Two weeks ago I had my grandchildren come over to my house for a sit-down crafting session with Nanny. We enjoy making frugal craft projects together and came up with these painted mason jar lids Christmas tree ornaments. To make them…you’ll need mason jar lids (seals) or smooth-edge soup can lids, acrylic paints and a few other supplies.
I recommend protecting your work surface with a plastic drop cloth, old plastic placemats or an old vinyl shower curtain liner. Kids are messy painters!!! I don’t recommend using newspaper as the ink gets all over the place and your painted items will stick to the paper! They’ll pull right off of a plastic surface after drying.
Before you get started with the decorating an adult needs to punch a hole in the top of each mason jar lid. My husband did this by using a wide screw that he hammered through it. Then used the hammer to flatten down the edges on the back. Make sure everything is smooth as you don’t want any cuts. If you have a strong hole puncher, you could use that too.
The front of each lid will need 2-3 coats of acrylic craft paint, allowing for 20-30 minutes of drying time between coats. Have the kids work on several ornaments at a time. While one is drying, they can work on the next one. You can leave the backside unpainted or painted, entirely up to you.
Once the basecoat is done drying it’s time to decorate them with any Christmas or holiday design. The two that I’m featuring today were made by my 12 1/2 year old granddauther. She did one in a Christmas Tree design with the date 2021 written underneath it and the other one looks like a peppermint candy. Cute!!!
Let them dry for a few hours. Take them outside and spray each one (the front side) with 1-2 coats of clear acrylic spray sealer to protect the painted finish from fading, cracking or chipping. Let dry overnight.
For hanging…you can loop through clear fishing line, twine, satin ribbon, etc. through the hole at the top. That’s it, you’re done!
These adorable hand-painted Christmas mason jar lid ornaments can be hung on the Christmas tree, used as package tie-ons, gift bag accents, hung on hooks throughout the home, tied onto a door wreath or if you’re really creative…make several and turn them into windchimes! The possibilities are endless.
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You have so many creative ideas to do crafts with the grandchildren. I shall have to get some lids and put a base layer on them.
I love seeing you craft painting with lids. I use a lot of these ideals with my great niece. I have found that I have to base coat ahead of her visit. She is not a fan of waiting for things to dry.