This is the inspiration picture of apothecary jars from the ladies at
Uncommon (link to my inspiration).
Their inspiration was
Shanty 2 Chic. I only used this blog for their shopping list:
Americana Lamp (Ebony) Black acrylic paint, Gorilla glue, unfinished wooden letters, unfinished wooden candle sticks, 3 unfinished wooden finials, 3 medium sized wooden base circles, and 3 medium sized glass canisters. Unfortunately, I could not find the candlesticks or finials at Hobby Lobby. =( This caused me to use some major creative thinking, something I generally lack. Here is what I ended up pulling together for my materials.
I got just about everything half off at Hobby Lobby. I bought 3 glass canisters for $4.67 each; they weren't on sale. The letters were $2.99 each. The paint was $0.99. The Gorilla Glue was $4.99 (& I'm sure I'll use it in many more projects to come). The black ribbon was $1.99, red gingham check ribbon was $5.99, and the black gingham check ribbon was $3.99. The beads were all things that my mom had around the house. Here's a closer look.
The candlesticks were my big splurge and thankfully they were half off. The tall one ended up costing me $15, the medium one $10, and the small one $7. They are all the same except for their heights. Here is a closer look at the detail on the candlesticks.
I understand that this project ended up costing me a lot more than I anticipated but I promise, the end result makes it soooo worth it. If you noticed the letters I bought, I can spell "BOO" or "JOY" so this is a project that will be used for 2 holidays. And if I take off the letters, I'm sure I can find plenty of uses for this as normal/seasonal decor.
OK, now on to the steps to make the fabulous-ness that I am now obsessed with. =)
Step 1. Remove the labels from the bottom of the glass canisters. I found a pin on Pinterest that suggested rubbing alcohol and cotton balls.
Nothing happened!! Maybe I was impatient and didn't give it enough time to soak. I don't care. To me, rubbing alcohol didn't work. Then, my brother (shocker) suggested WD-40. He told me to let it soak a couple minutes then the sticker would come off with no glue residue left behind.
Don't tell him I said so but, my brother was right. Perfect removal of the price sticker and it's glue. You can see the sticker remains of my first attempt with the rubbing alcohol. So annoying. Trust me, go straight to the WD-40.
Step 2. Paint the lids of the canisters and the letters with the black acrylic paint.
This is just a picture of everything I needed to paint. I didn't prep any of them.
The lids needed 3 coats of paint for me to be satisfied. They probably would have been ok after 2 coats but I still saw some brush strokes. There were still some lines after 3 coats but not as bad to me.
I painted all the surfaces of the letters in case they get flipped around. Ok ok, it was because my OCD side couldn't stand to have the front & sides black but not the back.
Step 4: Glue the canisters to the candlesticks. I put Gorilla glue around the entire top of the candlesticks and then placed the canisters on top. The glue recommends clamping your items together for 30-60 minutes to ensure full adhesion. I stuck 2 novels & a 5 or 10 pound weight on top of each of mine. =) (The novels I used were Harry Potter & Twilight books. They are wonderful & must reads.)
Since it was midnight, I ended up just going to bed; therefore, my Gorilla Glue got 10 hours of time with the heavy weight on top. When I woke up the next morning, I used a exacto knife and trimmed the Gorilla Glue that had expanded out from under the canister.
Step 5: Glue beads together & then in place. I took the fun beads my mom had and used the Gorilla Glue to attach them on top of the normal black beads. I then glued them into the center of the canister lids.
In this picture, you can see what I did while the beads were attaching to the lids:
Step 6: Make bows. I chose a black and white gingham checkered ribbon for the BOO jars. I bough red and white gingham checkered ribbon for when the jars will say JOY at Christmas. I made all 6 bows today and then stored the red and white ones with the J and Y. I placed the bows over the area that the candlesticks attach to the canisters. I did this to hide any imperfections that may have happened. =)
Step 7: Hang ribbon off of letters. I held the letters with some ribbon to make sure that they hung below the lid but above the bow. I then tied a knot at the letter and at the part that would hang around the bead. I stored the J and the Y for later.
Step 8. Hang the letters from the beads.
Step 9: Fill the jars with candy corn for "BOO" Halloween jars. I will put peppermints or any other red, green or white candies for the "JOY" Christmas jars. I got my candy corn for $2.50 a bag at CVS today. Each container holds 2 bags that are 18 ozs.
Step 10: Place the jars where everyone will see them & eat the candy!
Mom was soo excited to see this when she got home. Added to a good day with the Texans beating the Steelers!!!!! (Not fair the parents got to go.)
I cannot wait to add more fall decor around these jars! I will update this post as that happens and look for when the jars change in future posts!
