Studio 5: Jar Ring Pumpkins for Fall Decor

Grab that bag of loose Mason Jar rings you have hiding in a cupboard and make something beautiful for your Fall home decor.  It's easy, it's inexpensive and it's fun. 

All you'll need is 24 Mason Jar Rings and Jute to create your pumpkin.

Raid your craft stash, or anywhere else in your home for the added details to make your pumpkin a one-of-a-kind creation.

Create one or several to assemble into a beautiful table centerpiece with pedestals. 

Directions:

Alter jar rings, if you wish (see below for ideas)

Thread 24 jar rings onto a long piece of Jute.  It's a little easier to handle if you use a long dowel or wrapping paper tube to slip all my rings onto. 

Tie jute into a knot snugly, making sure the rings are all overlapping each other in the same direction. 

Decorate center of pumpkin as you wish (see below).

Altering Jar Rings:

The easiest & fastest way to do this is with Washi Tape.  1/2" washi tape will fit perfectly on the side of the rings.  If yours is a bit wider, you can roll it under or cut it to size.

Painting is also easy, but you have to let the paint dry before you assemble.  Spray paint is faster than hand brushing paint on, but you have to apply several coats to get an opaque color.

Once you have painted your rings, you can sand off some paint for a farm house shabby look (see Sunflower Pumpkin).

Decorating Centers of pumpkins:

It felt a bit like a treasure hunt finding centers for all my pumpkins. 

I found a thicker candle (Hobby Lobby has lots of colors of thicker candles) that fit perfectly in the center of my gold washi tape pumpkin, then purchased some gold glitter curly stems at Michaels to surround it.

For the black pumpkin, I cut a paper towel ring down to size, then cut along it's length.  I spray painted it black, curled it into itself a bit so it would fit in the center of the pumpkin.  Before I tucked it in, I laid some black tulle in the center so it was pushed down.  Lastly, I tucked some black crinkle paper around the stem.

For my Orange pumpkin I rolled up some burlap into a stem.  I tucked a Bay leaf and a leaf I cut from a fall floral arrangement (it won't be missed) around it.  Lastly, I found some more curly stems at Michaels that were so perfect to tuck in next to the stem.  I created a few sentiments on paper, cut out and curled with my finger, then tucked in to the center.

I bundled some cinnamon sticks for the center of my cream pumpkin, stole another leaf and some berries and added more of the curly stems.

For my Farm House Sunflower Pumpkin, I stole a sunflower from my door wreath (again, didn't even miss it), as well as a thick branch I found outside in my wood pile.

Lastly, a little printed banner is a lovely final touch.  You can use the ones I created (see below) or create your own.

Display

Look around your home to find unexpected ways to display your jar ring pumpkins.  If you're making several pumpkins, use different heights to create a visually interesting effect.

I used several candle stick holders, small plates and cake pedestals to showcase each pumpkin.

I surrounded the orange pumpkin with a small berry garland I had in my stash.

Lastly, I had some twinkle lights from Christmas that I tucked into the center of the large black pumpkin and put on the outside of the smaller Gold pumpkin. 

After playing with these jar rings I had a few other ideas...the only one I had time to create was a garland below.  But I think you could use the same concept as a tag for gift bags and boxes.

I also REALLY wanted to create some little jar ring candle and even bought all the supplies, so stay tuned, I may get to this still.  Pour orange scented candle wax into the altered rings (of course, with the lid on the bottom).  Tuck into a celophane bag for a cute little gift or favor, or nestle in some raffia or grapevine as a table setting favor.  

Mason Jar Rings Garland

One more additional idea...I had a natural garland that needed something extra, so I die-cut some letters to spell AUTUMN and glued them onto paper on the back of each jar ring that I had spray painted cream.  I tied them on to the garland with jute.

If you want to use my banners, just click on one to enlarge.  Right click and save.  Open in a word document, size, print and cut!

Studio 5: Paper Plumeria Lei

Mother's Day is not the only celebration in May that features flowers...I've always loved the tradition of presenting Leis to Graduates and wanted to create a paper version!

With a few basic paper crafting supplies and a few sheets of paper you can create beautiful lasting plumeria flowers.  String them together for a striking graduation Lei, tuck behind your ear for a feminine tropical touch, grace a gift bag or box for Mother's Day, or even decorate a summertime Luau.

One little tip is to spray your finished flowers with a perfume spray for an added sense/scents :)

 

Create your flower

A plumeria is a deceptively simple flower.  It took me a long time of studying the flower and many prototypes before I came up with a full-proof, easy to create flower.

You will will only need

*Cream Colored lightweight Cardstock (67 lb works best)

*2" long oval punch (you can use slightly different sizes if you want)

*1 1/4" circle punch

*Scissors

*Adhesive (I used an ATG gun, but anything will work as long as it's re-positional to a degree)

*Colored Ink and Sponge

 

Start by coloring/inking your petals.  Any tear drop shape petal will work, but I used a 2" oval punch, then cut one end to a point.  You can download a template here. I've also included a JPG and PNG file so you can use your electronic die-cutting machine for super quick petals!

I used a variety of ink pads I had at home to create the color combinations I wanted.  

Use a stamping sponge and ink one end of the petal until about halfway.  Ink the other color from the other end until halfway, then blend the two colors.  You can add a 3rd color to deepen the edges at the top of the petal.

While the petals are a bit damp from the ink, use any barrel shaped tool (like a pencil or pen) and curl one side up and the other down.  It will have a wave shape to it.  Let petals dry for a few hours, or use a heat gun to speed up the process.

Punch a circle and mark center with a pencil.  Cut from edge of circle to center.  Apply adhesive along cut edge and fold over at least 1/4 of the circle to create a cone shape. 

This will hold the petals in place.

Apply adhesive to bottom tip of petals, in the center and not more that a 1/2" from the tip.

Place first petal in cone with tip touching center of cone.  Repeat with each petal, overlapping slightly.  

With the last petal, overlap like the other, but also slip the other side under the first petal.  You should have the unique Plumeria pinwheel center.

To create a Lei, you'll need 16 Plumeria flowers, a 36" piece of kitchen twine and two 9" pieces of stiff ribbon.

Double knot the center of the twine. 

Pierce the center of each flower.  Use a threader (in this case, I use a dental floss threader available in any pharmacy) to bring one end of twine though bottom of flower.  Repeat on other side of twine, so both flowers meet in center double knot.

With flower against double knot in center, tie another double knot, about 1 1/4" from center of flower (or 2/3rds from center of petal).  This will create the perfect spaces between each flower.  Repeat the double knots and add flowers until you have 8 on each side.

It's difficult to tie the kitchen twine behind your neck, so I tied it to some larger stiff ribbon at each end.

I've also including some printable sentiments that you can download, print and cut out to add a sentiment to the Lei.

You can also add these paper plumerias to gift bags, boxes or even tuck one behind you ear.  

If you have any questions, please email me.  

Enjoy!

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