This year my teenage daughter wants a more traditional holiday theme in our house… apparently as cute as our “theme” Christmases have been, she longs for something more red and green, like when she was little. ( Come on! Our Candyland Christmas Tree was AMAZING!) I myself, was longing for lots of frosty snow, and birch log candles, and starry whites…Feelin’ me, readers? But hey, she has a point. Gotta admit, I miss that homey Classic Christmas feel too! She sold us on the idea, so we started brainstorming some DIY Christmas crafts we could make, without having to buy an entirely new set of decorations. I ran across this cute mason jar luminary made for Halloween by ‘My Anything and Everything‘ and decided it would be a perfect idea, with a few Christmas tweaks! Love the way our DIY mason jar holiday luminaria turned out, they will definitely be front and center for our “Vintage Home” holiday theme this year! (Sorry, I can’t help it with the themes…)
We chose to use the word “Joy” and three glass mason jars, but obviously it’s up to you.
***Thrilled that our DIY Mason Jar Holiday Luminaria is featured in the 2016 Country Sampler’s “Christmas Decorating” Magazine!
DIY Mason Jar Luminaria
First of all, what the heck are mason jar luminaries? Traditionally luminaria bags were filled with sand and a candle to light the winter night. During the holiday season, many towns hold Luminaria Festivals where the streets are lined with shimmering bags of light. Sante Fe has one of the most famous ones. We took the luminaria bag idea and made it a little safer for indoors with the frosted mason jars and the LED candles. Oh, and these are pretty fun holiday projects too!
DIY Mason Jar Luminaria Supplies
You can get all of these items at most craft stores, or ‘Amazon’. Links included below.
- Smooth sided glass mason jars
- Frosted glass spray paint
- Clear matte sealer, or glitter spray paint
- Stick on letters to spell your word
- Spray paint for the lids (optional)
- LED votive candles
- Ribbon and picks for the lid
Step One
Mason Jar Letters
Place the letter sticker on each mason jar, centered as much as possible. I used a piece of painters tape along the bottom of each jar to give me a guideline of how far up to place the sticker… so they would all be the same distance from the bottom when lined up next to each other. Make sense? Rub the sticker on well so no paint leaks underneath. (You will be learning how to frost the glass jars with spray paint next!) Remove lids and rings.
Step Two
How to Frost Glass Mason Jars
Spray paint the jars with the frosted glass paint. I did mine in three light coats, letting it dry at least 15 minutes between coats. Let dry at least one hour after last coat, then lightly spray with clear glitter spray paint to seal. We started out thinking glitter spray, then had clear sealer left over from another project we used on each mason jar luminary jar. Let dry overnight. Note: Please check your spray sealer in an inconspicuous spot if you choose to use it. Some readers have mentioned that some sealers removed the frosted look of the glass paint on the luminaria.
Step Three
Paint Mason Jar Lids and Rings
If desired, spray paint the rings and lids on your frosted glass mason jars. I used a silver sparkle spray paint, ‘cause thats what I had. You can leave them gold if you like. Whatever you love for holiday decorating style!
Step Four
Remove Mason Jar Stickers
Remove the stickers. I warmed them up with a hair dryer first so they would peel off easily… I was concerned about scratching off the frosted paint if they were too hard to get off. That worked out really well.
Step Five
Decorate Your Mason Jar DIY
I tied some mini ornaments onto some wire ribbon, wrapped it twice around the top of the mason jar luminaries, then tied it.
Step Six
Add Candles to Your Frosted Mason Jar
Add your LED votive to the bottom of the mason jar, with or without a little craft snow. We discovered when we used snow that it boosted the height of the candles in the mason jar luminaries, and we would have placed the letters a little higher on the jar if we had realized this before hand… Just FYI!
Done! I use some dollar store cooking tongs to grab the votives to pull them up for turning on and off… Seems easier then sliding them out each time, especially if you are using snow! A little tip… the words show up best against a dark background, so keep that in mind when you are placing these DIY mason jar holiday luminaria come the holidays!
Wishing you “Joy” for your holidays!
Here’s a great Pin for you to save for later if you love mason jar Christmas crafts!
We hope you loved our DIY mason jar luminaria! Check out our post on DIY Snow Globes or DIY Christmas Cone Trees. And jump on over to our post on Fireplace Christmas Decor Ideas over at OhMeOhMy! And you’re gonna want to check out How to Make Ice Lanterns & Luminaries over at TGG!
So cute! I love the ribbons and bells tied on~
Ohhh they are so pretty! I love the simple steps to create them! Thank You!
What an easy, beautiful way to add an elegant touch to Holiday decorating!
What a cute idea! I need a few new decorations this year (been cleaning out the old stuff!), and this looks like something even a non-DIY-er like me could do! :) Pinning this and trying it – thank you! #MerryBlogmas
Hello! This is the EXACT idea I’ve been wanting to do! Can you tell me where you got those letters please? I’ve been looking all over for some and cannot seem the right ones. Thanks!!
Hi Michelle! We got them at Hobby Lobby in the scrapbooking aisle… Hope that helps!
Hobby lobby
Great idea. You should sell these.
I found you on Pinterventures and thought I’d drop by….
Can you tell me where you got the gold ribbon that you attached the ornaments to.
Hobby Lobby!
Hey this is awesome!!! But I was wondering, can I use spay snow instead? Or I have to use that frosted glass spray paint?
I think you could, but I wonder if it would brush off too easily? Let us know if it worked for you!
I think I’m going to save this and give it a try for 2016 – nice!
Melinda Strange
Huntsville, TX
These are very cute!
But I was struck more by your name lol
We share the same name (well, my maiden name) I don’t know many Melinda’s and hardly any Stranges! How funny!!
This is beautiful! I can picture them above my kitchen cabinets!!! Thank you!
Very pretty.
These are a great idea! I am thinking of making some Halloween or Thanks Givings themed ones! xoxo Ari xoxo
What’s your trick for getting the stickers off cleanly? I tried these over the weekend and the paint chipped around the stickers as I was pulling them off. I did heat them with the hair dryer. Mine are certainly not as nice as yours. Thanks!
Its possible your paint coats were too thick, and the paint got underneath the stickers. I hope you give it another try!
I had the same problem Jenn. Mine had a rough edge on parts of every letter when I took them off. However… it kind of looks cool! More ‘rustic’. And after seeing the first few letters doing the same thing, I took a safety pin and roughed up the edges in places around each letter, to make it look intentional. Just an idea…
We didn’t have this issue, but I did make sure the stickers were down really firmly before painting…You could try running the back of a spoon along the edges to get a tight seal. Hope that helps!
Hi can you tell me what size the jars are because on hobby lobby site they were ten dollars a piece and joann has quart size 25 for a dozen.thank you, they are very pretty.
I believe they were quart size, and we got them at Hobby Lobby when the glassware is 50% off (happens every couple of weeks) for $2 a piece!
Hi! These are wonderful! I’m thinking about making these and wondering what size mason jars you used? Would smaller ones work just as well?
We used standard mason jars, but I don’t see any reason you couldn’t make smaller ones, just use smaller letters to fit the scale of the jar… Let us know how it turns out!
Hi, I have a large picture window in my bathroom. I thought of doing this to it since,
it is so expensive to replace with frosted glass. Any tips to do this right.
Or do you think the surface would be to much to do a good job.
We would suggest using a frosted film on a large window, the spray would not be consistent enough for such a large surface… They sell frosted film at Home Depot in the blinds dept!
What is frosted film?? Would that work on all windows??
It looks like contact paper and comes in a roll, and it should work on most windows…
Just wondering if you could use a different color such as red and green for Christmas, or if doing a Thanksgiving / Halloween orange and black?
Absolutely!
Hi these are very cute and i tried to make these a few different times. Could you tell me why it doesnt come out even like the first time i attempted it ran, and the second time the paint isnt perfect some have spots, where the frost didnt catch. Any suggestions would be appreciated. ty.
Our experience was that we did the paint in several light coats, and that worked really well for us. Make sure your jars are sparkling clean if you are having trouble with it adhering, and if you keep your coats really light your paint should not run. You can always add more coats, but its impossible to fix once it runs! Hope this helps!
ty for the prompt response, i will keep that in mind. maybe i will try again. they are beautiful jars.
I would try candles with timers. I love the jars!
Do you cut the ribbons to make it thin or you bought it as is?
We bought our like that at Michaels.
This goes on the top of my list for my next project, so simple and beautiful! Instead of votive candle, can i put those LED micro starry lights?
Absolutely!
Hey-is the matte step necessary? I did 3 coats of frosted and it looks pretty matted and set.
No, its optional!
I love the jars I live in the uk but I can’t find the vinyl stickers I really want to make these for Christmas can anyone advise please
Hi,
I am wondering if the matte spray is necessary. I let my 3 coats of frosted glass dry and didn’t see a reason for the matte. Please let me know it’s purpose, thanks!
Totally optional!
I thought these would work great for a group craft project. I tried to make it myself first and I’m having trouble getting the frost to not rub off. I did a couple coats and let it dry for over an hour but when I picked it up to start decorating it, you could see where the frost was coming off from my fingers touching it. I tried putting a clear sealant coat on after the frost and it took all the frost off and was completely see through. Any suggestions?
Drying time can be so variable since humidity and temperature weigh in… my guess is they needed to dry longer? As far as the sealer, did you use a matte sealer?
I need to decorate about 11 jars. How many cans of paint of the frosted glass would it take?
This is just a guess, but I would say 2 cans would be enough! We made 3 jars and didn’t use half the can. (I think! It’s hard to tell how much is left in a spray can!)
Can you use the letters over and over
No, getting them off seems to tear them up a bit… I guess you could if they came off intact and didn’t stick to itself like stickers do!
can’t seem to find that Font? an you tell me what is it and where can i buy it?
We simply bought stick on letters in the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby, I’m sorry, couldn’t tell you what font it is!
Doing this tonight as my “yearly” craft project. I do not do crafts very often because I seem to fall at them. Lol. I did a test run the other night and all seemed to go well so decided to move forward. I used frost spray paint in my test but then went back and got a pearl frost spray paint. It has sparkles in the frost. Love it! Also because I am making these for 12 different friends I decided to only do one per person. I did the entire word “joy” on each one and a snow flack on the other side. Also decided to use a big letter for their initials instead of the word joy to customize each one for them. Thanks for the amazing idea.
Love this look. I showed this Pin to my friend and we are both making them for gifts. I have left over green mason jars from my daughter’s wedding last year. They look great frosted!
Also, I am using red vinyl for some lettering to keep on the jar. My friend has a cruicut , so we found a font with that and cut the letters to proportion. Not done yet, but very excited to see the final project.
Thanks for the great idea.
Two quick questions: With the lids on, is there any chance heat from the votive lights could crack the glass? And does the inside of the jar ever get blackened from the flames?
We recommended only using LED candles, you couldn’t use the lids with regular candles…
I’m a little bummed, I tried 2, and the letters made the spray paint come up when I was taking the stickers off. If I can get it to work they will be really pretty. I will try pressing the stickers on harder for my next test one
Try using light coats of the paint, if you spray any paint on too thick, its going to pull up with tape… also, try pulling the stickers off with a little heat from a hairdryer… Hope that helps!
Love these jars! Just wondering if you need to wait overnight for the clear sealer to dry or if a couple of hours would suffice? Thanks!
We waited just a couple hours, but I always recommend waiting overnight, because it’s always different for everyone depending on temperature and humidity!
Hi there! Great idea but ive just tried it and when ive used frosted spray the paint has come up with the stickers? Tried it with a mirror glass gold effect spray and workex great. However i only did one coat with the gold? Do you reckon its because i used less paint? Thanks
Usually when stickers or stencils pull up paint, it IS because the paint was too thick, or you let it sit too long before peeling up the stickers. Hope that helps!
Wow! They are so pretty & Awesome! Can’t wait to try them out.
Glad you like them!
Did you leave tops on too or just the ring on the top? thanks
We left the tops on too, thats why we used the LED candles instead of actual burning wick candles… hope that helps!
Love these! I went to Hobby Lobby for the letter stickers and was able to get the J and O, but they were out of the Y! Do you know of any other craft store that would carry them?
Michaels is a possibility or look online? Also, Hobby Lobby does have an online site!
I just tried these and they turned out great. Only tip i have is make sure you get letters that won’t “run” when sprayed. I had gold letters because that’s what was on sale. First coat and the gold started running. ?♀️
Amazing idea – Thanks a lot for sharing this !
I like these, but would like to do the opposite with snow flakes. I am having trouble finding stick on snow flakes to go on outside of jars. Any suggestions?
Try the scrapbooking section at a store like Hobby Lobby! Good luck!