mason jar bookends

Happy Tuesday! Here is my first D.I.Y. post!!

If you know me, then you know I love/am obsessed with mason jars. If I could I would use them for everything, but then it would look weird. Ok, so here goes my first D.I.Y. post!

I got my inspiration for these bookends from pinterest and anthropologie. On pinterest, they showed people making bookends out of mason jars, but they were pretty plain. They used the mason jars as vases, which is cute, or just spay painting patterns on them. The inspiration from anthropolgie is from their winter version of a snow globe, in which you place some form of glitter and the miniature christmas trees inside. So instead of winter I decided to go for a spring look/feel.

Materials:

1. mason jars (preferably the ones with one smooth side)
2. painter's tape / decal
3. gold spray paint ( or any color you prefer)
4. hot glue gun
5. exacto knife
6. moss
7. your choice of miniature figures

Instructions:

1. First cover the non-etched, smooth side of the class with masking tape. And trace out the open window you'd like. I chose to do one circle and one heart. Some other ideas you could do are a square, star, triangle, any shape really.
   
   
   
    
2. Then take an exacto knife and you cut out the shape and tear away the extra tape, so that all that's covered is your window.
   
   
   
   
   
3. The next part is fun, you take your jars out and spray paint them. Make sure to cover the whole jar, if you'd like you can also do the lids which is what I did. Also, be sure to lay some newspaper on the ground and go outside!
   
   
   
4. Now for the fun part! Take off the tape, and you get the window as seen below!
   
   
   
   
   
5. Last, you can put the moss at the bottom, so on the inside of the lid. I probably should have raised the moss a little higher so it can be seen better through the window. (I may go back and raise it a little more.) I hot glued the moss down, to make it more manageable. I then glued down my miniature figures. I also hot glued some to the sides of the glass. But really it's whatever inspires you.

I hoped my instructions are clear. Happy Crafting!