I guess it’s a mason jar kind of week since I just talked about making pumpkins and other Halloween decor from mason jar lids on Wednesday. So let’s just continue on with the theme and discuss painted mason jar pumpkins – the perfect craft to do with your child this Halloween/fall.
Since Mia loves crafts (particularly painting), I am always trying to find something that she can create that won’t just get thrown in the trash (we are probably the #1 wasters of paper due to all the coloring and painting she does and the lack of space we have to hang her creations). I came across this craft in Family Fun magazine and was happy that she would get to create and I would get some decor out of it. Bonus: This craft cost me about $4.
Mason Jar Pumpkins
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Mason jars (I chose 3 of varying shapes and sizes, all found at the thrift store for under $1)
- Orange acrylic paint
- Paintbrush
- Masking tape
- Ribbon and felt if you want to add embellishments
- Battery-operated candles (I buy mine in at the Dollar Tree in a 4-pack – what a steal!)
Here’s how you do it:
- Wash your mason jars so they are good and clean.
- Create pumpkin faces using pieces of masking tape and scissors and place on your jars.
- Let you child go crazy painting the outside of the pumpkin with orange paint. Encourage them to get it even all around (big globs in one spot will need to be smoothed out), or if you’re like me, be total “anal crafting mom” and steal the paintbrush when they are done and go over all their work (this goes over better when they don’t see you doing it…).
- Let dry.
- Peel off the masking tape, starting at the corners and going slowly.
You could be done here, or you could add some embellishments like I did. I chose black and white ribbon and a stem/leaf which I think makes it a little more Halloween-inspired, but you could make it work more for fall by adding some raffia and faux leaves around the outer rim.
To add embellishments:
- I created a little stem and leaf shape out of two pieces of felt and sewed them together with green thread on my sewing machine.
- Then, I hot glued my stem/leaf to the inside of the mason jar opening.
- Finally, I hot glued some ribbon around the outer rim of the jar.
Place your candles inside and enjoy!
I’ve noticed that the better paint coverage your pumpkin has, the better your face will show once the candles are on. Our little pumpkins didn’t get quite as good coverage and the faces are therefore tougher to see than on the big jar, but they have lots of handmade character nonetheless!