What Do I Do With ALL These Baby Food Jars?

July 9, 2004

got this online

A cute way to decorate the baby food jars is to cut small squares of linen or muslin fabric (plain or colors i.e. Halloween or Christmas designs etc.) and tie them over the capped bottles with pretty ribbons or raffia. I did this with my dried herbs from the gardens and passed the out - they are small enough to fit into spice racks or on window sills etc., and make great stocking stuffers. Also - when you take the tops off you can set the opened jars in linen closets and they release a very fresh scent into your towels and linens. (I even tried putting some in my boy's soccer bags but they yelled that it made them look like ninnies for "smelling good". The easiest one is to put (glue) a cotton ball to the lid, then cut a pretty piece of fabric, your choice, in a circle (using pinking shears is best) 1 1/2 to 2 inches wider then the lid, place on top of cotton ball loosely, then run a bead of hot glue around lid and push fabric into place making sure the "poof" of the top doesn't get too taunt, then glue ribbon around the top or other trim. If the jar isn't going to be opened you can save the trouble with the top and do the same thing only instead of gluing fabric to lid just tie the ribbon around the jar and lid into a bow. You can also paint the jar, and take the lid and cover the top in white glue and then dip the lid in beads or seeds or beans or anything else you have. I have tried this on whole egg shells with wonderful results - try stringing seed beads (tiny ones) using a beading needle and then glueing them around the jar top to cover top and sides - or if necessary just the top - let me know how it works out! Try lightly sanding the lids - then it's easy to paint with one of those funky spray paints (such as stone or marble).

I use baby food jars to put dried herbs into & give them away as gifts. I found hot gluing fabric to the top of the jar, & then hot gluing ribbon or raffia string to the edge of the lid is quite pretty. just try to match the fabric either to your holiday or the kitchen of your receiver. good luck. You can most certainly use them for herbs and any herbal concoction, the only thing I do is buy those sticky sunshade sheets....the ones you put on your car windows, and put a piece of it around the jar. That way it is now a dark colored container and your herbs or essential oils will last longer...simple, easy and quick! Then all you need to do is decorate the tops of the jars any way you like......I have used cloth, pinecones, buttons (very victorianish), fimo clay cut into shapes, small plastic fruit and veggies, kitchen string wound around the lid and painted, wooden cutouts from the craft store, round kitchen drawer pulls glued to the top, bakers clay cut into shapes (actually the salt dough is much better), and jewelry to cover the lids....you can even go to a wine store or crafts store and buy the cork stoppers instead of the screw on lids......This is a wonderful memory, thank you and have fun!! You can paint on them for further decoration and the lids can be covered in cloth, painted, or replaced by other things like fine mesh fabric and ribbon. Happy crafting. I dry a lot of herbs for tea and think the baby jars would be useful in storing the different herbs. A little piece of muslin tied with raffia or twine to cover the lid. Maybe a tea mixture tied with a little notecard..

I did this with my favorite teas. Nice big floral stickers work great. Decoupage papers can work nicely too. Without labels the make great color Sand art. I think they would be great for dried herbs or spices. My Dad uses then to put different sizes of screws and nuts in them. The lids could be put nailed to a board , and the bottles can be scew on them. If you have small children around such as Vacation Bible School or Brownie can use them to show how to make Ice cream or butter. The ice cream mix is put in small jars with lid on, t hen place in a 16 or 13 oz coffee can (or any can with a lid). Place ice around small jars and put either side table salt or rock salt on top of ice. Put lid on coffee can. then they roll the coffee cans. it will turn into butter or solid ice cream. An easy recipe for ice cream is - 1 liter of flavor pop (such as Strawberry) and one can of milnot or any evaporate milk.. If you have no use for them, share them- with Girl Scouts, nursery, Boy Scouts or a church in your area. I just bought a jar of jam at a fair and the cover was simple but cute - a circle of decorative paper about 1 inch larger in diameter than the lid pressed down around the lid and secured with a piece of metallic elastic. Fabric would be cute as well and could be tied on with ribbon, lace, or rafia. Maybe since you are using lids without rings, glue the paper or fabric to the top. We don't have a baby, but my husband does LOVE spaghetti (with the kind of sauce out of the mason jars!) so I have been saving the mason jars and using Perm-enamel (glass and metal paint from Michael's) and painting the jars. I have also decoupaged decorative florals from material and then covered it all with a crackle coat and antiqued it with a taupe glaze. It looks GREAT! I put a painted and antiqued miny terra cotta pot in the top and I use them as candle holders. They are olde world looking and I love them. It is the same technique I used on my lamps and lampshades. I believe that they have some pretty tiny terra cotta pots, or since the jars are already so little, you could just use them as candle holders. Perhaps since the paint is supposed to go on metal and glass, you could paint and antique the lids as well!! You could always crochet a top for the cover.....or crochet a holder for the glass part, and at the top make it so that you can use a drawstring/ribbon to hold in the jar. hahha, that was as clear as mud, wasn't it. What I mean is crochet for the jar, on the row before the lid you could do a sc/hdc/or dc, ch 1 around so that a ribbon/rope/whatever could be used as a drawstring. For the lid, you could get some bead/wooden design/shell/acorn/whatever to use as a handle/pull. You could always decorate the lid with beads, shells, flowers, etc and leave the jar part plain. You could get different material for the lid and glue it on around the edge and then put a piece of raffia. You could always just paint the lid and put a cute label on your jar. hahhah, I guess you could just do about anything.....just let your mind wander. Paste or tie pretty material or lace over the tops. Fill with your own jelly, or bath powder mixture. Herbs store nicely in them. Also nuts and screws. Also little Barbie shoes and jewelry. Just the right size to rinse small paint brushes in and to send salad dressing and stuff for lunches. Fill with jelly beans at Easter or Christmas. Keep a few in the car when going on vacation. We put Different colored dirt and sand and ocean water in them and brought them back. Sea shells too.

Diana Gonzalez

A man never gets so old that he forgets what it was like being young

- Hugh Beaumont (Leave it to Beaver)