How to Make a Cute DIY Christmas Lantern Out of a Pickle Jar
Save your pickle jars, especially the large ones. They can make beautiful seasonal decor! Today, I'll show you how you can make a cute DIY Christmas lantern in a few simple steps.
So gather your materials, let your creativity flow, and let's bring the magic of the holidays into your home, one pickle jar at a time.
This post was transcribed by a member of the Hometalk editorial team from the original HometalkTV episode.
Tools and materials
- Pickle jar
- Warm soapy water
- Scissors
- Contact paper
- Pen
- Star templates
- Frosted glass spray paint
- Tweezers
- Rope
- Re berries
- Hot glue gun
- Battery-powered tea light
Steps
1. Wash & remove the label
When you're done with that pickle jar, the first step is to put it in a bath of warm, soapy water. Make sure you get that pickle odor out of there. And also the warm, soapy water is gonna help take that label right off.
2. Cut out contact paper stars
Start by grabbing a roll of contact paper. I really like using this for crafts because it is a temporary adhesive and it's gonna work really well to decorate this jar. So I cut out a little star shape and I'm just gonna trace it onto the contact paper. And I'm gonna cut out about a dozen stars in different sizes.
3. Stick the stars on the jar
Once the stars are cut out, they work just like stickers. Peel the back off and place them all around your pickle jar. Make sure to push them on really well so there are no bubbles or gaps.
4. Spray frosted glass paint
Once all the stars are placed, it's time to paint this. We are going to use frosted glass spray paint. So I've got this in a well-ventilated covered area and I'm just gonna add about two light coats.
Note that when you spray this on, it's going to look wet. You're not gonna see that frosted look right away.
5. Peel off the stickers
Once you've got two coats on there, grab a tweezer and we're gonna pull off those stars right away.
6. Decorate the jar
Now that it's completely dry, we have this beautiful frosted glass look with these stars all around it. Now it's time to dress it up and give it a farmhouse look. I'm gonna use some rope from the dollar store and a Christmas sprig with some red berries and some green leaves.
I'm just gonna wrap the rope around the top, secure it with a little hot glue, and then snip off a few of the berries and leaves and tuck those into the rope on the top. This is another area where you can really get creative. Use some floral pieces that really work for you. Add a little rope, add a lot of rope, whatever you wanna do to match your decor.
7. Add the candle
Once all the embellishments are on, I'm gonna use a battery-powered tea light to drop on the inside.
DIY Christmas lantern
That's it! I've got a beautiful farmhouse lantern for Christmas. I love the glow that it gives off, especially with that frosted glass. Save those pickle jars and turn them into beautiful lanterns for the holiday season or check out these other DIY Christmas jar ideas.
I hope this video has inspired you to go create your own. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?