Melissa Averinos - DIY Mason jars : thirty-five creative crafts and projects for the classic container

As always, dedicated to my sweetheart (and now husband!) Stuart Schulman for believing in me until I believed in myself. Im so lucky.

My publisher Karen Cooper for suggesting me for the project

My editor Ross Weissman for his excellent author-management skills, brilliant pep talks, and awesome sense of humor

The lovely Diane Gilleland of CraftyPod.com for writing the foreword

My dear friend Beth Dunn for working some magic

My husband Stuart Schulman for helping me like crazy with the lighting projects and anything that required a hand drill

Ah, the humble Mason jara wholly useful thing that also manages to be beautiful. Why do we crafters love them so much? Is it that classic blocky shape? Their comforting heft? The charming embossed lettering? Or is it our memories (or ideals) of cozy kitchens and days spent putting by the summer garden yield for winter?

Ive always loved the way Mason jars seem to materialize just as little household problems present themselves, offering perfect little solutions. I have a Mason jar in my kitchen that guards the aroma of my freshly roasted coffee beans. I have six more in my craft cabinet, keeping my buttons sorted by color. One on my back porch collaborates with a tea light and a little sand to form a lantern. And theres one in my toolbox, holding a motley assortment of nails and screws.

But you dont need to think of the Mason jar as all-work-no-play. It also possesses creative potential. Mason jars love to mess around with paint and glitter and fabric and Mod Podge. They like taking part in holiday celebrations, brightening up windowsills, or even transforming themselves into light fixtures and travel cups. Best of all, no matter how much crafty re-tooling you give a Mason jar, itll still end up being something useful. Which, to my mind, is the best kind of craft projectone that makes your life a little easier and a little more beautiful at the same time.

And this is where my friend Melissa Averinos comes in. Shes the perfect person to write a book about Mason jar crafts. Shes super-talented, but like the jars themselves, she wont hold you to impossible standards of creative perfection. Shes more like a crafty buddy who encourages you to cozy up to the table, pours you a cup of tea, and doesnt freak out if you spill your paint. Her designs have the same warm, inviting quality that Mason jars do, and shes come up with a truly charming collection of projects that explore all their functional and decorative possibilities.

Theres something special about a useful handmade itemit somehow carries the imprint of those delightful hours you spent making it, and it gives you back a little dose of that joy each time you use it.

And now if youll excuse me, I have a box of Mason jars in my garage that have a very bright future.

Your pantry and fridge are stocked with them and youve got a drawer filled with regular and wide-mouth lids and screw bands.

But the Mason jar is much more than a container for soups and sauces, for canned applesauce and homemade jams and jellies. What youll find in this book is some outside-of-the-jam-kitchen thinking. Of course, I love homemade pickles and jam with their pretty little labelswho doesnt? But I want to show you all the awesome possibilities that Mason jars offer the intrepid crafter; no sterilization required!

In this book youll find thirty-five unique projects featuring Mason jarseverything from light fixtures to a tiered candy dish. All of them can brighten your home, whether its the kitchen, the living room, or the bedroom. Although some of the projects are a bit more involved than others, none of them requires any more expertise than you have.

All the supplies called for in these projects are readily available, either through your friendly local craft store, at a hardware or home improvement center, or lying around your house, just waiting to be used in a creative way. The most important things youll need (apart from the Mason jars themselves) include:

Permanent markers (like Sharpies) in assorted colors

A power drill and bits (because some of the projects call for drilling holes in jar lids)

Spray paint

Mod Podge (if youve never used it, this is a glue, sealer, and finishgreat for all kinds of craft projects)

Glitter (all colors, shapes, and sizesfinally, an opportunity to put your glitter stash to use!)

Of course, many of the projects call for other supplies as well. Get creative and find supplies from your own homeobjects that have been sitting in a closet or a drawer or in the attic. The more you personalize your Mason jar projectsmake them connected to you and your familythe more youll love them.

This leads me to another point: Dont feel that you need to follow the directions to the letter for the projects in this book. Theyre just a starting point. If you feel like altering or improving upon them, be my guest. Perhaps theyll inspire you to think of other ways to use Mason jars. Great! Go for it! Thats what creativity is all about.

Ive divided this book into five sections. The first, Mason Miscellany, gives you some background about Mason jars and how they came to be a part of our lives. The other fourIn the Kitchen, Around the Home, Fun and Festivities, and Useful Jarsshow how widely you can use your Mason jars for craft projects. Some of these projects call for more crafting than others. The projects that are part of the Useful Jars section, however, wont require you to do much actual crafting to the jars. But dont let that stop you if you feel like adding some glitter or ribbons or spray paint to one of these projects. As I said, this is just a starting point.

Ive also included an Appendix at the back of the book that contains art templates for some of the projects (these are referenced in the text) as well as some labels for you to photocopy and use as you like.

The most important thing you can do with this book is have fun. So go to it! Make some Mason jar magic!

Mason jars live a thousand lives. For ages, theyve served as the most helpful of vessels; theyre vehicles for preserving the tastesand nutritionof summer throughout the fall and winter months. Currently theyre experiencing a resurgence as the darlings of crafters and wedding planners everywhere.

Honestly, though. Its just a glass jar with a screw-top lid. Right?

Theres a lot more to Mason jars than meets the eye. They have a subtle genius that you only discover with time and persistence. You can freeze them, bake in them, or store food in them for months. The simple alchemy of glass, rubber, and metal somehow combines to produce a miracle of utility and panache that is unrivaled in the kitchen and pantry.

Small wonder, then, that weve started taking them into practically every other room in the house, using them for every conceivable purpose.

Simple canning jars have been around at least since Napoleon uttered his famous dictum that an army marches on its stomach. By 1810 a Frenchman, Nicholas Appert, had produced a recognizable version of todays canning jar just in time for Napoleons plans for conquering most of the world. Then in 1858 an American tinsmith named John Landis Mason patented his own version of the jar, lending his name to a vastly improved edition featuring a threaded jar mouth, a rubber seal, and a reusable screw-on zinc cover.