How to Make Decorative Pressed Flower Jars

Last week, we pressed flowers and made stickers and bookmarks. This week, to finalized our pressed flower projects, we’re making decorative jars.

This is an inexpensive craft for kids if you can get your hands on fresh flowers or weeds to press. Then, all you need are empty jars that don’t have words embedded and white school glue.

Pressed Flower Jars

Materials Needed

• Pressed flowers (press your own or purchased)
• Clean, empty jar, free of embossed words
• White school PVA glue (such as Elmer’s)

Tools Needed

• Foam brush
• Bamboo skewer, for adding glue in small spaces

How to Make It

Kids should decide how they want to arrange pressed flowers and leaves. Once they create a pleasing pattern, have them glue the pressed materials down onto the jar with white glue. Use the bamboo skewer to get glue under small, hard-to-reach sections. Now brush the glue over the entire surface of the jar, and over the glued-on pressed materials.

Allow glue to dry and coat the entire jar again with white glue, drying after each addition, until you have three coats of glue.

Waterproofing your Jar

If you plan to use your jar as a vase, be careful filling the jar with water; the glue coating is not water-resistant. While I haven’t tried it, you should be able to make your jar water-resistant by brushing on several coats of Mod Podge, instead of white glue.

Make bud vases from spice jars and acrylic paint.

In fact, when we made vases from spice jars and painted them with acrylic paint, I never did waterproof the jars and I’ve been using them on my table ever since. Just avoid splashing water on the outside.

What to do with Pressed Flower Jars

There beautiful jars have a myriad of uses:

• Use as a flower vase–being careful of water splashes
• Turn it into a candle holder, lantern, or night light with a battery-operated tea light or a small string of fairy lights inside
• Use as a desk caddy to hold pencils, pens, or artist’s paint brushes
• Store small items in the jar, such as paper clips, cotton balls, hair clips, or loose change
• Store buttons, bobbins, or safety pins by the sewing machine
• In the bathroom, fill it with small soaps or potpourri
• In a playroom, store marbles or small toys that are easily lost
• Turn it into a decorative candy jar to sit on a coffee table

Make a flower frog from air dry clay.

Turning a Mistake into an Asset

When we pressed our flowers, the white chrysanthemum discolored and turned brown. Also some of the petals disintegrated. I kept all the flowers, including the scrap petals and we made a jar that highlights just the discolored flowers, creating an all-beige jar with petals scattered.

What Kids Learn

A pressed flower project is an inducement for getting kids outdoors and away from electronics.

• Finding flowers to press is like a treasure hunt. It helps kids to open their eyes to the beauty of nature.
• Kids learn patience. It will take a couple of weeks for the flowers to be ready to use.
• Kids learn the value of recycling and learn to unleash their own creativity by turning throwaway jars into their own work of art.
• Use it as a way to practice the art of giving: a pressed flower jar makes a wonderful present for a birthday, Christmas, or any time of the year.

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