DIY Rustic Vases Using Recycled Containers

My husband and I love tea. We often have ‘teatime’ in the afternoon as a caffeinated pick-me-up. One Christmas, our cousins gave us a variety of teas in these cute tea tins. I loved the containers so much that I didn’t want to just toss them when they were empty, so I stashed them safely in my craft cupboard until I could figure out what I wanted to do with them. Eventually, I decided to try turning them into wrapped vases!

I love how they turned out! And it was soooo easy! It has inspired me to rummage in our recycling stash to see if any other containers show hidden potential just waiting for its moment to shine. So, if you too have cute jars, tins, or other containers that you hate to see go into the trash, I recommend you turn them into décor! It only takes a few readily available supplies, most of which you probably already have in your craft cubby.

What You’ll Need:

• Tins, jars, or other containers of choice
• Hot glue gun
• Hot glue sticks
• Twine or rope
• Scissors
• Ribbon (optional, but adds a nice touch)
• Flower stems
• Wire cutters (optional for cutting flower stems to length)

Getting Started:

To begin, add a small dab of hot glue to the bottom of your container and stick the end of your twine securely to it.

Next, add a line of hot glue to the base of the container and stick the twine to the glue (carefully, as it is hot) wrapping around as you go.

Keep adding more hot glue to the container and stick your twine to the glue. Try to keep the rows of twine close together, that way your container doesn’t show through. But, try to avoid overlapping the twine. That will make the final product bumpy.

Keep going around and around, more glue, stick twine, more glue, stick twine, until you reach the top.

Once I reached the top, I chose to add another row of twine to hide the tin lip.

Then, snip the twine at an angle with scissors. Add another dab of hot glue to secure it and smoosh the end of the twine along the top of the vase or inside the vase to try to hide the end.

Now, all that is left is for you to tie on some ribbon (if desired) and fill the vase with flower stems or other decoration! And tada! All done! Told you it was easy!

So after making these fun vases I was inspired to try a different type of container. I had this cute glass jar, so I decided to give that a try.

I used the same technique as explained above for the tins and it turned out so nice!

But, I must say one of the bonuses of using a clear container is that you can put a bundle of string lights inside and create a lovely vase with a soft glow!

I don’t know what it is about adding lights to things, but I just can’t seem to help myself. Something about seeing the cozy twinkle just brings me joy!

I also love the idea of being able to use these vases interchangeably for different seasons. For example, I could put on pumpkin ribbon and fill them with fall leaf stems and voila, festive fall decoration! Hope you enjoy making these as much as I did!

- Written By Danielle D.