Woodland dream

Here are my finished dream jars, I can't wait to see how they look tonight in a darkened room with the lights flickering inside them!

My dream jars

I shot this short video of the jars with the lights on so you can see how they look when they are finished and lit up.

 

Please let me know if you have a go at making your own dream jars, I'd love to hear how you got on!  Also if you are on Facebook or Twitter tell us how you will be celebrating Roald Dahl day, you can find Artline here and here and I'm @Shes_Eclectic.

Thanks for stopping by!