This is truly a kid created craft. My girls wanted to turn some empty jars we had into pumpkins. They wanted to paint the glass jars orange and the lids brown or green. We didn't have any paint that would stay on glass. Myrrh and Hey started to brainstorm ideas. They decided they wanted to glue or tape paper to the outside of the jar. There was a suggestion that they cut jack o'lantern patterns in the paper then use a candle on the inside to illuminate it. I thought that sounded cool, jack o'lanterns with tea lights inside the glass.
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| Glass Jar Jack O'Lanterns |
Then the paper didn't want to stay on the jars with glue. I don't know how it all happened, but the paper ended up on the inside. When I told them they couldn't put candles on the inside with the paper they decided they would put faces on the outside of the jar. Stickers worked where the glue had failed. I haven't seen anyone else use paper inside of a jar as a decoration. It isn't the best looking thing, but creative. My little artists never cease to amaze me.
Supplies:
Glass Jars without labels
Colored construction or cardstock paper
Ruler
Scissors
Stapler
Foam Stickers
Googly Eye stickers
1. Soak the jars in warm soapy water to remove the labels.
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| Soaking labels off bottles |
2. Dry the jars out.
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| Myrrh drying out the inside of the jars. |
3. Cut the paper to the proper size to fit the size of the jar. They used a Cricut paper cutter to get a straight edge.
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| Cutting paper down to size. |
4. Roll the paper to fit into the jar. Measure the height of the jar to determine how short the paper roll needs to be inside the jar.
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| Measuring the jar to cut the paper to the right size. |
5. Cut the paper to the proper size to fit as close to the inside wall of the jar as possible.
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| The orange paper cut to fit the bottom section of the jar. |
6. For the top piece, green stem of the pumpkin, you will need to measure and cut again. Roll it to the proper size. Staple it into a roll so it stays uniform in size.
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| Added the green paper for the pumpkin stem. |
7. Choose your decorations for the outside. My girls decided to use foam stickers to create the nose and mouth.
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| Foam stickers that got slaughtered for the girls idea of a face. |
8. They decided the $1 store stickers were to big for the jars, so they cut out their own faces.
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| Glass jars decorated as pumpkins. |
They don't look like jack o'lanterns to me (more like ghosts), but the girls loved them just the same. They were very proud of their creation and displayed them in our front window for all the neighbors to see.
Sure they could have filled them with candy corn, or some other clever thing, but these are their unique creations. The beauty of them being paper and stickers is that we can recycle the jars for the next project. I have plans for the next holiday for these, just wait and see.
