First I started with a couple of clean pasta jars. I recommend running these jars through the dishwasher first, so you no chance of ruing your project with the scent of old tomatoes.
Secondly, I made a wash over the jar. For the jar in the middle I used a mixture of [blue+yellow=] green and black acrylic paint and lots of water. The jar to the right is simply blue and black acrylic paint, again, mixed with a lot of water. I like to use sponge brushes for these washes. If your like me and like lots of texture you will love the rain-washed look lots of water will give you on a sponge brush.
These jars look pretty cool just painted, but adding an image only makes them looks better. For the bird, I forced my wonderful boyfriend Justin to draw a picture of a bird on plain lined paper (its an image I've never quite been able to produce on my own). Once Justin finished his two-minute masterpiece, I created a stencil out of it. The bird was painted on with a mixture of black acrylic paint and modpodge. The modpodge does a great job thickening the paint and making it opaque.
The jar with the leaves, is exactly how it sounds. After painting the jar, I grabbed my flash light (seeing as I only craft between the hours of 9pm-2am) and my roommate Tracey and venture to our backyard for a collection of beautiful leaves. The leaves are adhered with matte modpodge.
Lastly, I wrapped a little twine around the top. I like to tie the ends in knots. Also, burn the twine slightly to keep it from fraying and to darken it.
These work great with pillar candles inside, or marbles, or even just to use as a pretty pen and pencil holder!
