Repurpose: A Plastic Jar for Decorative Craft Room Storage

Want something that makes you feel good in your craft room, but also serves a purpose? 

Try re-purposing a peanut butter or mayonnaise jar.

I use paper, cloth, coffee filter, clay, plastic and metal flowers and buds in the majority of my craft projects. I will mix the different types of flowers in a project once in a while, but usually I'll just stick to one type at a time so I want them separated. Plus, I don't want to store them together as the heavier flowers can crush the delicate ones. Previously, I had put them in boxes and that worked for storage, but then I had to label all of the boxes and was missing out on how pretty they looked.

Step-by-step 

Materials:

• Lace
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun (or craft glue)
• Flower arrangement foam (I prefer the type that doesn't crumble for this specific project)
• Jar
• Paint
• Flowers with stem
• White Tulle
• Wire (strong enough to penetrate the foam)
• Wire cutters

First I prepped my flower arrangement foam for hot gluing by placing a card-stock circle on the bottom of it. This just gives me a smooth surface for gluing and keeps me from melting and therefore disfiguring the foam when I'm doing my last step. If something were to go wrong now, it would be much better than happening at the very end of the project.

I coated my lid with some Gesso so my silver paint would stick, but you can cover the lid with a cloth or paper circle that goes down over the sides.

After the paint is dry I hot glued the very top of my lace to the lid overlapping slightly where the lace meets in the back.

Next, I worked on my flower arrangement. I made sure that the flowers were stuck in the foam securely with hot glue since this is something that I will be touching often.
I used tulle to fill in the gaps between the flowers. I also love how delicate tulle makes flower arrangements look.

 

And here is my finished project . I love it!

I did not fill the back in as tightly so there is enough play in the arrangement to butt the container up against a wall when placed on a shelf. If you want to place it on a narrow shelf, avoid making the flowers too close together on the backside so they move out of the way easily.

I have a narrow wall shelf next to my desk that I have some of my glitters on. I think it would be a great place to put it to enjoy each day.

This project would also make a great gift holder for candy or cookies. There are MANY things that can been done with a plastic jar, so I don't throw them out.