If you can’t can, you can still use the jars

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Posted on Apr 03 2017 in From the Editor
Emily

By Emily Schilling

I’m what you might call an “aspiring crafter.” I scout Pinterest with every intention of making something cool and cute. I wander craft store aisles picking up charms and chains for necklaces I plan to design. I just never get around to it.

I’m also obsessed with Ball jars. Others seem to be, too. Those iconic jars are now being used as upcycled vases, lamp bases and soap dispensers.

As a time-challenged DIY-wannabe who can’t can but still loves canning jars, I was thrilled to come across these simple projects. Try them if April’s showers have you stuck inside with jars aplenty and nowhere to go.

  • Replace the metal lid with some chicken wire clipped to fit on top of the jar. Stick it on top of the jar and screw the band on. Now use the jar as a toothbrush holder or fill it with water and use it as a flower vase.
  • Crazy about making cupcakes? Store your cupcake liners in a mason jar.
  • Replace the metal lid with scrapbook paper cut to fit on top of the jar. With a X-acto knife, cut an “X” shape in the center of the paper. Fill the jar with facial tissue from a cube box and top the jar with the paper lid. Screw the metal band from the jar on. Pull the tissue through the “X.”
  • Those lids on the 8 oz. Parmesan cheese canisters fit on Ball jars. So, why not do a switcheroo to make a dining room table-worthy cheese shaker? When you’ve used the last bit of cheese, fill the jar with homemade bath salts (made with epsom salts, baking soda and a few drops of your favorite essential oil) and take it to the bathtub.
  • Make an individual layered “salad-in-a-jar” by topping your favorite greens with shredded carrots, cucumber slices, peas, and diced tomatoes. Or make a single-serve parfait by layering graham cracker or cookie crumbs, pudding, whipped cream, and chopped or sliced fruit.
  • Turn a jar into a shaker. Simply hammer a nail in the metal lid a few times to make some holes. Fill the jar with salt, pepper, spice mix, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, baby powder, or whatever else your heart desires.

Now, go have a “Ball!” If you have other jar project ideas, send me pictures of your creations!

EMILY SCHILLING is editor of Electric Consumer