Supplies Needed:

Most items can be found around the house or in a craft store.

Jar Candle with lid – with removable plastic bottom

Craft Glue

Paint

Scissors

Decorating Candle Jars and Lids is a fun and easy project for all ages. You can use many different craft items to embellish your jar and lid. If you are really creative, you could even make a snow globe out of the lid. But we are going to go over a few inexpensive ideas to turn your Jar into an attractive looking and still functional decoration.

Most jar lids come with a plastic under cap, which can be taken off by a screw driver. In this space you can add many different things, from dried flowers to an elaborate scene.

One of my favorite things to do is to add fake flowers and greens to my lid, typically using the same color flower as my jar wax. Everything can be placed at the top of the lid and adding green leaves to keep it secure.

Sand, Rocks or Marble pieces can add a different look to the lid. One great idea is to use different layers of colored sand. Just make sure you fill it to the top, because the under cap will have a little bit of space. You'll get the same look as those colored bottles that you can buy at fairs. For rocks, try using some Aquarium rocks, as they come in multiple colors.

You can add a more personal touch by adding a picture or personal message in the lid. Just cut the picture to fit the lid and put some kind of background behind it. One idea is to use a nice piece of colored felt or velvet fabric. By adding enough fabric, you can be assured the picture will stay where it is. I do not recommend using glue on the top of the lid, as it will be visible.

You can also just use a pattern fabric to place inside the lid. A great idea would to use a pattern that is in your room, maybe a leftover piece of wallpaper. Then you have a matching Jar to your room. Don't laugh, but I cut off a small piece of fabric from the underside of my chair to use in a lid, so that it matched my furniture.

The jar itself can be decorated in so many ways, its impossible to list them all here. So I'll show a design and some ideas that I thought would be great to give as a gift to someone.

One of my favorite designs is to use my old Christmas cards or a specific holiday card as a design on my jar. Cut the card it to fit the jar, and then glue it to the jar using crafters glue or glue dots. This is a great idea for a gift around Valentines or Christmas time. You could even use the inside of the card with the message. And to top it off, adding a picture of yourself on the other side of the jar, will add a nice personal touch.

There are many things you can do to decorate your jar. Using some of the ideas above, like the pattern in the lid, you can also use it on the jar. Some other ideas are, painting a scene or message on the jar, gluing ribbon strips vertically to add stripes, gluing flowers to the base, adding your own custom label and something as simple as red lipstick kisses all over the jar.

Your creativity holds no bounds. So have fun and try anything, I bet it will come out fabulous.

This Article was written by Michelle Gauthier – info@expressivecandles.com

02/20/04 – This article is copyright by www.ExpressiveCandles.com.

Expressive Candles offers Scented Hand Poured Candles and a growing collection of Candle Decorating and CandleScaping articles.

Optional image at http://www.expressivecandles.com/jarlid.jpg