Mason Jar Crafts

Mason Jar Crafts by Lauren Elise Donaldson is a book designed to use the beauty of Mason canning jars and be crafty with them.  I wish the crafts were pretty.  They really aren’t.  I’ve found more useful things to do with mason jars on Pinterest and blogrolls.

2 out of 10 stars.  Please don’t buy this book.  I hate to see pretty jars made into such ugly crafts.  Although the book is nicely laid out, the crafts do more to deface the beauty of the jars rather than to enhance them.  The author is a blogger.  She should stick to blogging.

There are basically 10 projects in this book and variations of these projects.  They are:

1. Using a jar as a planter
2. Painting a jar and hanging it on a macrame string
3. Cutting a hole in the bottom of a jar and sticking a nightlight in it
4. Turning a jar upside down and gluing it over a display or specimen
5. Gluing a plate to a jar and calling it a cake stand
6. Gluing ribbon to a jar and calling it a chandelier
7. Using a jar as a drinking glass
8. Sticking an upright fork with a piece of paper inside a jar and calling it a placeholder
9. Gluing felt to a jar and calling it a piggy bank
10. Putting a gift inside a jar

After buying this book, I was really shocked it ever made it into a publisher’s hands.  Really.  These are not crafts.  It’s 128 pages, published by Ulysses Press, and printed in the U.S.A by Bang Printing.  There’s a note at the bottom of the copyright page that the book is independently published (by the author).  That would explain all those fake reviews on Amazon.  😉

2 out of 10 stars.  For years, my family has used mason jars for lots of things: storage, gift presentation, cookie-in-a-jar gifts, soup-in-a-jar gifts, brownies-in-a-jar gifts, and for canning.  You can even create a glaze for mason jars by dipping them in a combination of glycerin and paint.  Nothing as functional or pretty as that is included in this book.  I returned mine to Barnes and Noble.

Here are some of my favorite mason jar crafts and gifts.  None of these are in this book.  You can find ideas and recipes all over the internet.  Here’s a hint.  If the page you link to is full of ads, it’s not the site with the original craft or recipe.  Those are internet marketers, not bloggers.