Seven Easy Pickle Jar Crafts

Decor Projects Made from Pickle Jars

If you eat a lot of pickles around your house, be sure and save the empty jars, since they can be used to make all sorts of decor items around the house. Actually, any empty glass jar can be used to make some impressive gifts and decor items, but pickle jars happen to come in so many sizes, from really small to gigantic, making them perfect, especially for the pickle jar canister project.

Since most canisters have two large and two small jars, or a row of four jars, each one slightly smaller than the previous, pickle jars fit the bill perfectly. Purchase the four pickle jars and you're ready to start your project. I made mine with a huge jar for flour, one slightly smaller for sugar, an even smaller one for coffee and a really small one for tea bags.

Paint the jar by using stencils or use your freehand skills to write "flour", "sugar", or other labels, on the jars, using glass paints. You'll find paints especially for glass at a craft store, making them easy to toss in the dishwasher when they need washed.

Although the pickle jars already have lids, you can make them much nicer, simply by gluing or screwing on a knob of some sort. You'll find an assortment of nice knobs at a home improvement store or you can just pick up some wooden balls at a craft supply place. First paint or further decorate the lid, then glue or screw the knob on. You'll love the new canisters that make a great gift that's very inexpensive.

For kids, cut a slit in the lid of any size pickle jar to use for a bank. You can purchase scrapbook paper that has dollar bill images printed on it. Use the paper inside the jar to decorate it and hide the contents. Use metallic paints to paint the lid and your child will have a cute bank that's very simple to make.

A different bank is made by laying a large pickle jar on its side. Glue on thread spools for feet, and a piece of pipe cleaner for a tail. Use FunFoam to make ears and a fifth thread spool for a nose. Paint on eyes with a magic marker then cut a slit in the lid. The pig makes a great bank for any child.