52 Mantels: Recycled Glass Vases {Tutorial}

The week before last, I showed you my porch makeover as part of the American Crafter competition (yay first place!) and I promised you a tutorial for the hanging mason jar and recycled glass vases. Today is the day I do just that! It's really quite simple and added the perfect (and free!) wall decoration to my porch! And, the mason jars are the perfect size for a vertical herb garden.

For this project I used wood scraps leftover from my reclaimed-wood tabletop project. Each scrap was approximately 12 inches long. I wanted them to be old and weathered, so I chose not to sand, prime, paint or otherwise alter in any way.

Literally, I picked them up off the garage floor and used 'em as is.

My other supplies included: glass bottle/mason jar, drill/small drill bit, floral wire, jute and highlighter/ pen. (Optional: empty frame to display vase in)

The first thing I did was position my glass bottle on the wood scrap and used a highlighter to make two marks on either side of the bottle's neck. I then drilled a hole on each marking. To attach my bottle, I used the floral wire and wrapped it several times around the neck and then wrapped the wire through the two drilled holes. When the bottle was securely attached, I wrapped a length of jute around the bottle and wood scrap, tying in the back. I also wrapped jute around the bottom of my bottle, making it appear as if the bottle is simply tied to the wood scrap with jute.

The same process was done with the mason jars, making sure the drilled holes were beneath the neck's rim, for added support.

I chose to place a yellow, distressed frame in front of each vase. These were goodwill frames that got a quick coat of yellow spray paint, before being sanded and sealed.

I placed rocks at the bottom of my mason jars and then filled them with potting soil and herbs.

(Remember not to over water, as the jars have no drainage hole. If you have a drill bit for glass, you could make a hole in the bottom of the jar.)