Painted Mason Jar Craft for Valentine’s Day

I wanted to make a sweet gift with the kids. Something they could help with and I could still have fun–so we made this Painted Mason Jar Craft for Valentine’s Day. Not only are they fun to make, but the kids loved helping to paint the mason jars. I am kind of sad that we’re giving these to the kids’ teachers because they would make an awesome pencil holder for our kitchen counter or desk. It’s ok as we can always make more and can always change things up for different Holidays as we did with these Christmas Mason Jars.

They’re super quick to come together–about 30 minutes total, and they’re really a great piece because they don’t take up too much room, but they do fill in and provide a place to tuck in those sweet treats or gifts! The best part is that this is Valentine’s day craft that the kids can help make.

If you’re ready to make an awesome painted mason jar craft for Valentine’s Day, let’s get started.

Supplies for Painted Mason Jar Craft

• Mason Jars
• Tempera Paint or Acrylic Paint
• Pencils
• Masking Tape
• Exacto Knife
• Paint Brushes
• Modge Podge

To get started, you’re going to need three clean mason jars (or ball jars or kerr jars, whatever). I preferred ones that had an almost blank side. But I have seen some painted mason jars where they used the sides with the words and it looked very nice–I just didn’t want that for this particular craft.

You’ll also want some acrylic paint or tempera paint. Tempera paint is a little thinner and will seem like it’s not sticking, but you can do a second coat (or even a third), after the first has dried. But acrylic paint is a little more expensive. You could also use puffy paints, but that’s going to make your jars look textured, so just be aware of that. You have to just choose for yourself. I used pink, gold, white, red, bronze and silver paints. Obviously, you’re going to need a paintbrush or two. I got a fine brush from the kid’s play room.

This time I decided to try a new method out and used some masking tape and an Exacto knife, so you’ll want both of those–trust me, it was genius.

And, finally, I recommend a pencil to generally sketch everything. If you want to, you can seal the mason jars, when you’re done painting them, with some modge podge or hairspray. You don’t have to do this part but it will help the craft last longer and reduce chipping or peeling. 

Now, once you’ve got all that ready, let’s get to actually making the painted mason jar craft for Valentine’s Day.

How to Make a Painted Mason Jar Craft for Valentine’s Day

First, make sure your mason jars are really clean. You can wipe them down with alcohol, or just a paper towel. The paint is going to stick to whatever is there, so if you do have some kind of label or sticky glue leftover from a label, the paint will stick, but it’s going to show that texture too, so just clean it off.

Once you’re sure your jars are clean, go ahead and wrap 2 of them with masking tape. Just one layer is enough, no need to overlap it, but definitely cover each well.

When the tape is in place and well affixed, use your pencil to sketch x’s and o’s on one jar and a large heart on another.

The next step in making this painted mason jar craft for Valentine’s Day is to take your exacto knife and cut out each of the x’s and o’s, removing the tape outside of the x’s and o’s, not the tape in the design.

Do the same with the large heart, leaving the large heart in tape on the jar. If you want to, on the un-taped jar, you can sketch on the glass with the pencil (yes, it really works!) where you want each little heart–or you can tape it and do the whole cutting out thing. But I decided that it was overkill for hearts and decided t freehand paint them.

When everything is sketched and cut out, it’s time to actually paint. You’ll want to paint in sections so that you don’t get paint all over your hands as you work. So think about that as you go.

For the x’s and o’s jar, paint the entirety of the jar white and allow this to dry completely. Do not remove the tape yet. Just let it sit.

For the large heart jar, paint the entirety of the jar pink and allow this to dry completely. Again, do not remove the tape yet. Just let it sit.

For the tiny hearts jar, paint the entirety of the jar red and allow this to dry completely. If you are pleased with how the paint coated the glass, awesome, but if not, wait until the paint is completely dry and do a second or even third coat. You’re almost done with the painted mason jar craft for Valentine’s Day.

When that layer of paint is dry, then you can remove the tape from both the x’s and o’s jar and the large heart jar. And just discard that tape–it’s not necessary to keep it.

For the x’s and o’s jar, I filled in the x’s and o’s with bronze, silver and gold metallic paints and let that dry completely.

For the large heart jar, I edged the large heart with gold metallic paint and then decided that it would be fun to have a gold rim at the top, then let that dry completely.

And finally, for the small hearts mason jar, I covered it in tiny hearts from gold, bronze and silver paint. Now, my initial idea was to have the kids turn these into thumbprint hearts by painting their thumbs and pressing them to the jar randomly, but they were not interested in getting paint on their hands. So, we just used our paintbrush. We let that coat of paint dry.

Once the paint is dried, if you want to seal it, you can use modge podge or hairspray to complete the painted mason jar craft for Valentine’s Day. Either will work although modge podge has a food-safe formula available, while hairspray is not, so if you plan to have these jars in contact with any food, you might consider using the modge podge food-safe formula. 

Fill jar with candies or Valentines bath salts for a fun sweetheart gift! Imagine placing these in your bathroom filled with soaps for guests, extra toothbrushes and tissues. Or giving these to your kids’ teachers (my plan) so they have a new pencil holder. So cute!

And, really, the best part is that you can get the kids into making this with you. They can paint–it’s super fun. And if you don’t mind dealing with a little mess (and a little messy kid), it’s really educational for them, too, because they get to learn how to paint! 

Plus, if they can have a part in making this easy Valentine’s gift idea, they’re going to be more excited to give it to someone. Let them make this adorable painted mason jar craft for Valentine’s Day as teacher gifts and fill them with the teacher’s favorite candies. You’ll make your kid’s day–and the teacher’s.

So, get your mason jars and get to making! Or, if you’re just not ready yet, be sure to pin this to your favorite Valentines’ crafts board on Pinterest, so you can find it fast.

Other DIY Valentine’s Day Crafts:

• Easy DIY Beard Balm
• DIY Avocado Bath Bomb
• Easy Sew Infinity Scarf
• Make a Reading Pillow
• Hanging Kitchen Towel Easy Sewing Project
• Easy Apron Upcycle from $1 Placemats