Mason Jar Makeover

Last weekend I had tons of pent up anxiety because our anatomy scan was coming up, so I made the best of the icky feelings and turned them into energy for fun projects around the house!  I vintaged-out an IKEA mirror, I finished my DIY shelves, and I painted some mason jars!  I've seen these a lot on Pinterest and have been interested in trying it out for myself.  I love the old timey, vintage but pretty look of them.  So I found a pin with directions I could follow, and got to work!
I have tons of mason jars around the house, because we use them as our drinking glasses and I keep all my spices and herbs and baking ingredients in them.  I found three big ones that weren't being used in our basement storage (aka "the closet" - what a scary mess!) so I pulled them out and washed them really well with warm water and soup, and then sat them out to dry while I pulled my supplies together.

I have a ton of these little test pots of paint, from all the various paint projects Ive done in the house over the years, so I narrowed down to two different blueish greens that I liked.  With the jars all dried and set up on newspaper, I got to work!

That's me, messy bed head and all, with freshly painted nails, ready to tackle the jars;)

Like the directions say on the website I pinned, I painted the tops first, making sure to get right inside the rims of the jars.  I had no idea how these would turn out with this kind of paint, but the color was so pretty I decided to risk it.  I think she used craft paints, but whatever...use what ya got!  These are low odor, no VOC paints from Home D, so no harm to the baby...however I did crack a window and hide my nose in my shirt a lot, just in case!

Then I flipped em over and painted the bottoms.  Don't mind the mess in the background, our house is a disaster most of the time.  I'm too tired growing a baby and too busy thinking of more crazy projects to clean;)

So here they are with one coat of paint.  I let these dry to the touch, about an hour or so, and then I did the whole process over again.

I let them dry for a full 24 hours after the second coat.  The directions said to let them cure, so that the paint can dry and really attach.  That was a good idea, in theory, but with this paint, it made the next part much harder!

To achieve the "vintage" look, I had to beat them up a little bit.  I had to really use some muscle for this!  So, after waiting a day, I took some sand paper and a nail file to the jars to shave off some of the paint for the desired look!

I had to sand and sand and file and file.  This paint was TOUGH.  But, after about 5-10 minutes on each jar, they looked really great!  I washed them down and let them dry.

See how the "Ball" logo sort of peeks through now?  I also rubbed some random spaces off around the edges, and on the rim.  I love them!

Ive been wanting to change up the junk and decor on my shelf in the dining area.  I loathe how dark all the furniture is and I'm still thinking up ways to change that.  I desperately want to build a farmhouse table, but that will have to wait until after Baby Boy is born.  I also want to dial down the red, and add softer colors, a more vintage mixed with industrial type look.  It'll take a while, but I think the mason jars are a good start.  Here what it looked like before...

Again, don't mind the mess and junk, its everywhere.  I cleaned off the top of the shelf and added the jars.

Oh, how I love these!  I want to make more, in all colors!!!

I went out to Michael's and bought some pretty flowers to display in the jars.  This completed the look, just how I envisioned them!

They really soften the look of the shelf, so it's a step in the right direction for me.  I love how they look with my stenciled wall too!  Perfecto!

I added some of the stuff back to the shelf, but I may end up changing all that around.  I need to do a good cleaning and purging of the junk in our house.  It's starting to bug me.  Oh how I love decorating our home!

Overall, this jar project was totally easy and fun, and I can't wait to make more.  I'm sure I'll have tons more nervous energy between now and June, so let's see how much crazy I can get into!
Cheers!