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Teachers do so much for our children yet they are underpaid and often overlooked. I have a lot of respect for them. Lord, knows I go crazy with just having two kids around sometimes let alone twenty.
Being the main child learning resource for most families out there they need a kudos every now and again to show we are in fact thankful for them. Instead of sending Big Bug to school with Valentine’s Day treats like my Sugar Cookie Tarts that are just bound to end up in crumbs before reaching his teacher. I figured a nice hard jar was the way to go. So many cute mason jar ideas on Pinterest (like the Wheely Happy Gift Idea) lead me to making these upcycled jars.
What You Will Need
- Tostitos glass jars
- Adhesive Remover or some good elbow grease
- Scissors
- Valentine’s Day paper or fabric
- Mod Podge
- Bag of Dum Dum suckers
- Pencil
What to Do
I don’t know about you but I think it’s a shame to throw away perfectly good glass jars. I’ve been saving them till I came across a project I wanted to use them for. With the Super Bowl not being that long ago I of course had Tostitos Dip as part of my Super Bowl party food table which left me with several glass jars.
To start, I like to run my Tostitos jars (including the label) through the dishwasher to give them a good cleaning. That stuff can get stuck in the tiniest crevasses. I’ve also found the heat from the dishwasher helps loosen the jar label. It should now peel off pretty easily only leaving behind a little adhesive.
Spray on an adhesive remover like Goof Off to remove the remaining glue and scrub away at it. I’m also sure you could manage to remove the adhesive with just a brillo brush and just some water if you prefer. I like the extra help of Goof Off though.
Trace the recently cleaned Tostitos jar lid on a piece of Valentine’s Day paper or fabric with the label facing down. I used scrapbook paper. You can either eye or use a compass to make a larger circle around the jar lid circle you just traced. You need extra paper or fabric to cover the rim of the jar. I found that a circle diameter of 4 3/4 inches is perfect to completely cover the inside and outside rim of a Tostitos jar.
Using Mod Podge glue the Tostitos jar lid (labeling facing down) onto the traced circle you first drew. This will leave an outer rim of paper (or fabric) that you will need to snip slits along the entire way of the jar lid. These slits making Mod Podging the lid easier. Going counter clockwise I Mod Podged a few strips of the paper at a time and folded them up to cover the inside and outside rim of the jar.
Once the entire jar lid is covered with paper or fabric I applied two coats of Mod Podge over the entire lid. Inside and out. I waited about 20 minutes between coats.
I did the same thing to make the inside of the jar lid prettier and to cover any left over dip stains. Trace the rim of the glass jar onto a piece of paper or fabric, cut out the circle, and Mod Podge it into the center of the jar lid. I used contrasting papers to give it a pop.
Fill with Dum Dums and tie a label to the jar with a string – and you are good to go. You could also Mod Podge the label to the jar lid or to the side of the jar if you prefer. I just wanted a little bow too.
Do you ever give your child’s teacher a gift to say thank you?
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Krystle Cook – the creator of Home Jobs by MOM – put her psychology degree on a shelf and dived into a pile of diapers and dishes instead. She is a wife and mother to two rambunctious boys, sweating it out in her Texas hometown. She loves cooking, DIY home projects, and family fun activities.
Valentines Day Treats: Stuffed Strawberry Hearts Recipe
“Every day is another chance to get stronger, to eat better, to live healthier, and to be the best version of you.”
I’m always in awe of folks who have this kind of creativity, Krystle! )
This one was a mixture of my ideas and Pinterest peoples ideas. It made a nice combo!
Thanks for this wonderful idea. I missed it for Vday, but I love the idea of using it for gifts like this. I have a bunch of things I keep that my husband wonders if I can toss. This is a perfect use! Thanks for linking up with Countdown in Style.
My husband probably thinks I’m weird for collecting glass jars but I will use all of them up one day 🙂
Great idea. I always used to love it when students would give me a little gift, and it was always a surprise since high school students don’t think of doing so as often.
Yeah, it’s a shame too. You would think they would appreciate you more but I guess they are just waiting till the bell rings at the end of the day.
Krystle, what an awesome job you’ve done with those jars, they look so beautiful now, good idea, very good. I usually give my kids a bouquet of flowers to thank teachers at the end of the year, but those jars are really nice, even better than a bouquet!
That’s sweet to give your kid’s teachers flowers! I’m usually bad about this kind of stuff so I needed to do it while I was thinking of it. I hope I remember to do something at the end of the year too.
That’s such a great way to make good use of those dip jars!! That cheese dip is so tasty that I acquire all too many jars of this size…
The cheese one is my husband’s favorite too Rachel. Have you tried the white queso kind? I’ve been wondering if it tastes like queso at Mexican restaurants.
Simply adorable! Yes I used to take gifts to my teacher all the time…home made stuff. My mom was a teacher and so was my dad until they had three kids. Let’s just say that giving gifts to the teacher was expected at my house 🙂
What are gifts that teachers really enjoy getting? I bet you have some great ideas with both your parents being teachers Jacqueline. I need some ideas for an end of school gift.
I’m not exactly sure WHAT they enjoyed as they all express gratitude with a big smile. But they were little homemade things…a pencil holder made out of a juice can and paper mache, homemade cookies that we would decorate, smlal drawings that we would frame. Although, my 3rd grade teacher particularly liked flowers….I would pick them in the woods behind out house 🙂
Those all sound like great gift ideas that young children could do for their teachers! I’ll keep them in mind when I’m thinking of something to do for my kid’s teachers at the end of the year 🙂
What a wonderful way to show gratitude for our teachers. I think this would also be a fun project to do together with older children. It’s both creative, and inexpensive.
Yes, totally Michele. An older child could def do this on their own. My main expensive was the huge bag of dum dums and that was $6.
I always love these kinds of things and have written about “food-in-a-jar” ideas a few times over the course of the year. As you’ve said, they make such great gifts, easy to construct and more fun to give. Now I need to get my mojo on and make some myself. 🙂
Your food jars are so wonderful Susan! I can’t think of a food I’d put in a jar though. I need to get into the kitchen more I guess lol 🙂
Awesome project, with great instructions. (Pinned it!) I hate throwing away glass jars too and am starting to wonder when it’s crossing the line to hoarding. Maybe if I made something with all of them and gave them away I could make room for more!
Thanks Meredith! Just last night I had to use a lot of my jars to store frying oil. My husband was playing with the fryer this weekend and we didn’t have anywhere to put the oil. At least I had the jars I guess.
What a clever idea. This makes a perfect gift for any occasion. And you can fill the bottle with any sweets or jams etc. I love the idea of covering the inside of the lid with pretty paper . Any suggestions what I can use if I am bottling chutney or pickles as a gift?
Thanks Mina! I think I would probably use a canning jar for those. Or are you wanting to upcycle old jars?
Yes I was hoping to recycle used jars
This is great information that will come in handy for next year. I am Pinning
Thanks for pinning Tamara!
I love what you did with these! I have one old jar like this and I’ve been looking at it thinking I wonder what I will decide to do with it. I pinned this for later so maybe I can use this for inspiration. Thank you for sharing this with us at Countdown in Style! Don’t forget to stop by Friday to see if you are featured 🙂
Thank you! Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the jars I have 🙂
These are so cute! Thanks for linking up with the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party. I have pinned your post to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Board and to my personal boards for me to do sometime.
Thanks Tammy! The jars have so many possibilities with different kinds of paper or fabric 🙂
What a fun and creative gift! I like how the jars are completely utilized – even the inside of the cap!
Thanks Jen! I just couldn’t stand to see a stain inside of the cap. I had to cover it 🙂
Those are really cute…but not being terribly crafty myself, I am thankful I’m out of the teacher gift years! Have you ever done the baby food jar snow globes? I suppose you could do them with other jars, but basically it’s just some little trinket glued to the lid, a mixture of oil, water, and glitter in the jar, then a strong glue on the lid to close it up, and voila–handmade snow globe!
Thanks Sharon! Yes, I have seen the homemade snow globe jars. They could be cute as a teachers gift depending on the scene you put in them. Great idea! Thank you!!
So cute! I’m sure the teachers that get those will appreciated them. I did things like that when my son was in grade school but it seemed to be generally considered a no no in high school except for very odd and special occasions.
Yeah, I can see that Pat. Either the kids think its lame or people might read into giving a teacher a gift as something inappropriate. Sad.
A pretty neat idea with the jars. A lot of stuff that can be reused in some way or another. Like two liter bottles can be used to make nice doghouse or storage area. To bad i lack the time to make something like that.lol I o a lot of blogging myself.
That’s interesting. I haven’t heard of two litters being turned into doghouses. I’ll have to google that. Thanks!