Anyone have any craft suggestions for empty jars? I have retained so many of them after using the spaghetti sauce that they originally contained. I have approximately 30 of them. I was too ashamed to keep more. There must be something that they can used for. I hate to throw them away. Thanks for any and all suggestions. Have a great rest of your week.
By LINDA
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The jar threads fit with the base of my blender. This allows me to use the jars in place of the pitcher - the large pasta sauce as well as the small pesto sauce sizes both fit. I grind coffee beans in the jar I plan to store them in; blend a smoothie in the jar I drink it from; chop nuts; make peanut butter, grind spices, make whip cream or oat flour. As handy as my imagination allows.
Since the jars are used for pasta sauce they are good for hot temperatures. Take some Christmas potpourri add a string of twenty Christmas lights, white or colored, use a wooden spoon handle to bury the string inside the potpourri. Thread the string over the rim for plugging in and cover with a doily, add a ribbon and bow to the rim. These are wonderful teacher, aunt, friend gifts for Christmas. You can buy them for about $30.00 at bazaars etc. Good luck.
Use them with those layered jar recipes. They come in all different recipes and you can hot glue pretty cloth & ribbon to the lids!
Make a snowman or santa with them. Paint the jar or cover with the proper colors with the one you are making!
I use heavy duty glass jars for canning foods I will give away. How often have i given jelly, or relish et, asked for the jars to be returned, only to find it never happened. I use sterile clean jars and their lids, follow the recipe, put the lids on. I always tell people to put the jar in the fridge for storage, even if the used lid snaps down. I don't trust it for long storage as i would a fresh lid. This way I don't mind giving the fruits of my hard work away.
Don't throw away the extra jars you can't use: recycle them!
I use my old pasta sauce jars to make luminarias. Cover the outside with a light tissue paper... tied around the neck with a ribbon or twine. You can use orange and make a halloween jackolantern, by adding the face out of black construction paper. Or cover in yellow tissue paper and add the face of a chick in construction paper. How ever you decide to do it, you just add sand and a candle when it is finished!
Use them to put pennies in to give to nieces and nephews as gifts for birthdays, or at christmas. Or if you have a neighbor that has children give them a jar full of change for doing chores for you. You can also put you favorite candy in them such as m&m's, skittles, tootsie rolls, etc. and place the jar on your desk when using your pc.
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Anyone have a clever ideas for using empty mason jars from pasta sauce. I have so many of them and would like to store something in them.
Linda from NYC
I used Classico spaghetti sauce jars to make gifts in a jar this year. The Classico jars work perfectly with the Mason jar lids and tops you can buy, but you can use the regular lids that come on them also.
A friend bought me a gift in a jar set and you could do the same without the kit. Cut a circular piece of material, large enough to drape prettily around the top of the jar; you can use a bowl or bowl lid for this. Fill with recipe ingredients. There are tons of links on the web for Gifts-In-A-Jar recipes. Lay the material on the top of the jar lid; it doesn't matter what kind of lid, and tie a string of raffia, yarn, or ribbon around the bottom of the lid, tying tightly and securing the material around the lid.
Then include or attach the recipe for them, for the wet ingredients, or ingredients they have to add. I think this would also work with Ragu or other jars. I've also made oatmeal/milk bath powders and given them in jars.
Here are a few links I've found.
http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/giftsinjar.html
http://www.budget101.com/jargifts.htm
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/giftsinajar/a/122099a.htm
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/index.shtml
(12/10/2007)
By Chris
Here are some other ideas for uses.
http://lds.about.com/od/enrichmentmeeting/a/bath_sachets.htm
http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2007/08/01/reuse-this-other-uses-for-spaghetti-sauce-jars/
http://www.craftbits.com/viewCategory.do?categoryID=REC
I think they would also be cool to fill up with candy; like Hershey's Kisses or Reese's or any other candy and decorate jar and give to people at Christmas. Jelly beans would be cool for kids (and also at Easter), and peppermints would be really pretty. (12/10/2007)
By Chris
I use my old jars for a lot of gardening needs, like saving seeds for next year, bits of twine, nails/screws, or anything small that tends to get lost in the garage. I also use them for craft storage. I do stained glass, and these jars are perfect for storing little odds and ends, especially since they're clear and you can group things by size or color and see exactly what's in them. (That's really rewarding if you're very organized) Around the kitchen, if you ever buy things that come in little baggies, like nuts or chocolate chips, you could always transfer them to jars for airtight storage, instead of using Tupperware. Worst case scenario, you can always take them to a recycling center! (12/11/2007)
By Beth
The lids can be covered with a salt-dough creation (there are many free recipes online) and used for gift or candy jars. I have also started to use mine instead of plastic food storage in the fridge as much as possible because of the possible health concerns with plastics. They can go in the microwave, too. (12/11/2007)
By Ashley
I use jars to store, macaroni, dried beans, popcorn, and noodles. Actually anything that needs to be in an airtight container and will fit in the jar. (12/12/2007)
By Danialle
For what it's worth I use mine to can in. I put up fruits, certain veggies, juices, and also jellies. Or you can attach the lids to the bottom of cabinet with screws, then fill the jars with whatever and screw them in place till needed, saves space too. I use them this way in the kitchen, laundry, bathroom, garage, and gardening shed. They hold so many different things the list is almost endless. (12/12/2007)
By EGRIBBLE
I save lots of them. I have given up storing food in plastic containers and try not to use plastic wrap when I can. I've read quite a bit about the dangers of plastics and how they transfer to the food. This is nice too because I can see what's in the refrigerator. (12/13/2007)
By Dorothy
Have any of you figured out an easy way to make the "Atlas Mason" logo stand out when painting these jars? (Raised surface is on INSIDE of jars.)
