Tissue Paper Glass Jar Luminaries

Crafts that allow us to reuse items that would otherwise be recycled or thrown away are a win win in our house.  I like to save glass jars from everyday things we might buy, condiments, sauces, pickles, ect.....you never know when they might come in handy for a craft project on a really hot { or rainy or cold } day.

Tissue Paper Luminaries 

What you will need:

clean and empty glass jars { no labels }

tissue paper { the thin solid color ones work best but they are delicate to work with }

scissors 

mod podge 

containers for tracing if you want to have certain shapes cut out 

Paint brushes { to apply the mod podge }

small candles or tea lights 

lighter { to light your candles }

Step 1:

Pick out your colors and figure out what design you want to have on your jar. 

Cut out the pieces you will need. 

Step 2:

Spread a little bit of mod podge on the jar at a time and place your tissue paper onto it patting it down.  Try not to rub the tissue paper down because this can cause it to tear.  Also, you don't need a ton of mod podge to get the tissue paper to stick down, too much and the tissue paper can tear, wrinkle, or become a squished mess because it will get over saturated. 

Finish applying all of your tissue paper to your jar. 

Step 3:

Allow your jar to dry for about 10 mins or so and then apply mod podge over all of the tissue paper to seal it down.  You want to wait to do this because if the tissue paper gets too saturated with mod podge it can cause it to tear or crinkle on the jar. 

Allow your jars to dry all of the way before handling and placing a tea light into the jar. 

Bonus points to the people who can tell me what character the middle jar is made to look like. ;) 

My daughter loves having her jar in her room at night all aglow.  Like me, she is a lover of candles and candle light. :)

Have left over jars in your home? You can turn them into fun luminaries for every day display or you can make seasonal ones like we did a few Halloweens back: