Decorate a mason jar by adding fabric leaves with Mod Podge. They’re perfect for the fall mantle or a Thanksgiving table. Such a great grown up craft and a fun little decoupage craft for fall!
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What type of leaves are used to make these mason jar leaf lanterns?
I recommend using fake/fabric fall leaves from the dollar store. I bought these leaves from the dollar store a few years ago. (Don’t you LOVE it when you have the supplies at home already!?). Try to choose the thinnest leaves you can find. And make sure they don’t have any kind of a waxy finish on them. I’ve read that you can also use real leaves, but I feel like it would be a LOT harder to get them to stick? But if you do a quick Pinterest search, it looks like other people have tried it, so who knows??
What type of candle should I use in this mason jar leaf lantern?
You can use either a battery operated tea light or a regular tea light. If you’re going to use a real, flaming candle, just make sure that there isn’t any Mod Podge on the inside of the glass jar. Mod Podge will melt if it gets too hot. Not to mention that the leaves are flammable, so make sure all the fun stuff is on the outside of the jar. I had my real flame tea light burning for at least an hour when I was testing these out, and I didn’t have any issues.
Mason Jar Leaf Lanterns
These candle holders would look so beautiful on the Thanksgiving table! And if you make a group of them they’d look so pretty on a fall mantle! These mason jar leaf lanterns are such a pretty way to celebrate fall. I found this craft very satisfying! I’ve been focused on kids crafts for awhile now (make sure you check out my new kids craft book!), but it was so much fun to make a new “grown up” craft.
I was sitting on my little craft stool, literally watching the glue dry, but it was so peaceful and relaxing. I kept turning my head to look out the window while I waited and was admiring the beautiful fall leaves outside that are just starting to change colour. There is something so gratifying about taking a plain little jar and turning it into something beautiful! From start to finish it took about an hour and a half to make my one little mason jar leaf lantern – plus it had to finish drying overnight. But if you make more than one lantern, the glue for each leaf can dry as you work on the next one. So you can probably make quite a few of them in just a couple hours??
I was reading all the Pinterest tutorials online, and a lot of people seemed to have trouble getting their leaves to stick to their jars. My first leaf was a little tricky, but the rest of my leaves stuck to the glass without any issues. (And for some reason, my yellow leaves stuck way better than the red leaves???) The biggest thing I can recommend, is to make sure that you wash the glass jar thoroughly and wipe it down with rubbing alcohol to make sure there’s no grease on it. If you’re still having trouble, you could even try washing your fake leaves. This post was originally published on October 19, 2018.
Here’s even more candle craft ideas:
Pumpkin Spice Candles
Pressed Flower Lanterns
DIY Christmas Candle Holder
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
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