When hosting our little gal’s Mickey and Minnie 4th birthday party (link to that past post here), I was looking for a cute centerpiece. I had some plain mason jars laying around so figured I’d take a look around for some ideas. I stumbled upon many ways to paint, sand and decorate mason jars but ultimately, I landed on an idea like this.
Here is what I came up with:
Here is what I came up with that’s super easy and are affordable and can be used in so many ways. I originally used the jars as a couple of centerpieces for the 4th birthday party but then I started to think about how easy it would be to transform them into Memorial Day or 4th of July centerpieces. Keep the same shredded paper inside, which was red already, and add a couple of fun American flags. So fun and simple! I love it!
Ingredients for the painted jars:
2 mason jars
A really simple brush like this although a sponge brush like this would work just as well
FolkArt Home Décor Chalk Paint
Small wooden dowels, spray paint and whatever paper/stickers/other décor to attach to the dowels.
Ribbon of your choice to tie around the top of the jar
It can be a little tricky to figure out the best way to paint the jar. I started by placing the jar upside down on a scratch piece of paper. I wanted the bottom painted because I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to put in it, plus it helps ensure that the jar looks like it was meant to be a solid white color. I’m not sure if this happens when using a sponge brush, but in using a brush with bristles, it can leave streaks. That being said, the first coat doesn’t really matter about streaking on the glass because you’re going to cover it up with another coat of paint. Anyone try this using a sponge brush before? Any streaking? Let me know your experience below 🙂
After the jar dries, you can paint the top rim of the jar again or just leave it alone. I chose to leave mine as is. They were covered enough and I added a ribbon to that area anyway.
This is where you can stop if you’re only wanting the mason jar part info. The rest below is about what I added inside the jar to finish out the party decoration.
Inside the jar I placed some red confetti paper I bought at the dollar store.
I spray painted some thin wooden dowels at 3 different lengths with a white spray paint I had.
On the ends, I made some fun paper pieces with my Cricut machine. I had 2 jars to decorate so one was Mickey Mouse themed and the other was Minnie Mouse. I used the Mickey and Friends Cricut Cartridge, which you can find here.
After I cut two copies of each image, one on the regular side and one as a mirror image of it, I hot glued the two images back to back with the end of the dowel between them. Place your three sticks inside the mason jar and voila! A fun, customizable, reusable centerpiece!
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