Halloween Jar Luminaries

Happy Friday eve!  Time is flying by - I can't believe Halloween is less than 2 weeks away.  Before we know it, Thanksgiving will be here, quickly followed by Christmas and New Year's!!

The project I have to share tonight is one I discovered on Pinterest.  With no kids, my sweetie and I just don't have the desire to carve pumpkins for Halloween.  At the same time, I love seeing jack-o-lanterns lit up in windows and on front porches when kids are out trick or treating.  So, I just needed to find a way to get the jack-o-lantern look without putting all the work into carving a pumpkin!

Last year, I made paper bag luminaries to set out on the front porch.  You can see that post HERE if you missed it.  A few weeks ago I saw Halloween luminaries made from glass jars on Pinterest.  You can check that project out HERE.

First, I cleaned up a couple of spaghetti sauce jars.  Then I mixed some orange acryllic paint with basic white glue (about half and half) and painted the inside of the jars.  Yes - the inside.  It was a little tricky, but I did a little searching online and people tend to say it looks better if you paint the inside of the jars.  I cut out a couple of Cricut images in black vinyl and used transfer tape to put them on the jars then added some Halloween ribbon to the top to finish them off.  Add tealights and we're done!

And with the lights turned out:

We'll be keeping these luminaries inside - I'm worried they'll get knocked over and then we'll have broken glass on our front porch.  So these will likely sit in the front windows and the paper luminaries will probably make their appearance on the front steps again.

I'm going to submit this project into this week's challenge over at Die Cuttin Divas.  The challenge this week is to use a pumpkin.  I used a pumpkin in an effort to replace a pumpkin!!  :)

Recipe:
Glass jars
Black vinyl
Pumpkin from October 31st cut at 3 inches
Face from Pumpkin Carvings cut at 3 inches
Ribbon from my stash
Tealights

Halloween Luminaries

Happy Wednesday!  The project that I have to share today was a fun one for me.  Last year, close to Christmas, my sweetie suggested that I make holiday luminaries for our front porch and stairs.  It was so close to Christmas that I didn't bother going out to find bags, candles, etc.  This fall, I remembered talking to my sweetie about the luminaries and about how we could put them out for holidays other than Christmas as well.  So that's what I decided to do!  I haven't carved a pumpkin in a few years, and probably won't carve one until there are kids in the house to share the experience with.  I've decided that until then, Halloween luminaries can take the place of carved pumpkins at my house!  

These luminaries were VERY easy to make.  I found white luminary bags online, along with plastic bases that you fill with sand or water.  The bases even have a place to hold a tealight candle, which is perfect.  I found Halloween images and cut them out on black cardstock, then trimmed them to fit just inside the bags.  I used my Gypsy to hide the outer circle or square from the images I chose so that when the image was cut out, it would stay as a silhouette, connected to the sheet of cardstock.  Then I used a little clear tape to hold the cardstock flat and in place inside the bags.  Fill the base with water or sand, light your candle and you're all set.  Quick, easy and festive!

If you look close you can see the cutouts through the bags.

Of course if you light the candle and turn out the lights, you can see them even better!

Recipe:

White luminary bags

Black Recollections cardstock

Images from Pumpkin Carvings cut at 5 1/4 inches

Clear tape

Candles or lights