Painting Jam Jars: Yoga for my Inner Crafter

I couldn't have felt more relaxed as I dabbed dots of paint onto a collection of empty jam jars. Remember when I showed you how I was upcycling Bonne Maman jam jars in my craft room?  Well, I asked Kim to keep saving them for me (her husband eats a jar of raspberry jam a week!) as I had big plans for flower arranging.  

The process is easy. Use enamel paint from Michaels (be sure that the labeling says the baking process on it) and make dots with a Q-tip or small brush in a pattern that is pleasing to you.  Allow to air dry for 1 hour.  Place jars on a the baking rack in your oven, close the door and preheat to 350 (allowing the jars to heat up slowly with the oven). Bake for 30 minutes. Turn oven off and allow the jars to cool in the oven.  The jars should be now dishwasher safe! I don't foresee needing to wash vases in the dishwasher, but the claim gives me confidence that the design won't ship off.

Of course you should follow the actual instructions on the label of the paint you are using, but I wanted to explain it here so that you could see how perfectly easy it is.

Now my little army of vases are ready to be filled with flowers and given away.  I have tied matching ribbon around the rim of some of these and they look wonderful!  I spent an hour painting dots last night and I could feel my blood pressure going down.  This is yoga for my inner crafter.

Candlelight on New Year's Eve

I am so happy with these beautiful gold-painted votives!  I bought a pack of glass (wax filled) votive candles at Michaels and painted the bottom half of the glass with Liquid Leaf paint in "Classic Gold."  

There are hardly any instructions to give: wear plastic gloves, use a 1" brush to paint each glass with gold leaf paint up to the wax line, allow to dry.  When painting, keep the paint away from bottom lip (base) of the votive; just in case the heat of the candle causes the paint to stick to the surface it is sitting on.  Better safe than sorry.

In the end it became one of my favorite additions to the house.  It gave a lovely glow to the kitchen and made doing the evening dishes much more glamorous. 

Happy New Year!