Thursday, July 2, 2015

Tinker Thursday || Patriotic Mason Jars

Hello friends! It's time for another Tinker Thursday! This week, I decided to try my luck at a fun little 4th of July project I found on Pinterest. I made it a little more fun by not actually reading the instructions and just winging it based on the final photos.

I had a big pack of Mason Jars I bought at Costco a while back just chillin in my cabinet, so I figured painting over two of them wouldn't be too heartbreaking. I went to Michael's to grab the material I needed, and went to town.

You will need
Mason Jars
Acrylic paint (for glass surfaces)
Paint brushes or paint sponges
Painter's Tape 

Optional
Star stickers
Decorative flowers

A lot of the 4th of July decor was 60% off at my local Michael's, so I decided to take advantage of the deal and purchased a few extra things :)

I actually completed the blue mason jar first to see if this project would even be feasible, given my skill level. I think it turned out ok, not amazing, but pretty acceptable for a first try :) 


For the blue mason jar, all you have to do is stick star stickers (say that five times fast) all over the jar, and paint over it with blue paint. An alternative method could be to paint the entire jar blue and add white stars after via a star-shaped sponge. The great thing about this particular project is that instructions are only a suggestion for how things can be done. You have the artistic freedom to create whatever you want with your mason jars. I did a basic Stars and Stripes pattern, but if you're able to paint a bald eagle, why not? Mount Rushmore? Go for it! Do you want your jar to be clear with red, white, and blue hearts? No one is going to stop you :) 

The striped jar takes a little more time and effort than the blue stars jar, but it's still relatively simple. As you can see, I've already painted the jar white. This is about two thin coats, but paint however many layers your heart desires. I was going for a bit of a rustic, imperfect feel.

After that completely dries, go ahead and mark off where you want your red paint to go with some painters tape. Make sure there are no bubbles or wonky edges, but if there are, it's ok! Makes it more authentic (I know I definitely messed this step up).




Once your jars are dry, go ahead and decorate it however you want. Below are different suggestions, but again, this project is exclusively yours. I tried flowers, twinkle lights, and even candles. They all look great, in my opinion! 





Level of Difficulty: 2.5/10. I think the most difficult part of this project is figuring out what to do with them after they're done! I personally prefer having flowers in the blue stars one, and a candle or twinkle lights in the sriped jar.
What Would I do Different Next Time? I would definitely look for paint that is specifically for glass. I purchased standard acrylic paint and while it did work, I found it difficult to apply additional layers, even when the first layer was already dry.
Would I do this project again? Definitely! There are different holidays you can do this for. I even saw a halloween one where they made the mason jars Jack-o-Lanterns. Less mess! :)

I hope you enjoyed this quick little DIY inspired by Pinterest! Let me know what you'd like to see next!

As for the future of Tinker Thursday, let me just say, that this blog day is starting to get a little expensive, haha! I think I'm going to have to re-evaluate how I want to go about Tinker Thursday. I definitely want to continue re-creating DIYs, but I might cut it down to a big DIY project once every two months. I have other ideas for the additional days I have to post, such as "Plan With Me" Planner Decorating posts, Dress-it-Yourself fashion-type posts (without stepping into Sharmaine's territory and expertise, of course), and a lot more. I'll see you in two weeks with a new post!

xoxo, Rox 

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