Mason Jar Lanterns

I have a ton of Mason jars around myhouse!!. Mason jars from all of that food I intended to preserve, from food that friends, relatives have given me. Ask me how many jars I canned. Really, ask. None! This is the reason I get giggly when discovering a use for them that's anything but their intended purpose.

Supplies:
Mason Jars, any size
Tissue paper
Mod Podge
Paint Brush
Glue
Ribbon or paint for the tops (explained below)

Start by cutting your tissue paper into strips about 1-2 inches wide. Brush a thin layer of mod podge on the glass jar and stick a strip of tissue to it.

Take more mod podge and brush on top of it, sealing it onto the jar.

Work one strip at a time until you cover the entire jar. I covered the bottom as well and on the top I went a little above the rim just to make sure there wasn't any plain glass peeking through when I put a ribbon around the top. Place your jar upside down to dry. Keep working until you finish however many jars you're going to do.

As your jars are drying, work on your faces. Cut out faces from black paper and use a glue stick to glue them onto the jars. I waited until the jars were dry before gluing on the faces. I also tried attaching them just with mod podge and they didn't stay. For the silly monster faces, I used these as a guidline, available from Not So Idle Hands.

Look how cute! For the tops you can use paint to paint around the rims, or you can do what I did and attach a piece of ribbon.

I love how they look in my windowsill. Just the sunlight coming through lights them right up!

And even on a cold, rainy day like the picture below, they still have a warm glow to them.

And then at night, they turn into great little lanterns when you put a candle inside. I've seen people stuff a string of white Christmas lights inside as another option but I can't resist the look of a flickering candle. The little artificial tea lights work great for these too.

If you're using real candles, be careful because the jars get hot!

Do you love it?? I can't get over how cute they are, and you could definitely use the same method for other themes too. So go get your craft on this weekend and cook something yummy to go with it!

Here is another bloggers version:

from: notsoidlehands.blogspot.com

Glowing Jack O'Lanterns

And we are making these awesome Glowing jack O'Lanterns made with recycled glass jars (I have enough jars to make a TON of these :)

You will need:

• 5 glass jars of varying sizes (I think the varying sizes make it more interesting)
• Some orange tissue paper (If you are anything like me.....you save tissue paper from EVERY gift you get but,.......NOT ORANGE! But luckily this was only $1 buck at Walmart)
• Mod podge (Yes, I've had that bottle awhile.....no matter how much I use it, it never runs out!)
• Black paper
• Green paint

Start by cutting the tissue paper into strips about 1.5 - 2 inches wide. Measure the height of your jars and cut the tissue paper strips to that size.

Paint Mod Podge, a section at a time, onto the outside of the jar. lay down a strip of paper and smooth it down well. Then, move onto the next section. Don't worry if it's a little wrinkly, it doesn't show once it's dry.

I loved the way she overlapped the strips of paper to make it look more pumpkin-y (is that a word?)

Keep going till you get the jar covered. Then, work on cutting out the faces for them. You can click here and here to download a template of the faces I used and size them according to the sizes of your jars.

Glue the faces on and paint the tops with some pretty green paint and then brush on a coat or 2 of Mod Podge (I used glossy so it looks shiny like it's part of the jar :)


I ended up having to use vinyl for the faces since i didn't have any black paper on hand and I didn't feel like running out just to get paper.

Let them cure for 24 hours and.....

(in the dark.....Ooooooooo scary)

Your very own glowing jack o'lanterns!!