Ok, so I may not be Irish myself, but my husband is. And my daughter’s red hair says she is. Which means 2/3 of our household is…Plus, St. Patrick’s Day is another excuse to make and display cute decorations!
I wanted to make something simple, but festive, so I whipped up this cute mason jar vase! I was able to make it entirely with things I already had in my craft supply stash, but it uses very simple materials, so it will be inexpensive to make even if you have to buy everything.
You will need:
- A Mason jar.
- Acrylic paint. I had a few different greens I was deciding between, but I decided to go with Americana-Hauser Light Green. It’s not the traditional Kelly green of St. Patrick’s day, but this more muted leafy green works better in our house. Use what works best for you!
- A sponge brush.
- Sandpaper
For the tag:
- Small alphabet rubber stamps.
- White pigment ink.
- Cardstock.
- Washi Tape.
- Ribbon.
Start with a clean and dry mason jar. Using the sponge brush, I gave the whole jar a nice thin coat. It’s really important to let it dry before you move onto the second coat. I, however, am impatient, so I set it on the floor register so the heat coming up would dry it faster!
Add another coat of paint making sure you cover up all the glass. I didn’t mind seeing some brush stroke marks, I think it sort of adds to the overall rustic and distressed look.
Here’s where you need to be patient again. Make sure the whole jar is completely dry before you bust out your sandpaper. It was lunch time for little one, so it gave me a distraction so I wasn’t literally watching paint dry.
Once the paint is completely dry, you can start sanding the raised areas to give it that distressed look. Experiment with the effects of courser or finer sandpaper. I preferred the finer grit because it took the paint off slower, so I could control the level of distress. The courser paper went right down to the glass with the first couple swipes.
I sanded down on all of the raised areas, plus a couple other spots around the top and bottom to make it look even older.
For the tag, I stamped out “Happy St. Paddy’s Day!” with the small rubber stamps. I went straight forward with my tag, but you could go with Top O’ the Mornin’, Erin Go Bragh, Kiss me I’m Irish…
I think I got these little bitty alphabet stamps in the Dollar Spot at Target ages ago. They were an impulse buy (as everything in that aisle usually is) and I have gotten so much use out of them! I use them all the time, and they’re so cute!
I’ve used them to make little initial flags for cupcakes at bridal showers, I’ve used them to imprint letters in salt dough ornaments….it’s pretty safe to say I got my money’s worth.
I’m fairly obsessed with Kraft paper. I just love the natural feel it gives to any project. And the white ink just pops on it, don’t you think?
I cut around the greeting and mounted it on a larger piece of white yardstick with gold washi tape, then I just tied it on with some metallic gold ribbon.
I filled the vase with some white carnations, and I think it looks adorable as our new centerpiece on our dining room table. It should help protect us from leprechaun pinches, right? Happy St. Patrick’s day!
little green pear 