Do you ever see something and feel drawn to it for its possibilities? You don’t have any specific craft or art in mind, but you know that somehow your little something can become something even prettier? I do this all the time in some of the most ordinary places – receipt tablets and paper tags at the office supply store, vintage scarves at the antique store, bits of old paper brochures and leaflets from the junk drawer of someone’s estate, jars and bottles and old cans…
I saw these at a kitchen wares booth at the flea market recently. Usually I resist the urge to collect these things unless I have a very specific creative idea in mind. But these were tiny and fifty cents and I had to have them. So I bought three. Now what? They’re small – about three inches tall, and the opening is quite small. So what can I do with them? Surely there’s some Martha-like craft these little jars are destined for. And while we’re on the topic of jars, I’ve been collecting all my jars in various sizes, unwilling to throw them away and unable to truly recycle them. I feel like there’s some beautiful thing that can be done with these, too. If it were Christmas, I’d use them as votives to light the porch (an idea I came across in Hallmark magazine). But its not Christmas, so what else do you suggest?
joy says
i would have totally bought them too and have no idea what you could do with them. Tons of possibilities i’m sure! your comments look like you’ve got some choices. please show pictures of what you come up with. I’m not going to say how many bottles/jars i have that i haven’t done anything with yet!
Jan says
LOVE the new banner! Makes me giggle every time I see it 😉
lv, mom
Gift of Green says
I agree – bud vases. Easy. 🙂
Adrienne says
“I see trees of green…” ok not actually trees but lots of little buds in those.
jen says
I do this, too.
Hmmm, decopauge them?
Shauna says
I used to put agates I found at the beach in clear jars. Or you could fill them with small beads or sand.
Barbara says
Teeny tiny buttons?
Or bud vases for those tiny little flowers the children pick from the garden with a very short stem! Oh, just realised the above comment says that too. Must be a good idea then!
KBG says
I have this crochet book and immediately thought of these cute little containers on the cover when I saw your bottles. I think you could make them some pretty little “sweaters” and then use them as bud vases.
https://www.amazon.com/Kyuuto-Japanese-Crafts-Lacy-Crochet/dp/0811860582/ref=sr_1_45?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204359108&sr=1-45
Lisa thedomesticdiva says
I’d fill them with colorful glitter!
With friendship,
Lisa
Jan says
Ok, bring out the music teacher in me 🙂 Make Evyn a xylophone of sorts with the various bottles, filling them at varying levels to make notes, then tinting the water with food colors. Set them in a line and have fun playing songs (toddler songs work great since most are only built on few notes, like itsy bitsy spider). Empty and put away for another music day (you can use a permanent marker to make a dot where the water line was, if you want to repeat the exact same collection of tones, maybe even use differing colored dots for the different songs?) If you come across a glass beaker stirrer (the kind they use in chemistry or biology), pick it up–it would make the best tone-producing mallet for glass.
lv, mom
Susan says
They would make perfect little vases for the little wildflowers E. picks for you. My kiddos always seem to pick them too close to the top and they are too short for regular vases.