December 2012

 I like the look of jars decorated for the holidays. But, I also like to use the jars in my kitchen and around the house for various things, so didn't want to tie up a jar forever just to set it out for a couple of weeks for Christmas.

My solution was to do some temporary displays, no glue, just pop some pretties in and add fake snow.

I make a lot of jars that are permanent decorations too, like this paper clay snowman on top of an old spice jar.

When I do that, I use a very sturdy glue. I start by drizzling the glue into the bottom of the bottle, and then stick my main pieces in, and over that, I sprinkle mica flakes and add mini mercury glass beads.  (mica flakes are nicer for a piece that you want to last forever, I only use the Hobby Lobby fake snow for the temp jars)

If you are doing a permanent bottle or jar, its also important to make sure the lid (whatever you use for that) is attached securely too, like this bottle brush tree topped bottle.

But since I wanted to re-use my old canning jars, I didn't use any glue.  These jars have been handy for so many things already, besides just leftovers, they have been vases for fresh flowers and center pieces for our family reunion.

So, I gathered up some supplies, branches cut up from sparkly picks found at Michael's 70% off holiday craft aisle, and some fake snow from Hobby Lobby's 50% off shelf.

First, I plopped in a branch for height in the back, then added a figurine to the front.  After that, I poured in the fake snow.

A dowel rod was good for moving pieces around to get them to where I liked them.

After the main pieces were in place, I dropped in some mini shiny brites and a bottle brush ball from an old corsage.

Then, I tied an old ribbon to the top and added some millinery.

This one was done the same way, a branch in the back first, then the figurine, a deer that I added some holly to. It got a bottle brush tree too.

Next, the snow, another frosty branch for in front of the deer, and a bow with millinery on the rim.

This one is even more simple. Its a small apothecary jar, with a pink bottle brush tree, fake snow, and a handful of little mercury glass beads.

Part of an old Christmas corsage is tied to the top.

I can never get enough of those old corsages!  They can be tucked into the tree, dropped into a jar, tied onto a lamp shade, or worn on your coat. 

I cut one up to decorate this bottle brush tree glued to a wooden painted candle stick for Carol.

Parts of an old corsage were used to make this stocking from a vintage baby sock.

Old corsages are a great source for the little beads I like to use too. I also buy garlands of beads to take apart when I find them at a good price.

One thing to beware of if you are making temporary jarfuls of holiday cheer, is to keep them out of reach of curious fingers. Kids will want to shake them like a snow globe and even adults can be enticed into picking them up to get a closer look. 

Which means, its not a display anymore, its a jumble.

Of course, no real damage is done, it's easy to poke a stick down in the jar and move things back into position again. 

For me, it was a very quick project just dumping in some stuff on my desk and poking it around with a stick till I liked the look and adding a bow.  I used chipped, junky, or plastic figurines in my jars, but under glass, they look so much more special!

This year, I was going to keep things simple, and not add Shiny Brites to my chandelier.

But after so many years of adding baubles to the dining room light, the room looked empty without it.  And really, its not that much work to do if I pay attention to what goes where. In the past, I have added, stepped back, observed, removed, rearranged, added, and on and on.

That had to end.  This time, I planned out the steps and didn't add the balls randomly and have to redo as I went along. 

The trick was balance, so I sorted my silver and gold balls according to size.   Then, I put them in piles of 5, since my chandy has 5 arms.

Specialty balls like bells or bell shaped ornaments went into a pile together too.

Next, turn off the light, those bulbs are hot! 

Then, gather a pile of paper clips or ornament hooks. Yes, it would probably be prettier if all my hooks matched, but honestly, you don't notice the paper clips unless you are standing on the table like I am with the camera.  And paper clips are nice to use, because you can open them up, so that they are twice as long, to get some good dangle length. 

Of course, if you have patience and don't mind snipping and tying, fishing wire would be invisible and you can cut it in any length.

I started with the tiny balls at the very top.  I chose to leave my amberish crystals up, but changing them to clear might have been good too.

The center of the light fixture had a cup, or bowl that I filled with smaller balls.

Yes, that is me reflected in each ball.  Standing on the dining room table. Sugarwings enjoys looking up at the balls and seeing herself reflected dozens of times while she eats dinner.

I started at the top of the chandelier, working my way around the five arms, with a similar shape, size, and color ball on each arm.

For layers, I hooked balls to the metal of the arm, and also to the crystals hanging from it.

I opened up paper clips to make them twice as long, to hang some of the balls. 

On the bottom, around the outside I hung ornaments from each other, three linked together from opened paper clips.

At the base of the light, I hung five speciality ornaments in a ring, then from the very center, a really large ball.  I opened up the paper clip to wrap it around the tip of the chandy, since there was no where to put a hook through. And I wanted the large ball dead center.

Some ornaments were hung from the crystal chain too.

Mine is covered in a mix of balls, but all within the same palette of vintage silver and gold. 

Ta dah!

See what I mean about the paper clips not really showing? I'm sure that fishing line would be ideal design wise, but I'm all for short cuts and this was much quicker.

This is last year's completed light.  I used a garland of beaded wire and hung them all over it as well as the crystals and arms of the chandelier.  These hang down from ball to ball, linked with open paper clips.

That is a look that I really love, but that beaded wire was a nightmare, it tangled on everything.  I ended up taking the ornies off after the holidays and leaving the beading up for months, calling it "winter decor" instead of dealing with untangling it.

Here is the light a few years ago, with multi-colored vintage balls.  You can see that in some places I have used up to 3 or 4 paper clips to hang some of them. I was going for a very random look, and was happy with it, but its funny how much longer this takes than to actually count out matching sized ones in groups of five like I did it this season.

My goal was to keep it quick to put up and to take down. I'd say it took me about an hour this time.   Any time I can get something pretty done and save time doing it is much appreciated here at the holidays!

I'll  leave you with some photos of some new items in the Boutique and on Etsy.