Repurposed: Glass Jars make lovely lanterns.
 

Easy as pie, don't chuck your jam/sauce/baby food jars in the recycling, wash em, dry em and paint em!
you can use specialist glass paints from an art & craft shop, you can use regular poster paint with some pva glue added (though these will need to be repainted next year), you can use left over gloss paint, yes, even white! Don't fancy paint? You can stick on stickers, get the kids to do it.
If your great at art, they'll look fantastic, if your not great at art, they may still look fantastic, if not, so what?!?!

When they are dry, hang them from the trees, sit them on the wall, arrange them artfully in groups on the patio! If you want to hang them, use fairly strong wire, round tightly round the neck and looped up for a handle ,use way more wire than you think u need, and curl the ends into springy spirals. I'm going to hang some from nails hammered into an ugly concrete wall. Add a tea light to each one, and sit back in the evening and bask in your friends admiration. ;-)

If you leave them out they may fill up with rainwater, so add a tiny drop of bleach so they don't grow too much algae,

Here are some I made with my daughter and her friends, aged 4 - 8

Brilliant idea! So cute and such a fun activity for kids to be involved in - even a great activity for a birthday party ....

You get bottles of 'lead lining' (like the old stained glass windows) in silver, pewter, grey, black and even white and you also get stickers in the same colours which you fill in with glass paints, so for those of us with less than a lttle artistic bent can have a good go as well :oD. Definitely a fun group activity.

Maybe when all the kids are at school then the moms/dads/grans/guardians etc. can get together for a coffee morning and make a few of their own :o). Great little community activity as well :o). Suggest to our kids' schools as a fundraiser coffee morning activity ...?

Fabulous beldarin - well done!

I love them hanging in the tree! I'll bet they look great at night when lit :)

Great idea,Beldarin!

Yeah, they are lovely at night, like fireflies twinkling, not that we've had many evenings outside lately!

I forgot to add:

If you are concerned about burning your tree branches, make the wire handle quite long, and strip away any dry twigs, though if you light them and feel the branch after a while, you'll probably find they are not all that hot.

We have similar in our garden (scouts get the credit for ours) but be careful with the bleach sometimes the birds drink from ours and they might get poisoned. Maybe just keep the lids handy??

Brilliant idea
 

These are beyond brilliant, I've been looking at the jars that we send for recycling for ages and have been wondering what use I could put them to myself.

I save some of the smaller ones for screws and little bits and bobs in the tool shed but now I can make lanterns that can compete with anything available to buy.

Hi ho hi ho its off to the craft shop I go........ :):)

Great idea, i think i'll try some of these for next summer, i hope we're going to get one. They would look lovely.

Fabulous!
 

I love them and am going to have a go. Thanks for the idea!

Lanterns
 

They are just lovely! I have been collecting glass jars for a while, I hate to throw them out. Will use this idea, thanks.

(Love the big tree, too!)

another suggestion
 

Here another idea for repurposing glass jars


http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/...org_2008_09_01

button jars
 

Jars also make neat button containers and no crafter should be without a stash of old buttons! I finished it off with a scrap of fabric and a hair elastic.

So Cute! I love the jaunty little lid!
I never thought of doing that, and for years I've had a jar brimming with mixed beads, which is a nightmare if knocked over, doh!

Great Idea
 

Im always looking for something new to do with my daughter...she is going to love this. Brillant beyond brillant idea..well done

Little Yogurt Jars
 

Same here, JenniferC

And won't they look lovely in the garden.

I have some very small glass yogurt pots which I hung off myRussian Vine last Summer (didn't bother this Summer, they would have filled with rain!)

I think I'll paint them with my 7 year old daughter. She'll be so proud of them!

Jars
 

Oops, thought you were talking about the painted glass jars!

Here are the little jars I hung on the trellis on my Russian Vine. I'll paint them before the Summer...

Glass jars
 

Maybe a few layers of coloured sand to sit the tea-lights on would look cute.

yeah, and just today i saw how to dye sand using food colouring, you just pour it on and leave it to dry,
looked cool

christmas night lights
 

For the past four years I have used little baby food jars as containers for tealights - I place about 12 of them in a line on my sitting room window sill and they look really cool (make sure that there are no blinds etc in the way!!. they are then stored in the attic with the rest of the Christmas decorations until next year!!!

Yeah, they do look lovely indoors...
I am aiming to have as recycled a Christmas as possible, I will not be buying any new decorations, and wont be using any mains powered lights, only a set using rechargeable batteries on the mantle. My daughter's school has it's blue flag for being super-green, so she's coming home with ideas all the time about proper recycling ( ie: where things are reused/life-cycled without the need to ship it to europe for industrial recycling)

We're currently making gift-bags from newspaper, I'll post pics when we're through, we've got a few new jars done in red gold and green to light up the rooms
And we've a few presents to make, should be busy for a while, makes it seem not so bad that the weathers atrocious, at least we'll have plenty of time indoors to work
Wish me luck

Glass Jars
 

Hi all, If anyone want's some glass jars, I have a sack full. I found them in an old barn I was clearing out, some old and interesting ones, but mostly standard, verious size jars, no lids. In Roscommon area. PM me.

more jars
 

Here is my version of the jar lights. I would really prefer floating candles in matching colours. The fabric is on the outside for safety. Thanks Beldarin for givng me the idea!

I am also making Christmas decorations this year. This is what I made so far from scraps of fabric, ribbons and old buttons. I call them Rustic Country Hearts. Also here is a very simple gift for children to make for Nana or favourite aunt..a button jar. If anyone wants instructions just pm me and I will send them on.

They are really nice, you're quite the crafter
That's Nana sorted out, ;-)

Wire
 

What type of wire did you use to hang the jars?

What a fanastic idea!
 

I LOVE the idea of painting the glass jars and I believe so would my 9 years old step-daughter who is craft-mad :-).

As it happens, I have a huge bag of jars and bottles gathering dust in the corner - I've been meaning to take them to the recycling centre for ages. I will def use them now.

I have 3 questions for the experts :-)
1) Would Easons have glass paints? Or are there any shops that would have them in Celbridge/Maynooth/Stillogan?
2) Should we put on a base paint first on the jars/bottles before using the glass paint? If so, what is the best type of base paint?
3) Does anyone have any tips for taking the labels off the glass jars/bottles without leaving any sticky residue behind?

I found little kits of glass paint, with around 8 tubes in each for around 2 euro in World of Wonder, they're really easy to use and excellent value! They come with a tube of glue, which I've never needed to use, as they stick on perfectly without it. We usually paint onto a mirror first (as it's a flat surface). When the design is dry you just peel it off like a sticker. So you don't need to bother with base coats or anything, hope this helps.

i swear every day i find a new reason to love jumbletown! i have been looking for a way to decorate my garden for my daughter's upcoming communion, as she wants a relaxed garden party... thanks so much for the inspiration...

Isnt it amazing how something so simple can make somewhere look to wonderful.

hi there, am going to try do what you have done, look brillent. what kind of wire did you use or were did you get it

RE wire for hanging jars?????
 

Hi Beldarin,

The jars are really lovely and I'd like to do some for my garden too - in anticipation of the lovely summer we're hoping to have.

I was wondering as well what kind or wire you used to hang them and where to get it??

Thanks
Eily

Very nice

I've collected a big bag of jars, got the paint & the wire from a craft place, have drafted in two little nieces ( when I showed them, they loved yours) and we're ready to go this Saturday afternoon. One has Communion the following weekend and is planning to decorate her garden with them ;)
Looking froward to a great afternoon, and some lovely decorations ;)
Thanks for the inspiration.
Eily

Fantastic idea
 

oh how inspirational - I will certainly be having a go at this :)
Thanks for sharing