Ok, each year I see these and each year I say I'm going to make them.
This year I FINALLY did.
And you know what?
They really were super simple
and super adorable!
I had been saving some jars (a couple of baby food jars, jalapeno jars, jelly jars, etc.) and finally decided just to DO IT! I already had paint and black vinyl so I knew I didn't need to run to the store (or come up with any other excuses). :0)
I made sure the jars were completely free of any labels or "gunk". I know there are a lot of ways to do that. I've used Goo Gone, etc. BUT the easiest (and best) way for me is simple: scalding HOT water with dish soap in it. Get the water seriously hot, squirt soap in while it is filling your sink, then put the jars in. Let em' soak for a good while...20 minutes or so...and then use your hands to rub em' clean. :0)
First I did plain orange, straight from the bottle of paint. I used regular craft/acrylic paint in the little bottles. I poured some into the chosen jars. I then held the jar over a little bowl (LITTLE bowl...like one you would use for a side of salsa...) and slowly tilted the jar down while turning it. Do that until it coats the INSIDE of the jar completely. Then give it a good shake to get remaining paint out. I did that a lot, and hard, and there was still paint in it. But that's ok, it will dry.
Next I grabbed that little bowl and added some more orange paint and a little white paint, until it was a nice light orange. Then I repeated the same fill/tilt/turn/pour to coat a couple more jars. After that I used the paint left in the bowl and added more orange and some red. It made a darker color. I repeated the same steps with a couple more jars. :0)
Then I did that with plain white paint too.
VOILA!
I let the jars sit OPEN while I took the lids out to the garage.
I spray painted the lids black.
Then I sat down at my Silhouette and picked out some jack-o-lantern faces and designed what I liked, as many as I needed. I used some black vinyl and let my Silhouette work it's magic.
I simply peeled and stuck the faces on the jars!
I let the jars sit open for at least 2 more days to let them dry completely.
On Halloween I put little battery-operated tea lights in each jar and used them in the center of one of our tables.
ADORABLE!
(this photo only shows 5 of the finished one, there were 7 in all...the other two were on a different table)And for me...FREE!
I already had ALL of the supplies on hand!
(sorry I didn't take more photos of the process...)
I don't know why I waited so long to do them, they were easy and cute!
:0)
~robin
