DIY Mason Jar Lanterns

Hi!

So a couple posts back, I mentioned that my oldest daughter is getting married next month. Make that about 2 1/2 weeks from today!

We decided pretty early on that we would do the decorating ourselves...in large part because my hubby is pretty fearless about taking on a challenge, so he decided he could handle rigging up a fabric-draped circular ceiling that Nicole wants for her luncheon and reception. Once we felt like that was doable, it was easy for me to say I could handle the rest of the decorations. The wedding has yet to happen, but so far, so good. Today I am sharing one of the projects I've been doing to try and have a beautiful wedding on a reasonable budget.


The reception will take place in a church building in our neighborhood, so the intent is to transform it as much as possible. That includes dressing up the outside a little bit. Nicole wanted paper luminaries to line the sidewalk, but the more we thought about the possibility of snowy weather, the more I thought it might be good to have something a little sturdier just in case.

Enter the DIY Mason Jar Lanterns, something you have probably seen on Pinterest. They are easy to do and turned out pretty well. Luckily for me, my aunt happens to have five matching shepherd's hooks to hang them from. The hooks will be about 20 inches off the ground, so I decided that pint jars would be the perfect size.

For two pint jars, I mixed a couple tablespoons of the glue with a teaspoon or so of water, and then stirred in the glitter. Gold is one of Nicole's accent colors, but silver would be pretty as well. I learned that you want to go heavy on the glitter in order to have a good coating inside your jar. Once your glitter to glue ratio looks good, add a little more. Lesson number one. :)

Paint the inside of the jar with the glittery glue. I turned the jars upside down on paper for a little while to let the excess drip out, then used my finger to smooth out the drips on the inside of the jar. Once that's done, let the jars dry for several hours. Once the jars are dry, simply take some wire and wrap it around the neck of the jar to form a handle. I used 20-gauge colored copper wire, and it seems plenty able to hold the weight of the jar. A wooden chalkboard tag, with lettering yet to be added, finishes it off.

FYI: Gold battery-operated votives came from Dollar Tree, and all other supplies, including the awesome chalkboard tags {my most favorite recent find!} came from Bennion Crafts.