Mason Jar Solar Lights

Mason Jar Solar Lights

Using just three materials and a wee bit of time you will quickly have stylish mason jars to light up the garden or patio on these late summer nights.

(here:http://www.lightingole.com/led-strips-and-string.html)

Materials

mason jars with rings

stake solar light

double sided foam tape or glue

Directions

1. The most challenging this project will ever get is finding the solar lights that have removable tops and the pretty mason jars to fit them. This took me all of 10 minutes. I bought the lights at a grocery store for $2 each and have a large collection of jars that I sorted through until I found the right ones.

Update for those who want specifics: I bought the lights at the Real Canadian Superstore but I have also seen them at Target, WalMart and Dollar stores as well. The best time to find them is when the seasonal outdoor products are stocked. 

2. As the solar light was a bit smaller than the mason jar ring, I used a piece of double sided foam tape to make it just a smidge wider and it fit inside perfectly.

3. Don’t remove the paper off the other side of the tape so that the light can be removed from the jar. There is often an on/off switch on the light that you will still want to access. Alternatively, glue the light to the top inside of the ring to make a solid cap that can be removed.

4. Set out in the sun for 4-8 hours and your new jars will light up the night. I particularly love the reflection of the label on the wood below.

As a side note, check out how cool the moon is. While it was difficult to get a clear photo, the huge full moon was kind enough to pose in the perfect spot for these pictures.

Thanks for visiting Weekend Project See all the previous projects by clicking the tab at the top of this page.

Update: For those of you who have been asking here is a collection of pretty mason jars if you can’t find the antique ones. There is also a company who makes solar lids specifically for mason jars – who knew!? 

If you liked this project, you will LOVE these mason jar crafts!

And these homemade citronella CANdles! Check out how to make them here.

DIY MASON JAR LIGHT

DIY MASON JAR LIGHT

Do you remember the screen porch makeover I finished a few weeks ago? The lighting I decided on for for early morning coffee and late night porch time was this easy DIY Chandelier…(here:Solar string light)

The little chandy is almost perfect. Almost.

See, I have my quiet time on the porch before the sun comes up and if I sit in my comfy chair I can’t see to read my Bible or write in my prayer journal! The Husband reads the Bible from his iPad so he doesn’t have a problem with the light, it’s my chair that needed a little illumination!

Soooo, I came up with this easy little Mason Jar light to hang right over my chair on the porch…it’s perfect in the early morning and at night it’s like I’m catching fireflies…

At first I wasn’t certain exactly what I’d do, I just knew I needed a light. To get my creative juices flowing I took a little field trip to Hobby Lobby…

Do you guys do that…go to a craft or home improvement store and wander the aisles until one idea leads to another and before long a project comes together? Anyhoo, not knowing exactly what my light would look like, only that I needed to make one, I spotted the Mason Jars. Hobby Lobby has individual wide mouth large Mason Jars(5)that made me think they’d be perfect for inserting a string of (100) tiny white string lights…

Because the light would be going on the screen porch, I wanted to make certain I kept with the rustic feel of the grapevine sphere chandelier already hanging over the table. This grapevine wire seemed like a good idea for hanging the mason jars and of course I picked up some burlap ribbon because I always find use for burlap ribbon!

But …how would I hang the mason jars?

After a few minutes of looking through the hardware look what I found!

These cast iron swivel hooks…now I was getting a visual!

Here’s the 411 :

* 5 large mouth Mason Jars

* Grapevine Wire

* Burlap Ribbon

* 100 White Lights

* 100 White Lights

* Cast Iron Swivel Hooks

To make the hangers for the jars just twist the grapevine wire around a pencil…

Then around the mouth of the jar…

Twist…

And bring the grapevine wire up and around and attach it to the little ring you made to begin with.

I put the top ring back on just to better secure the grapevine wire…

Now for the fun part! Hang your hook wherever you want it and get out those pretty white lights…

Decide how you want the lights to hang, I did mine in the shape of a cluster of grapes

Since some of the jars needed to hang lower, I used burlap ribbon to get them to the right place. The burlap ribbon also softened the overall look of the light.

When they were hanging just so, I tucked in my white lights…this took several tries to find the best order as it coincided with the plug!

The Husband put an adapter on our existing porch light (it turns a light socket into an electrical socket) so the mason jar light is controlled by a light switch

but you could easily run an extension cord down the wall in a corner or along your trim-just use one of those cords you can step on to turn on and off!

I love the new light, it’s perfect for my coffee/quiet time in the morning!

There are a hundred ways you could design a mason jar light, if you decide to do one I’d love to see a picture!

Sending love to you my sweet friends ox

YOU MIGHT LIKE…

DIY Porch Chandelier 

Mason Jar Flower/Candle Chandelier

Mason Jar Christmas Light

Mason Jar Snow Globes

A SUNNY DISPOSITIONCREAMY BEET LINGUINE

A SUNNY DISPOSITIONCREAMY BEET LINGUINE

AUTHOR: JOSHUA RHODESBUDGET: $HOME DECORONE DAY PROJECTOUTDOOR SPACES


Party lights, Christmas lights, string lights—so many different names, but we can all agree on one thing: lights make an outdoor space at least 96% more inviting. I'm going to tell you a couple of hints/tips about hanging lights in your outdoor space. These lights were really the icing on the cake for the party alcove. Icing can be the best part, 'specially on a carrot cake... Now I want cake.

Supplies:
-party lights (we used interior/exterior lights from Amazon, but shop around, you can find good deals).
-exterior extension cord (optional)

Tools:
-measuring tape
-staple gun
-step ladder

Step One: The best place to start is to measure your space. Grab a buddy to hold the end of the tape, measure, and go to town. You might want to just hang the lights around the perimeter of your space. We chose to go the crisscross method; maybe there's even a third option you could try ;)

Here are some things to take into consideration when hanging party lights:
Do you have an outlet available?
Could you run an extension cord from inside?
Is there material to attach your lights to (e.g., awnings, fencing, tree, etc.)?
How many people are you going to invite to your party when you're done?


Step Two: I chose to use a staple gun to hang these lights. The entire time I was thinking about that scene from the movie Christmas Vacation. You know what scene I'm talking about. I started at the opposite end of where I wanted to end (I feel pretty ridiculous writing that). But it's true; I had to take account for where the plug was going to end up. When I was stapling, I made sure not to staple through the wire, using about two staples per end. Since I ended up using three strands of lights for the space, I had to plug them into each other. I tied the connecting ends into sort of a knot so they wouldn't come apart.

Be careful not to drop the strands and break bulbs; they are super fragile, as glass tends to be. The instructions that came with the product actually recommend that you remove all bulbs before putting up the strands.

I tried to keep the strands somewhat taut, but not so much that I was straining the staples. If you do decide to do the crisscross method, make sure to keep the strands far enough from each other that if a nice wind picks up, the bulbs won't swing into each other. Since we didn't have an outdoor outlet available, I had an exterior extension cord plugged in nearby that I could snake through a window at a moment's notice and plug into.

Nothing real groundbreaking here, but maybe if you see how easy it is to hang some outdoor lights, you'll give it a try! Let me know if you have any questions. Now, about that cake... -Josh