String Jars

Get Your Hostess Gifts All Tied Up

String jars aren't just for the kitchen and craft room.  Think about giving them as hostess gifts with handmade wrapping paper, brown craft paper you've embellished yourself, or paper bags decorated with vintage newsprint. 

String jars aren't new, but I've never considered making them for "Holiday Hostess Gifts" until now.  This project resulted from an accident.  I was working on a jewelry project for a local charity event, which I hope to blog about later, when the waxed string I was using kept rolling off my studio table.  In an attempt to keep the string on the table, I decided to make a string jar. I'd recently emptied a lemon curd jar and kept it because it had a pretty shape and lid.  (I'd been eating the lemon curd by the spoonful.  Shhhh!!  Don't tell anyone.  Sometimes it's helpful if I feed my creative spirit.)  When I started to drill through the painted lid, my hand slipped and I scratched the paint.  I was momentarily perturbed, but it turned out to be a "happy accident".  That's what my friend Cathie calls them.  She is a very optimistic person and she's taught me over the years to embrace serendipity.  Serendipity led me to cover the scratch with a vintage postcard and the photos below are additional string jars that resulted from that brief moment of happenstance. 

From Left to Right:  A Tag from a recent purchase at ArtifactLV, Vintage Postcard, Handmade Japanese Paper (Samples given by Vendor Representatives to Framing Stores - I bought a stack of them at a garage sale for a $1.00), Japanese Handmade Paper with a Vintage Inspired Safety Pin purchased at a craft store, Vintage Postcard, Plain Postcard Stamped with a Rubber Stamp, Tag Stamped with a Rubber Stamp with String Wound Around the Handle of a Rock Candy Tea Stirrer, Vintage Resort Postcard, String Wound Around an Antique Enamel Door Handle, Paint Chip Stamped with a Rubber Stamp, Newsprint Bags & More Vintage Postcards.


Items You Will Need

Recycled Jars with openings large enough to accommodate a ball, spool or spindle of string.

Vintage Postcards, handmade paper, paint chips available at your local hardware or paint store, vintage greeting cards, vintage recipe cards or anything visually interesting that's printed on paper the thickness of card stock.

Eyelets and an eyelet setter like the one pictured below.

Colorful string, yarn or ribbon.

Charms, buttons, vintage bubble gum machine trinkets, vintage safety pins, old keys or any small item of curiosity that can be placed in the bottom of the string jars to add visual interest.  (Think about adding items that remind you of the host or hostess that you will be giving the jar to as a gift.)

Brown craft paper, handmade wrapping paper (Cost Plus World Market always has a wonderful selection), or paper lunch bags.


Helpful Tools

Fiskar Squeeze Punch

I-Let Universal Eyelet Setter

This squeeze punch makes cutting perfect circles easy and relatively pain free.  I've used other types of paper punches in the past that have left my hands and fingers aching for days.  This paper punch is ergonomically friendly and well worth a trip to the craft store to buy if you don't own one.

The I-Let Universal Eyelet Setter is what I used to attach the postcards to the top of the jar lids.  Placing an eyelet in the hole that you've drilled will not only attach the postcard, but it will also prevents the raw edge of the hole from fraying the string you will be placing in the jar.

For More Detailed Instructions

String Jar Instructions @ SCJohnson.com