Upcycled Coffee Jar Vase for Mother's Day

Here in the UK Mother's Day is fast approaching and unfortunately finances are tight at the moment. Seriously. I can't even afford to think about spending money. Fortunately, my Mum appreciates a nice handmade gift and as I have a junk room  craft room filled with supplies I probably have enough bits and pieces to throw together loving craft a simple thoughtful gift.

With this in mind I waded into my craft room and put my thinking cap on. Candles are out as I made her candles for her birthday (actually, I made her make her own candles and called it a 'tutorial' as she had been asking for a while for me to show her how I made ones I had made for her previously ;-) )  A crochet gift is out as I also made for her a crochet jar cover to make a candle in a 'shabby chic' upcycled jam jar. Wish I'd taken a picture of that, I was quite pleased with the results. Sooo, what do we have?:

1. Empty coffee jar 
2. String
3. Chalk Paint mix (add to normal paint to make chalk paint) A similar product can be found here on Ebay
4. Green tester pot of paint (my mum likes green. Bonus! :-) )
5. Outliner dragonfly stickers Similar butterfly ones available here on Amazon 
6. Matte Mod Podge glue. This is the exact glue I used on Amazon 

*please note these are not affiliate links. I blog for fun not profit. These links are just to point you in the direction of similar products to those I have used*

So,to make this vase I thoroughly washed and cleaned the jar and removed the label and all sticky residue.

I then mixed up the tester pot of paint with the chalk paint mix. I applied 3 dragonfly stickers to one face of the jar. I applied the chalk paint being careful to have all brush strikes going in the same direction. I was going for a rustic sort of finish so I didn't mind visible brush strokes. I then allowed it to dry for approximately 2 hours. 

The next step is to carefully remove the dragonfly stickers. I used a pair of tweezers to grab one end and then carefully peel it away. Even being super careful some of the paint on the centre dragonfly came away with the sticker, losing some of the detail,so I went back in with a tiny a paintbrush and added in some of the bits that came away. If I made something similar again I may choose a less detailed design to make it easier to remove!

The next phase was adding the twine rim. I generously applied Mod Podge to the rim and wrapped the twine around in a spiral,keeping it as tight as possible and applying any more Mod Podge as I went, if it was required. I then applied a layer of the matte Mod Podge all over the case to give a little protection to the paint layer. It then needed to dry for about another 2 hours.

Finishing touch, added a twine bow and we're  ready to go! I'm going to add a bunch of daffodils as my mum likes daffodils and think they'll go nicely with the green. I'll try to grab a pic with the daffodils before I hand them over. :-)

*edit*  I've just been out and got some daffodils and some lovely tulips  which are an orange/yellow mix,so I've taken a quick snap now.

Once they have opened up a little bit, by the weekend, I'll put the best ones into a nice display but right now it's looking pretty good. Now all I need to do is keep these flowers alive until Sunday! A challenging task for the not very green-fingered me! :-) Worst case scenario.. I'll get more flowers!

If you like my vase, please add a little comment to say hi!!! Sometimes it's nice to know I'm not talking to myself! Not that I won't still talk to myself but if I start replying to myself we're in trouble!! :-)