Craft: Upcycled Jam Jar & Buttons Tealight Holder

At 8.30pm tonight, Saturday 24 March, everyone is encouraged to turn off their electric lights and celebrate Earth Hour by candlelight. This is an annual event to raise awareness for environmental concerns and to prompt people to make greater commitments to save the planet.

Yesterday, I decided to upcycle a jam jar into a pretty tealight holder ready for Earth Hour.

Actually I was using some PVA glue to mend my cloth cat doorstop and realised that what was left was on the verge of drying up. Rather than let it go to waste, I went onto Pinterest to search for suitable craft projects.

I found this lantern decorated with beads: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/289004501058960326/

I don't have a store of beads, but I do have a tin full of buttons that have been cut off old clothing by myself and at least a couple of generations of my family before me. I had also recently washed out a glass jar, so it seemed I had all I needed for my upcycling project.

What I did was add a little water to some of the glue and coat the outside of the jar, then leave that until it was tacky. Then I used some more of the glue to stick buttons all over it.

When they had dried to the point that they weren't likely to fall off, I gave the jar and buttons another covering of PVA glue and left it to dry in the windowsill (pictured below).

When it got dark I popped a candle inside to see the effect. I was also hoping the candle would help the rather thick coating of glue dry more quickly.

This morning I looked at the jar again and decided it needed more decoration so I rummaged around in my box of craft stuff. I found a tube of glitter paint left over from when I made Yule decoration ages ago and also a small bit of decorative ribbon I'd saved after unwrapping a gift. I gave the jar a coat of glitter and tied the ribbon around the top.

All ready for Earth Hour.

By the way - I am aware that PVA glue and glitter paint are hardly the most environmentally friendly of products, but using them in a craft project was still better than just letting them dry up and go to waste.

You can find some other candle craft projects as well as candle spells in my book Pagan Portals - Candle Magic, which you can view on Amazon.

Links and previous related posts
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/289004501058960326/
https://www.wwf.org.uk/earthhour
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/09/crafty-recycling-earth-light.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/01/craft-how-to-make-spell-candle-holder.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/03/a-ritual-for-planet-by-candlelight-for.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2012/03/easy-candle-wishing-spell.html