8 Clever Ways to Upcycle Glass Jars

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Closeup of the top of a wide mouth jar upcycled into a fun and colorful pencil holder. The jar is full of color pencils with a citrus slice pattern in yellow, orange,, green and magenta on the jar. The top has a wrap of raffia to echo the summer pattern.

Upcycle your glass jars into something new and useful!

These simple DIY ideas turn common glass jars into storage and creative decor that you’ll actually want to keep—or give as gifts. Gather a few jars and explore these clever crafts to reuse them around your home.

1. Propagation Vases

I found this ceramic caddy at Goodwill, and I believe it was for condiments. It was missing the accessories, but I loved its unique scalloped shape. With the addition of a few glass jars, it’s now an all-in-one propagation station for plant cuttings. Find more DIY propagation station ideas here.

Upcycled ceramic condiment holder and tray upcycled into a propagation station using glass jars from my recycle bin in five different size to fit the scalloped shape spaces. Here the jars are filled with large leaf pothos cuttings in dark and spring green varieties with the sun dancing on the leaves.

2. Piggy Bank

Turn a 16 oz. Mason Jar into a cute piggy bank! This fun blue piggy accessory can be found on Amazon, and there’s also a pink version.

Jarware piggy bank accessory to turn a 16 ounce Mason jar into a piggy bank. The piggy face and legs are blue, hard plastic accessories. This cute piggy bank is shown on a stack of blue and yellow books with a colorful wood puzzle cube in the background.

3. Pumpkin Candy Jar

Make this adorable pumpkin candy jar by cutting the top from a dollar store foam pumpkin and gluing it to the lid of a salsa or queso-sized jar. These make great gifts, and this is one of fifteen Fall craft ideas. Find more Fall tiered tray decor ideas here.

Pumpkin candy jar on tiered tray filled with candy corn and caramels.

4. Workbench Storage

Drill a hole into the top of jar lids and use wood screws to mount them underneath your workbench or craft table. This keeps small items organized and within reach but tucked away.

Closeup square photo of a series of 6 plus glass jars underneath the lip of a workbench holding screw and other small hardware items.

5. Pickle Jar Pencil Holder

Large jars like this one are a good size for pencils and paintbrushes! Here, I cut citrus slices out of colorful permanent vinyl, then wrapped raffia around the top for a final touch.

Wide mouth pickle jar upcycled into a colorful pencil holder. I cut premium vinyl on my Cricut Maker of orange, green and yellow citrus slices. Some overlap and they are in a random pattern on the jar. Around the top of the jar I tied raffia to add an island, tiki, cabana flair and to hide the ridges around the mouth of the jar where the lid would fasten.


6. Glass Gem Votive Candle Holders

Make these beautiful recycled jar candle holders with glass gems from the dollar store. Find the full glass gem votive tutorial here.

Square feature image of a finished DIY glass gem votive candle holder made with blue and green glass gems from the dollar store and an upcycled glass jar sitting on a weathered wood table outside with greenery in the background.

7. Candy Jars with Vintage Cookie Cutter Toppers

Add vintage cookie cutters to the top of mason jars to make these lovely kitchen storage jars.

Photo of three large mason jars filled with pink and red candy. The top of the jar lids has a different vintage, red handled cookie cutter on it as an lid accent.

8. Solar Mason Jar Lights

Make these fun marbled lanterns using mason jars with nail polish and dollar store solar lights! See the step-by-step marbled solar mason jar lights tutorial here.

Photo of three DIY Marbled Mason Jar Solar Lights lit up at night.

9. Seaglass Painted Mason Jars

Give a sea glass effect to mason jars to turn them into beautiful storage for your bedroom or bath!

I used Aqua and Sea Foam Green Sea Glass Spray Paint, but there are many other colors, and you can link to them out here on Amazon.

I gave each mason jar a light coat of the spray paint and finished with a clear, matte lacquer spray paint to protect the paint. Then I drilled a hole in the top of the lids and secured the knobs. Find more beach-inspired crafts ideas here.

Vertical feature image of mason jars painted with sea glass spray paint in aqua and sea foam green. They are topped with a decorative knobs in gray and aqua that look like sea urchins. The mason jar lids painted white with chalk paint on a marble background with greenery.
Star divider used has two hand drawn lines with a star in the center, used as a content break and signals new or different content below. This doodle style illustration is in a medium charcoal gray.

– MORE TO EXPLORE –

Repurposed Kitchenware + Free Printable Thank You Cards + Ideas For Vintage Tins

Two vintage red handle kitchen mashers used as bookends with blue, red and light blue books in between on a shelf.
Horizontal image of three Kawaii Fruit Thank You Cards - Strawberry, Pineapple and Cherries.
Closeup of a vintage yellow Mambo's Coconut Macaroon tin on a shelf with other vintage tins.
Two vintage red handle kitchen mashers used as bookends with blue, red and light blue books in between on a shelf.
Repurposed Kitchenware
Horizontal image of three Kawaii Fruit Thank You Cards - Strawberry, Pineapple and Cherries.
Free Printable Thank You Cards
Closeup of a vintage yellow Mambo's Coconut Macaroon tin on a shelf with other vintage tins.
Ideas For Vintage Tins

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