DIY Christmas – Upcycling Glass Jars

In December 2013 I published a post title DIY Christmas – Candy Jars, and recently the post and comments have taken off from sites like Hometalk and Pinterest. So, in an effort to keep things rolling, I’ve updated my DIY Christmas post to include gift ideas for all those glass jars once again. And boy oh boy are you in for a treat!

I collect things, what can I say? Now let me point out that I only collect things that inspire me, something I can reuse, repurpose into something different, an original creation/variation of sorts. Upcycling has become big, there are so many things you can do with old wood, glass jars, sweaters and the list keeps growing. It’s all about creating something unique and beautiful at the same time. My husband used to call it junk, but not so much anymore. Now? Now he’s like, “So what can we make this weekend so you can blog about it?” Crazy, right? 

So since he’s been working super long hours this week, I’ve been upcycling glass jars for Christmas gifts and wanted to pass the inspiration on to you.

Well it all started with empty jars ranging from spaghetti jars, hot peppers, sauces, spice jars and a few drink jars thrown in just for the heck of it. And what came out of them is pretty awesome!

You think I had enough jars saved up? It was becoming a problem on finding space to store them without my hubby finding them and want to toss them.

I gathered up my supplies; ribbons, embellishments, knobs, and some paper crafting supplies. 

Those lovely little do dads were in the paper crafting supplies area at Hobby Lobby It’s the bling that caught my eye.

Hobby Lobby had their ribbon at 50% off, can’t beat a deal like that around holiday crafting time.

To start with I selected my jar, in this case it was from sauerkraut, and no it didn’t stink because I always run my jars through the dishwasher and then let them sit for a while without the lid on so the strong orders disappear. I also soak my jars for a little while in warm water to remove the labels. I’ve found that an SOS pad works great at removing the sticky residue quickly and doesn’t scratch it. And for the really sticky stuff? I use Goo Gone and let it soak for just a little bit before scrubbing them off.

I picked my ribbon of choice and wound it around the jar securing it with hot glue.

Those lovely embellishments? Those were from my niece, they were old earrings she no longer wore and didn’t want. Of course I knew exactly what I’d use them for and snagged a few others as well.

Cute right? Since I had two similar jars I embellished them the same way. I saw them sitting on a bathroom counter holding cotton balls and q-tips. 

The next step was to drill the holes into the lids and then spray paint them. I thought I’d like to change up the colors this time around and did some white, silver and the oil rubbed bronze you see above, but in the end decided I like the oil rubbed bronze best.

I also cut the screws down this time since I’d be handing them out as gifts.

Here’s an example of how I attached the ribbons, a little glue on the starting piece, then a little along the way to keep it in place. The strip of glue wasn’t needed, just a little dot to secure it is all you need.

And these lovely embellishments from the paper crafting department at Hobby Lobby added a little bit of elegance to them as well.

 

Once I got started I couldn’t stop! 

I filled mine with bath salts that I’d purchased a while ago and added the scoop to them.

You could fill them with just about anything you wanted and give them away for Christmas gifts. Because who doesn’t want a homemade gift that’s simply beautiful? And might I add cheap to make too?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you didn’t want to add a knob, you could also hot glue an embellishment on the top as well.

 

 

You notice those candles in the pic? That’s next week’s DIY Christmas blog post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You see this little beauty? Watch for next weeks DIY Christmas blog posts to see what else I’ve been up to.