Christmas tree made out of baby food jars
Baby Food Jar Christmas Tree Tutorial
Want to make an unusual Christmas decoration from something as surprising as baby food jars? A beautiful holiday tree and recycled craft! Create something amazing with this step by step tutorial.
This is an idea that I first saw in a craft show. Yep, I’m one of those irritating individuals that goes through craft shows taking notes. Looking at things that catch my eye and thinking, “I can do that”. Then I go home and try it out. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t so much. But the great thing about being a crafter is that there are so many ideas out there to inspire and inspiration is always right around the next corner.
The one pictured above was made for me by my sister-in-law. She is rather crafty herself. In fact, she has a craft room bigger than my living room and enough supplies to make the average craft store hang its head in shame. She made them for the Ornament Club one year. That meant that she made 20 of them. I’m thinking she was totally baby fooded out.
Baby Food Jar Christmas Trees made by Sitcom reader, Sophie Werner!
I made three of them myself and getting the baby food jars was sort of a challenge. Not having any small children or grandchildren or even friends with small children, I was forced to justify purchasing 51 jars of baby food. I fortunately came up with a plan. It seems that banana baby food is great for making banana bread. So there you go. My famous banana bread:
Okay, you can quit your laughing now. How, you ask? Well, I promise I stood right by that oven the whole time. I didn’t go anywhere. My husband monitors me now, keeps the batteries fresh in the smoke detectors and the fire extinguisher handy. He was fully prepared if needed. He knows the drill.
I finally did manage to get four batches of banana bread completed. But I had to learn a few lessons in the process. Don’t bake four loaves at a time, be sure that the baking powder hasn’t expired, flour is difficult to get out of your hair and off the dog.
And did you know that one full minute in the microwave is way too long to melt a stick of butter? Just saying.
Anyway, I finally had my supplies.
For this project I used:
17 Glass Baby Food Jars
Gorilla Glue Epoxy
12″ x 4″ Wood base (Any wood base will work)
Assorted Garland
Strand of 35 miniature Christmas lights
Assorted miniature Christmas decorations
String of bead garland
3″ wide ribbon
Bow for top of tree
Awl and hammer
Begin by punching holes in each of the lids using your awl and hammer. The hole needs to be big enough to push your miniature lights through.
Choose what color of garland you would like to put inside the jars and cut about 2″ pieces to add to the jar. Remember that there are so many options here. All silver garland with blue lights is awesome, so is gold with white lights. I used silver garland and red stars garland and multi-colored lights. The possibilities here are endless. Just remember not to fill up the jar entirely.
You want to be able to see the lights.
Because I do not have an unassembled tree, you’ll have to work with me here. The next step is putting the lids on all the jars and then using the epoxy to glue the jars into a tree shape as below.
It is important here to use epoxy or glass glue. Not hot glue. You see one of the properties of hot glue is that when it gets hot, it melts. Plug in that sucker when it is glued together with hot glue and I’m betting that within a half hour, you have a floor full of baby food jars. Ask me how I know…
Once the glue has set, you can push the miniature lights into the holes in the lids. Then stand it up on your base and use the epoxy to glue it down. Let it dry well before you go to the next step.
Cut your wide ribbon long enough to cover all the sides of the tree and glue it on with gorilla glue, pushing it into the crevices between the jars.
Take your beaded garland and glue it on the front in a garland-like fashion. You know, my youngest daughter always called it “garlic”.
So that is actually how we refer to it in our house. I remember her coming home one day from middle school totally furious with me because one of her classmates had corrected her. I guess by the age of twelve, we probably should have corrected her ourselves, but it was cute! And embarrassing my kids is kind of a hobby of mine. So there.
Take your miniature Christmas decorations and glue them around the bottom of the tree.
Finally, add a bow to the top. I used a pre-made fabric bow and a couple of Christmas “picks”.
Then light that sucker up.
Pretty, huh? Makes me all Christmassy happy inside. And it’s only September! So you have several months to hurry up and consume some baby food for this project. I recommend the Blueberry Buckle… it’s kinda awesome.
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Baby Food Jar Christmas Tree
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by Laura 2 Comments
As soon as I started feeding my daughter baby food I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the empty jars.
Correction. BEFORE I started feeding my daughter baby food I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the empty jars. =) Twenty-plus years ago I watched my mom upcycle baby food jars into this super cute crafty Christmas tree before “upcycle” was even a word. I thought it would be a cute gift idea for Kayden to give to people so I started working on multiple trees months before Christmas 2011.
I didn’t do the best job documenting the process with photos but I think what I have should be enough for you to make these on your own.
MATERIALS:
17 Baby Food Jars, clean and empty
Really good glass glue – I used E6000 Glue. Don’t even THINK about using a hot glue gun. While it would be much faster and easier your beautiful finished tree will quickly fall apart! (Ask my Mom)
Set of 35 Mini Lights, clear or multi-colored
Green Spray Paint
Garland, any color (I like using Silver)
Piece of wood or acrylic, cut to approximately 4″ x 12″ (any size you’d like to use as a base is fine)
TOOLS:
Required tools are up for debate.
Years ago when my Mom made these trees she used a good old hammer, screwdriver and pliers to punch holes into the jar lids but it took a lot of time and left some sharp edges. I figured there had to be a faster, easier way so I bought a Hollow Punch Set from Amazon. I had to use the largest size punch in the kit and it worked pretty good but it still took some muscle and time. Then I conned persuaded my handy husband to use his drill press to do a bunch of lids for me. Of course, this was the fastest, easiest method when someone else was doing the work. =)
Ultimately, there are a few ways to get the holes in the lid. Use whatever method best suits your budget, skill level, or schedule.
BASIC INSTRUCTIONS:
- Glue jars together. Again, the “best” method is yet to be determined. I’ve tried leaving the jars upright or laying them on their side; a few at a time or a whole row at a time. I’ve found that no matter what I tried not every single one lines up perfectly in the end and that’s ok.
The best tip I can give at this point is to be patient (definiltey not one of my virtues). Don’t expect to glue an entire tree together at one sitting. Do a few at a time or a row at a time. Let the jars sit for several hours or better yet overnight before you start putting very many pieces or rows together. Try to keep everything as even and level as possible but know there is a little wiggle room so don’t stress out if not all jars touch once you start assembling. While your jars are drying you can work on the other parts of the project. Eventually you need the following number of jars for each row:
- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – for the tree shape
- 2 – for the “trunk”
- 5+4+3+2+1+2 = 17 jars, make sense?
Totally fine. You just need enough room to shove 2-3 of the lights in through the hole so test it out before you do every single one. Do what you can to keep the edges from being too sharp – bend sharp points in with pliers, etc.
Not TOO much, but not too little either. You want the light to be able to show through so maybe do a couple and then add the light to see what it will look like.Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: Christmas, DIY, gift, tutorial
New Year's workshop: crafts from baby food jars.
Baby food jars: crafts for the New Year What is the most pleasant thing about celebrating the New Year? For me, as for many - the preparation and expectation of the holiday. Of course, you can devote the evening of December 31 to decorating the Christmas tree and preparing treats, but how much more pleasant it is to take care of some kind of surprise for the household in advance, show your imagination, decorate the house and table in a slightly new way.
If there are children in the family, the expectation of the New Year and Christmas takes on a special character. Long before the winter holidays, letters are written to Santa Claus, garlands and colored paper lanterns are glued. After some paper Christmas decorations are done, you can take a close look around. You may be interested in a less traditional, but no less attractive material for making New Year's crafts.
Using baby food jars
Today we are going to talk about glass baby food jars.
It is possible that you have a lot of them in your house. If you're used to throwing away jars immediately after use, it's not too late to fix the situation. Let's say in your family a child eats one serving of prepared food from a day. In this case, a month and a half before the New Year is just enough to collect as many empty jars as you need for all the crafts described here. Of course, before starting work, they must be thoroughly washed and dried.
Homemade candle holders from jars
Firstly, children can make original candle holders for small candles from a couple of such jars. For work, kids will need brushes, paints, a ribbon, a candle in a metal case, and, of course, the jar itself. Instead of paints, you can use multi-colored markers with indelible ink. The technology is simple and transparent, like the product itself. We tie a ribbon around the neck of the jar with a bow, retreating slightly down from the edge so that the flame of the candle cannot accidentally set it on fire.
On the glass we draw something New Year's (Christmas tree, snowflakes, snowman). We put a candle inside, set fire to it under the control of the parents, and the job is done.
Now let's see what can be done if you have glitter glue and flat-backed artificial gems (rhinestones). You can simply paint the jar with beautiful glue and let it dry. It is very easy to depict a Christmas tree by moving the brush in a zigzag pattern from top to bottom, as in the picture. With another jar, you can do differently. On its surface you need to squeeze out a little glue with sparkles and press the "precious stone" to this place. Do the same a few more times around the perimeter of the jar. Let dry. Then cover with glitter glue with a brush the entire surface of the jar around the stones, stepping back a little from the neck. If desired, you can decorate the finished product with a bow.
"Snowball"
Now let's work harder, create a composition with falling snow.
This time we need a jar of medium or large size. In addition to it, you need to prepare some clay, a small figure (for example, from Kinder Surprise), silver sparkles or artificial snow (you can buy it ready-made or cut foil). You also need a waterproof glue like those used in aquariums. Small plastic Christmas decorations and garlands will come in handy.
First you need to fix the toy on the inside of the lid with clay. If the figurine is small, it is better to mold a stand for it so that it looks taller. Then attach to the clay "foundation" everything that you would like to see in the composition (artificial greenery, berries, etc.). You can use glue. One condition: all items must be waterproof. Fill the jar with cold water 1 cm below the lid. Pour in a tablespoon of sparkles or artificial snow. Make sure this amount is enough for the desired effect. Immerse the figurine in water, tightly wrap the lid. Leave overnight - lid up. Then coat the junction of the lid with the jar with glue for complete waterproofing and attach a decorative ribbon to the lid.
Ready!
There are ways to improve such a "snow sphere". For example, you can add small floating objects to the water, droplets of tinted oil to watch them move, you can change the color of the water with food coloring, use colorful glitter, and so on. This will allow you to create a thing that is one of a kind. The dimensions of the glass jar are also determined only by your imagination. Give yourself and children pleasure!
Luminous tree made of cans
In conclusion, let me offer you something special. Take a look at this extraordinary glass luminous Christmas tree! From the side it is almost impossible to guess what served as material for it. Of course, these are baby food jars again. To create such a miracle, parents will have to work hard, kids can’t do it. But the result is worth the effort.
So, we will need 33 jars with lids (113 g), 2 skeins of wire garland with gold stars, an electric garland with 35 small bulbs, a bottle of gold or silver paint (spray, you can find it in auto shops), glass glue, wire cutters, sharp knife.
First paint the outside of the caps. Leave them to dry. Glue the jars together, placing them as in the photo. Cut the wire garlands with stars into 33 fragments of 15-18 cm with wire cutters. Twist each piece of the garland into a ring so that it can freely enter the jar. Place one of these on the bottom of each jar. Unscrew the caps and make a large V-shaped incision on each with a knife (see photo). Carefully! Lids are now very sharp!
Replace all caps. Insert the first bulb of the garland through the hole in the lid into the topmost jar. Place the rest of the bulbs alternately, lacing the rows back and forth. When you get to the last row of the Christmas tree in front of the trunk, you will have to place 2 bulbs in 2 jars in order to get to the next empty cell. Now you can plug the garland into an outlet and admire what happened!
Continued...
Anna Kurskaya (Emily)
Tell me p-please. I ordered two children. ticket -only today 20/12/01
1) not late
2) will 1 adult with children pass?
3) when to expect the courier approximately?
2001-12-20, feet
Wonderful! I just made a candlestick-jar with a snowman and a Christmas tree according to the description.
I'm sitting here happy as a child. :-) To celebrate, I came up with Christmas trees from snowflakes. In the evening we will do all this beauty with my daughter.
2001-12-11, Mary Poppins
Great, but it's a pity that everything is made from jars, I would like to expand the list of improvised items for such nice little things a little more!!!
2003-12-27 hope
Oh, how cool! I myself terribly love all sorts of crafts from objects that "get in the way" at hand, but I would not have thought of this! Thanks for the ideas!
2001-11-22, Annie
Great tips, thanks!
I would like to see 9 on this site0045 some tips for making
DIY GIFTS.
2003-12-05
Everything is very good, but unfortunately I am not able to do this, maybe by the approach of 2005 I will find waterproof glue? ;)
2004-11-07, Tramp
Instead of water, I poured baby oil into the "snow hemisphere".
Then the sparkles float slowly, as if the snowflakes are flying.
2005-12-14 Baby
Total 25 reviews Read all reviews.
Crafts from baby food jars / Gifts, souvenirs and DIY crafts / Homemade.net - Do it yourself
Crafts from baby food jars - this collection, I'm sure, will be of interest to you if you you have small children. Surely, as parents and do-it-yourselfers, the question of what to do with "tons" of jars and jars of baby food you had.
One piece of advice - do not throw away the jars, wash and pack, let them wait! In any case, first see what you can do with them, and then decide.
I hope you won't regret looking under cat. After all, making something from jars is not only useful in terms of recycling and reuse, making something with my hands, for example, I get great pleasure in the process of creating crafts and gizmos.
Let's get started - 11 fun ways to reuse empty baby food jars:
1 Souvenir candy flask with child's toy handle.
We glue some kinder figurine, etc. on hot glue. and paint - the souvenir is ready.
2 Mini lanterns for the garden , more precisely candlesticks made from the glass part of baby food jars. We remove the lids for other homemade products, and we tie ropes to the neck, and hang them for them. Inside the candle and you're done.
3 Mini terrariums or cones for mosses and other mini plants. Comments are superfluous, everything is visible.
4 Cups for dessert. We use jars practically for their intended purpose.
5 Mini vases for one flower. To make such jars of baby food, they dip the bottom in bright thick paint, then turn it over and put it to dry on a napkin. It turns out mini vases with figured smudges.
6 Spice organizer – food jars are small and you can’t think of a better way to store spices, besides, the lid is tight and easily removed, the wide neck will fit both a spoon and fingers.
It is easy to do - we glue the jars with hot glue on the base, on the lids we make inscriptions with the names of spices and voila
7 Mini liquor containers. Of course, making such crafts from children's jars is blasphemy, but let's put it into action! Besides, who said that you can only pour vodka there. Take lemonade and a very interesting idea for a children's holiday.
8 Glass photo frames. Not a very popular idea with us, but nicely agree? We have already written about the creation of such flasks with photographers - a square photo ball on a Christmas tree, small food jars are also suitable for such crafts.
9 Case for paints, crayons and markers. We put on a round lid from a large jar, glue it on hot glue. Jars can be painted in different colors so that colored pencils do not get confused. The idea is also suitable for children, it will teach them to order.
10 Miniature cones with snowflakes.
