Here are a bunch of creative ways to use recycled glass jars from condiments and other foods.
By Andi
There are tons of different mix recipes on the crafting sites on the web: find one that you like, make it "yours" and have fun with it!
God Bless
By Sheila Saey
By Keeper
By Barbara
By Heather S.
By Margie
By Cindy
Do not handle the outside of the jar with bare hands--you may leave oily fingerprints, then paint may not stick. Use disposable rubber type gloves. Put the jar over one hand if mouth is wide enough, otherwise, hold the jar by the top rim. Squeeze some white acrylic paint out onto a paper plate. Dampen a sea/wool sponge and dip into paint. Sponge the paint all over the jar, thin coat. Set aside to let dry. Clean sponge (Actually I do several jars at a time.)
When jar(s) are dry, sponge another coat of white paint onto entire surface. Dry, clean sponge. Repeat these steps until jar has at least 3 coats of paint. It should not be too opaque that you can't see through the jar, but opaque enough that you can't see the green light strand too clearly.. Let sit to dry for several hours, or overnight. It is not necessary to bake it.
Later, paint 2 smiling eyes on one side 1/3rd of the way down from the top, using an artist brush, round, pointy one and black paint. Under the eyes, paint a pointy carrot with orange paint, and under that, a silly grin with a liner brush. With an old scruffy brush or a stencil brush, paint a light "blush" on each cheek in pink.
When all is good and dry again, brush a clear gloss acrylic sealer over the entire jar. 2 coats are better than one and 3 thin coats are best. While the sealer is drying, insert the Xmas lights, with the cord hanging out the top.
Make a "stocking cap" out of a scrap of fleece, or a brightly colored kid's sock. Put that over the mouth of the jar, arrange "jauntily", and sew or hot glue jingle bell to the very top or end of the "cap". Plug in the lights, and Voila! A Snowman Lamp!
I make these to sell at craft shows and they fly off my shelves. I price them according to size, starting with $3.00 for little guys that I put a battery tealight inside to $6.00 for the mayo jar size. They make great gifts, too, for teachers, nursing home residents, the aunty or uncle who has everything else in the world, mainly everybody. Oh, and if you don't think you can paint the face, you might try looking for those rub on decal faces at your local craft or Michael's store. Have fun!
By Kathi in Beautiful Wisconsin
Editor's Note: Here is a post about inspecting light in glass jars often to minimize any danger.
Another idea is cover the lids with a scrap bit of fabric or parer, stick flower oasis or play clay on inside of the lid and stick in some artificial flowers into the oasis or clay then screw the jar back onto the lid upside down and then you have a nice floral decoration to display.
Kids could also make snow storms, instead of flowers stick a small toy or figure then fill jar with water and glitter. but make sure the lid is screwed back on tightly so there are no leaks when shaken,
Hope you find these suggestions of interest!
By Gillian
You can paint them, decoupage them, glue beads on them, pot plants in them, put pretty collections in them, use them to give gifts in instead of a bag, insert a pretty cloth or tissue paper, cover the lid with a corresponding pattern, tie ribbon with gift card and fill with goodies, gifts, small trinkets, gift cards, etc. they are great to individualize for sharing homemade baked goods. Also, I put a thankful jar out and each person writes what they are thankful for and sticks it in the jar, when we are feeling down and out we pull our thankful notes, and feel better immediately. Hope this helps.
By Tinah
One year when I was strapped for money right at my nephews birthday, I got a really nice jar, painted the lid a very neon orange and filled the jar with little strips of a various colors of brightly colored neon paper. The strips of paper were about the size of those you find in fortune cookies and on each one I wrote a message on it for my twelve year old nephew who was going through a rough time and feeling down in the dumps because of his parents divorce. I wrote things like "You're a terrific kid", "Have a great day!" "Hugs and kisses" "You have a wonderful smile" "I love how you are so kind and caring when talking to Mrs. Jones" (our elderly neighbor) etc. I put about fifty of these affirmations in the jar as well as about ten that offered low cost things like "Good for an ice cream cone" or "Good for a hug" or "Good for one movie ticket" etc.
He only got to pull one strip a day and couldn't look through the jar before he pulled a strip of paper. Every day he had something to look forward to and he never knew if it was going to be a "warm fuzzy" or a little "gift". I put a little tag on the jar explaining all of this but I still wasn't very sure how my very materialistic and spoiled nephew would deal with this as a gift for his birthday. I thought he might think it was lame but he LOVED it! At the end of the sixty days, he asked if we could do it again! Who Knew?
Anyway the idea is that you just need to be creative. I have always been a big fan of recycling and I always need things organized so I just combined the two... Hope you got one or two ideas. Happy jar collecting
By Jane
By Susie from Buckhead, GA
Feel free to post your ideas below.
This page contains the following solutions.
I try to store my open bags of peas and beans in a glass tea jar (I use a funnel to get them in). This keeps me from having the beans spill all over my pantry when the rubber band doesn't go on properly.
I do not throw away any glass or plastic jars that can be reused. I save the small ones for spices I buy in bulk at the store for a fraction of what they cost in bottles on the shelf. I also use them to store taco mix, gravy mix, beans, etc.
I reuse all the glass jars that come into my house. The real small ones are great for extra washers and screws, beads, jewelry holders when traveling (I use small pierced earrings), extra chopped veggies, and so on.
I had some old jars laying around and put some acyrilic paint in the bottom with a little bit of water and shook them up and then let them sit to dry over night. Now the kids have colourful jars to store pencils, crayons, and scissors.
I started buying the Polar fruit jars at Wal Mart. They are the cutest little jars and the fruit is lovely to eat. When the jar is empty, you would not believe the things I use these jars for.
For this tip, all you need is a mason jar, its lid, and a piece of fabric. I use fabric samples that aren't too thick, and look cute together. You can put them in your kitchen full of flour or sugar. You could also use them in a craft room full of buttons, or stickers.
Hi. Sometimes I buy coffee in jars that look like small storage jars. I use lots of spices so I find them very handy to use as spice jars. When they are empty, this is what I do. It saves on money and they hold so much more than the small ones that are sold.
I was trying to "unclutter" my house and this tip came to mind. When you save jars for crafts or food, save the smaller one inside the larger ones. This saves not only room, but lets you see the smaller one by their labels, should they still be one.
Decorate an old jar (any kind of container will work!) with scrapbooking paper
After I get done with my spaghetti sauce jars, I clean them and use them for canning. It saves money on buying mason jars. These are the spaghetti sauce jars that are the heavy canning jar type.
Recycle your large salsa jars. I use them for my salt, pepper and spices. Just spray paint the lid any color, I use white spray paint then take a nail and hammer in holes on the top of the lid large enough for whatever spice you are putting in them.
When you buy restaurant size jars of mayo, salad dressing, hot sausages, pickles or pickled eggs, save the jars and use them to store your bird seed or other pet food. It keeps the mice from being drawn into your house and eating your expensive animal chow.
I don't ordinarily save jars, but I've found that the best to save are the Wyler's bouillon jars, nice size, airtight, and the labels easily come off!
After pricing drinking glasses in the store, I bought a case of a dozen pint canning jars for about 1/3 the cost. I enjoy the "country" look, and can use the jars next fall to can.
Years ago I could buy mayonnaise and salad dressing in quart glass jars. No more, that's a things of the past. I just started making my own homemade mayonnaise with my Vita-Mix and wanted to keep it in a glass jar in my refrigerator.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
My favorite pasta sauce comes in a mason jar. Well, as you can imagine, I have a lot of jars. I really want to do something with at lease some of them, and would appreciate any suggestions you guys have.
Thanks so much.
Have a blessed day.
Use them for layered salads you can make several days in advance. Great if you take your lunch to work.
Use them as little herb garden planters. So cute and useful.
A few years ago, a colleague filled them with microwave cake recipe ingredients (flour, sugar, baking cocoa, and chocolate chips). They were pretty layers. She attached the recipe with a colorful card and fabric cover to lid and gave them as holiday gifts. You have to add milk, egg and oil so that was why the recipe and microwave time to bake. They were pretty and yummy!! I can see if I can find her recipe if you want it! Now I am sad I didn't take a picture of it!
You can do lots with mason jars!
Uses for mason jars is almost endless but I believe you may be buying Classico 24 ounce so some of the ideas may not work so well with this size jar.
I have about 20 or more little 2 oz. glass jars with lids. Seems a shame to throw them out. Any ideas what to do with them? Thanks!
By sue from Virginia
Are they the size of baby food jars? If so, I use them to save misc. nails, screws, washers, etc. My great uncle did the same, but he actually screwed the lids onto a board above his work table and then screwed the jars on so they were hanging rather then taking space on his work table. My sister used them to store her herbs.
This is a page about removing odors from glass jars. Although glass containers typically do not retain odors as much as plastic, sometimes it can still be difficult to remove a persistent odor.
Add pretty beads to the lid of a jar and create an lovely gift jar. This is a page about beaded lid upcycled gift jars.
Glass jars come in all shapes and sizes. Their usefulness for crafts and organizing is almost endless. This is a page about crafts using recycled glass jars.
