Pleasant Surprise

Okay if you haven’t heard of glow jars or fairy jars then you should probably check them out. I love glow in the dark stuff especially glow in the dark fairy jars. This week I set out to make one and I was ssso excited. YEY!! Ok fast forward..So my attempt at making the glow in the dark paint glow enough for a fairy jar failed!! What I didn’t know at the time was that it was a blessing in disguise. I feel like the best things come unexpected and with DIY’S it’s exactly that. Although this fairy lantern night light wasn’t a planned project it was a pleasant surprise. Don’t worry I didn’t give up on the glow jars!! I’ll be attempting those again soon.

Okay so the list of things you’ll need is a bit long, but most of the stuff you can find around your house. I only invested a total of $15 into this project.

DIY Fairy Lantern

What you’ll need

  • Jar with a Lid
  • Fairy printable
  • Scissors
  • Tea light
  • Dark Gray Paint
  • Copper Paint
  • Pen or Marker
  • Brushes / Paper
  • Glow in the Dark Paint (color Natural)
  • Stick (I used a barbecue stick)
  • Plastic Bag (I used a recycled grocery bag)
  • Metal Wire
  • Needle Point Pliers
  • Card Board (little piece)
  • Foam Sheet
  • Plastic Greenery
  • Moss
  • Drill
  • Tape
  • Optional decor ( twine , glass vial, key)

 

Let’s do this

To begin you’ll need to attach your lid to your jar and drill a hole big enough for your on and off switch. The hole doesn’t need to be perfect because it won’t be visible. You will be covering most of it with moss. Here’s a quick tip: (optional) Your edges will probably be rough, You can hammer out all your rough edges against a flat surface if you’d like. Then glue your tea light with the light switch facing up and apply extra glue around all the sharp edges. 

DIY Fairy Lantern

Following that use your pen to trace a circle onto your cardboard and cut it out. I used my lid to trace the circle. I did need to cut it down a bit smaller.  It needs to be able to fit into your jar easily.

 

DIY Fairy Lanter

Free Printable

Here’s the free fairy printable.

DIY Fairy LanternCut out your fairy printable and attach it with tape to your foam sheet. Then neatly cut your fairy out again. DIY Fairy Lantern

Add a little stand to your fairy.  Don’t forget to secure it with some glue. Add some moss to your cardboard circle and attach your fairy to the edge of the circle. 

DIY Fairy Lantern

Apply a thin and even coat of glow in the dark paint on the inside of your jar. Try and keep the brush strokes neat. Let it dry completely before applying the antique effect.

DIY Fairy Lantern

Antiquing

Next add some copper paint to your gray paint. Mix it a little and make your antiquing brush using a stick and a piece of plastic bag. Apply hot glue around the stick and wrap the plastic bag around it.

DIY Fairy Lantern

To antique dip your plastic brush into your gray paint and dab most of it off onto another paper.  You only need the tiniest bit of paint on your plastic brush for this effect. Once you’ve dabbed most of the paint off apply it on the inside of the jar around the top and bottom avoiding the middle. Use rubbing and dabbing motions.

Making the Handle

Ok now cut your wire long enough to make a handle.  Wrap it around the jar in a circle and secure it.  Fold over what’s left of the wire and secure it to the other side of the circle. You should have a handle ( view video for reference) Keep in mind this doesn’t need to be super tight. You should be able to slide it off easily because you’ll be adding twine to it.  

DIY Fairy LanternThen take your fairy and insert her into the jar and use some hot glue to decorate the lid and handle with some greenery.

DIY Fairy Lantern

Ok I totally did this step backwards.  You should probably apply the greenery on the handle after adding the twine to it.  For this step I doubled my twine and wrapped the circle of the handle in twine.  You can probably wrap the handle itself too. I literally just thought of that.. 😀 It would probably look cuter too. 😀 To finish it off attach your key and glass vial with some twine and glue. I added a bit of glitter to my glass vial. 😀 That’s it. 😀 Don’t forget to watch the video for more details. DIY Fairy Lantern

 

Here’s a video on this fairy lantern night light. Hope you like it. 😀

😀 I would love to know what you guys think about this DIY? What projects would you guys like to see more? Any special requests? Let me know in the comments below I would love to know. 😀 😀 Thank you so much for being a part of this DIY journey with me. I am truly blessed to have an audience like you guys.

DIY Fairy Lantern DIY Fairy Lantern DIY Fairy Lantern  Fairy Lantern

Fairy Lantern

Here’s a cute pinnable.

Fairy Lantern DIY

Thanks for joining me today. 😀 I would love to see your creations.

Here are some affiliate links for similar products I used to make this project. (If you purchase anything from my affiliate link I might get a small commission. However this DOES NOT result in any additional charges to you. For more info read my disclosure policy)