Kerr Lanterns Re-Thought

So, when I was in high school, I made what I called “Kerr Lanterns” (I pronounced it CARE lanterns) using my mom’s Kerr canning jars.

This year I thought I would make some Kerr lanterns to decorate my yard and house. But I saw someone do a similar thing (minus the painting them) with baby jars. Genius, I thought. With smaller containers, you can put them more places. So I sent out a post a couple months ago requesting baby jars. Last Friday I found a box of them on my doorstep. My cousin Erin sent me via Aunt Linda (THANK YOU!) no less than 56 baby jars. Fabulous.

Beth scrubbed them the other day, and then we set about painting them.

At first we had grand ideas of using actual glass paint.

It was mo’ expensive and warned to cause birth defects.

So we settled for my trusty old tray of Prang Watercolors (which I’ve had since my sophomore year of college by the way).

We girls set to painting (Cal took a nap). Olivia used every color of the rainbow because “I like every color in the rainbow.”

Beth set about in intricate designs and motifs – picnic blankets with ants, sunflowers, and horses.

As for me – well, I know how easily I get bored, so I set out with simple geometric patterns: polka dots, random squares, and stripes (and I did do an American flag).

We twisted on some wire to hang the votives.

I made Beth put in hooks into the ceiling of my porch (because I know I’m not strong enough for that!)

We strung up some twine.

And finally, we used ribbon to attach each jar.

This is only about 1/5 of the jars we have. I’m going to do some more and put them in my tree and even more on my porch (Beth, I need you to come back and put more hooks in).

Aren’t they loverly?

Yes, the paint will wash off the first time they get hit with sprinklers or rain water. Any suggestions?