From Spaghetti Sauce Jar to Shabby-Chic Vase...

I am a big believer in "nice matters". I think that a little bit of niceness goes a long way in today's harsh and self-centered/self-indulgent society. I love to share the crafty things that I make, yummy things that I bake and produce/flowers from my garden with my friends, so I decided to made these flower arrangements to brighten the desks of the three girls that I work with:

Most people think that you have to spend money to do something nice for someone, but in all honesty, that's just not the case at all. Sadly, most kiddos today think that unless money is spent on them, rather than time, then they aren't "loved". I think that society is failing children by allowing them to believe that money and things equate love. I am very fortunate to have grown up with parents and grandparents who valued time above money, and I have such fond memories of the time and activities that we did together. I am blessed to have been able to pass these values on to my son, and I hope someday to have grandchildren to share these same values with.

Now on to an inexpensive, trash-to-treasure project for you to share with someone in your life!! I think that the vases that I made from washed out spaghetti sauce jars turned out so cute, so I thought that I'd show you how I made them. These come together really fast...the part that takes the longest is waiting for the glue to completely dry. (But if you live in the south like me, pour yourself a nice glass of sweet iced tea and grab a magazine to thumb through while the glue dries - problem solved - lol!)

Begin with empty and clean spaghetti sauce jars. Cut a piece of burlap to fit around the circumference of the jar:

Put a large piece of paper or newspaper down to protect your surface from glue. Squeeze Elmer's glue around the outside of the jar:



Wrap the pieces of burlap around the glue covered areas of the jars, so that the ends slightly overlap. Be sure to secure the overlapped ends with a fine bead of glue, then set jars aside to allow the glue to dry:

While the glue is drying you can make the paper doily flowers to embellish your vases. Begin with a small paper doily as shown:

Fold the doily in half:

Unfold the doily, and fold it in half again in the opposite direction to make an "X" in the center:

Now start scrunching up the doily; folding, creasing, twisting until you've created a flower shape that you're happy with. Remember...there is no right or wrong way to do this, and I think the more scrunchy and wrinkled the flower is, the better it looks!

Use a dot of Elmer's glue to hold down the center of the flower so that it keeps it keeps it shape. Add a nice sized dot of glue to the burlap seam on your jar, and then place your paper doily flower on the glue:

Gather up some fun buttons for the flower centers and some twine to make a fluffy bow for the flower center as well:

You can click HERE to go to the post where I did a tutorial on how to create these simple, fluffy bows. (In the tutorial I used narrow satin ribbon, but you can apply this method to just about any kind of ribbon or twine.)

Once you've created your bows, squirt a good sized glop of glue onto the center of the doily and place the center of the twine bow into the glue:

The buttons that I used had shanks on the back, so using some wire cutters I nipped those off so that my buttons would lie flat. I squirted a large glop of glue onto the knot of the twine bow, and then nestled the button into the glue to create the center of the flower:

Once the glue had completely dried, I put water in the vases and then added cut flowers from my garden. I love the shabby-chic look of these, and I think they would make lovely, low cost table decorations for bridal showers, weddings, receptions, birthdays, or just to give to friends like I did. :)

Take a minute today to do something unexpectedly nice for someone...and remember, nice really does matter!!

Blessings,