Jars & Stars Forever: Paint Edition

While the garden plants steadily spread to cover the bare earth beneath, my canning jars sit unused, waiting for the produce to come rolling in. Better than putting empty jars away, I put unused jars into my crafty kid's hands! She's on summer break, so we set out to play with jars this month.

We feel particularly patriotic this year, as her older brother is headed to the Naval Academy in two weeks! So, with the Fourth of July at the top of my mind and celebrations in the planning stages, we give you patriotic jars!

I had seen these sorts of jars on Pinterest (shout-out to Linda at It All Started With Paint), and I thought we could whip them out in no time. However, there was more work involved than I anticipated! But, in the end, they were worth the effort.

We look forward to decorating the family table and windowsills with white peonies and alstroemeria bouquets as we celebrate Independence Day and all those who have sacrificed for our freedom!

Possible Uses: 

Here are some tips on how we made these bright and festive decorative jars and ideas on how to use them:

• for bouquets

• to hold utensils

• to hold straws

• as decorative lanterns with votive candles or fairy lights.

  
  

Supplies:

• Azure Canning Co jars (I mostly used pint-and-a-half size NF824)

• Decorative flag-design paper napkins

• ModPodge (Glossy)

• Red, white, and blue acrylic paints

• Painter's tape

• Paint brush and touch-up brush

• Star-shaped stickers

• Fairy lights or tea light candles

I recommend doing a few jars at a time, because you will want to try different techniques and patterns! And there is significant drying time involved with paint!

The simplest jar was this one:

Napkin ModPodge Jar - I bought a paper napkin with an American flag (but golly, think of all the options! I want to do a lemon print next time!) and cut the napkin to fit the inside circumference of the jar. Then, I just brushed ModPodge (GLOSSY version) all over the inside of the jar, pressed the napkin in, and applied another layer of ModPodge. Let it dry! Add fairy lights. Presto! I can envision these on our dinner table on the deck for late evening events.

Added fairy lights (battery-powered) and this stainless steel Mason Jar Lifestyle lid (NF2375)!

Painted Patriotic Jars

This painted jar was a little more challenging, but I love the way it turned out, and I will definitely be making more!

1. Start with clean jars, free of oily fingerprints or other residue.

2. Paint the entire jar white. Allow several hours to dry, then add another coat. Allow a whole day to completely dry.

3. Apply painter's tape horizontally around the jar to separate the blue area from the striped bottom area. Apply painter's tape in strips vertically to make striped areas. The paint will cover what will become your white stripes.

4. Paint red stripes in long strokes from top to bottom. Allow them to dry for several hours, then add a second coat. Then, allow the paint to dry for a full day.

5. Apply star-shaped stickers over the white paint on the top section of the jar. Then, cover the top section in blue paint, allow a few hours to dry, and add a second coat. Allow a day to dry.

6. Carefully and slowly, peel off the painter's tape and the star-shaped stickers to reveal your red, white, and blue pattern!

7. Use a small touch-up jar to fill in any areas where paint peeled or other imperfections. Allow to dry!

8. Fill carefully with water (it may affect the paint) and add alstromeria…or, better yet, white peonies! Makes a beautiful table centerpiece!

P.S. Looking for the French Toast recipe? Here is the allergy-friendly version!