Mason Jar Hand Print Vases

These vases were soooo easy to make using mason jars! I ran across this idea on Pinterest right before Mother's Day and incorporated this fun craft into my Sunday School class :)

Here's the original link to Christina's Adventures who posted these adorable mason jars!
I personally think her name is quite awesome.

I've seen a lot of mason jar craft ideas and different ways to paint them. For this project however you'll want to paint the inside of the jar since little hand prints will be on the outside ;)

You can do this one of two ways:

Option 1) Pour in a little latex paint and swirl the paint in the jar slowly coating the entire inside. Then turn the jar upside down and let the excess paint run free into a paint pan. Dry 24 hours.

Option 2) Hold the mason jar up in good lighting and using a spray paint can, spray the entire inside with a thin coat of spray paint. This dries really quickly, but check the can instructions to be sure of dry time. Look for any areas missed so when you spray a second thin layer, you can cover it. (I recommend using latex gloves to cover your hands too! #learnedthehardway)

I tried Option 1 and failed miserably. I didn't even take pictures of the terrible results. This option would have worked I believe (as apparently it has worked for so many on Pinterest lol) except I chose to do this in South Georgia on a hot humid day lol. The mason jars looked so pretty and I had such pretty paint lying around. But after I turned the jars upside down and let the excess paint run free, the glass bottoms heated up in the sun and the paint melted and ran down the sides :( 

After my "epic fail" moment, I decided to set those aside and try my own way since I was pressed for time. I tested my idea by spray painting the inside of a smaller mason jar that I didn't intend to use for a vase. Looked pretty good to me! And soooooo much easier and faster. So now I have a little yellow mason jar sitting around waiting for something crafty to happen to it. 

Luckily I had some pretty nice spray paint colors too and was able to spray paint the inside of my mason jars different colors and let them dry overnight just to be sure. 

The hand prints were just as easy to do and fun for the kids! You'll need acrylic craft paint and a small artist's paint brush. Be creative and use whatever colors you want and as many as you want. I chose to use 1 color for the hand prints to make it easy on myself and be able to complete the jars in time. 

Paint the children's hands with the acrylic paint using the paint brush and then help them carefully apply their print to the jar. Immediately wash their hands with warm water and soap while the paint is wet and it will wash away easily.

To dress up the jars you can add ribbon, twine, etc. I used whatever I had on hand and that included leftover tulle haha. Choose a nice complimentary color to really make it pop! Use some dollar store fake flowers or grab a bouquet stem at Walmart and cut individual flowers off for each jar. This is my jar and I have both my children's hand prints on it!