A tiny jam jar ornament is an adorable addition to your Christmas tree!
Were you also influenced into buying the Bonne Maman Advent calendar this year?
I was definitely influenced by social media into buying it (Thanks, Tiktok!), but dude, I am LOVING it! Jam is delicious, and not gonna lie–the idea of also gaining 24 adorable mini jam jars into my possession, ripe for upcycling, was a big part of the draw.
And here I am now, with my growing collection of mini jam jars, already happy as a clam making tons of tiny little jam jar projects.
And my first project is perfect for commemorating this Christmas as the Christmas of the mini jam jars!
You can make this mini jar ornament with any small jar you like, as long as it has a lid that you can put a hole in. And even if it doesn’t, all it would take is a little ingenuity and a dab of E6000!
Materials
To make this adorable mini jar ornament, you will need:
- miniature jar. If you want to make this specific ornament without buying the Advent calendar, check out your local recycling center or Buy Nothing group. Otherwise, any similar miniature jar will work just as well, as long as you can put a hole in the lid.
- Mod Podge. This is the best glue for this project, although if you already have some spray adhesive on hand, that could work, as well. Just be mindful of the overspray!
- small paintbrush or cotton swab. You need something small enough to get glue into the little corners at the bottom of the jam jar.
- glitter. I know glitter is a toxic menace, but I already own it so I might as well use it! This would also be a pretty decoupage project with paper confetti or decorative paper napkins instead.
- drill and eye screw. If you don’t have a drill with the right bit size, you can get by with an awl and some muscle.
Step 1: Apply Mod Podge.
Use a small paintbrush or cotton swab to apply a very thin layer of Mod Podge to the inside of a clean and dry jam jar. I wanted my ornament to look like the jar was full of glittery jam, so I coated only about the bottom 4/5 of the jar, and wiped away any excess above that level.
Alternatively, as a glue-free option, this ornament would also look adorable with a few strands of tinsel simply curled up inside. If you had a few colors of tinsel you could get the same effect as a glittered ornament without the glue and glitter!
Step 2: Add glitter.
Pour too much glitter into the jam jar, then give it a good shake/roll it around/agitate it well so that the glitter coats all the glue.
Look out for any spots where the glue is clearly so thick that the glitter won’t be visible through it after it dries, and go back in with your paintbrush or cotton swab to smooth it out. In the photo above, you can see an area of thick glue on my ornament below the label. It’s so thick that even though Mod Podge generally dries clear, it would stay white in that spot, so I thinned it out with my cotton swab and coated it again with glitter.
Let the open jam jar air dry until the glue is cured, changing its position every now and then so gravity can’t pull the glue where you don’t want it.
When the glue is cured, shake any excess glitter out of the jam jar ornament.
Step 3: Add an eye screw to the lid of the mini jam jar ornament.
Using a drill or even just an awl, put a hole through the exact center of the jar ornament’s lid, then screw an eye screw through the hole. Optionally, you can add a dab of E6000 or similar glue to the underside of the lid to hold the eye screw, but the mechanical threading is absolutely enough to keep the screw in place.
Screw the lid back onto the jar–again, you can seal it with E6000, but you don’t have to–add an ornament hanger, and your new mini jam jar ornament is perfect!
I haven’t quite figured out how I’d do it, but I think it would be so pretty to make the hole in the lid large enough to accommodate a twinkle light, and then I could have a whole string of mini jam jar ornament twinkle lights on my Christmas tree.
Next year, I guess!
P.S. Did you know that Bonne Maman has a whole section for jam jar upcycling projects on their website? I think I’m going to make jam jar candles next!
P.P.S. Want to know what else you can do with an empty jar? Here you go!
