Friday, January 22, 2010

EASY (and cheap!) Jar Fillers

Pin It Do you have a jar/bowl/vase that needs 'fillers'? Such as these:


I do! I have more bowls and jars than anyone should! I always see great fillers at Pottery Barn and Pier One. However, they are expensive. You know me, I like to make it myself if I can! These fillers from Pier are $4-6 each:If you want to make some fillers yourself, grab these supplies:

Foam Balls 1-4 inches (in floral department)
Twine
Glue Gun
Assorted dried beans (look in your pantry....)
Spray on adhesive (I use 3M)
Spray Paint
Bamboo Skewers (trust me!)

For TWINE fillers:

  • Starting at the end of the foam ball (not the middle!) glue down the twine
  • Use glue gun to wrap twine around the ball in a circular motion
  • Wrap all the way around, until they look like this:
  • I did large and small twine balls
  • TIP: I found a 4 pack of ping pong balls at Target for $1. Great filler, for 25 cents each!
For "kidney/lima BEAN fillers"
  • Grab your glue gun and whatever size beans you have handy
  • Starting in the middle glue beans all the way around.
  • Gluing in a circular motion, make it look pretty!
  • Work your way to one end of the ball
  • Go back to the middle, and work your way to the other end
  • This takes a while, since you glue each bean individually
  • Isn't the texture awesome?!
  • To spray paint, poke a bamboo skewer into your foam ball
  • This will keep your hands clean while painting it! (genius, right?)
  • Spray a light coat of paint, and let it dry. Do this over and over. (mine took about 4 coats to look pretty)
  • I poked mine into the ground outside while it was drying
  • Cute, huh!
For "LENTIL fillers"
  • Poke a skewer into a foam ball
  • Spray, covering completly, with adhesive
  • Roll ball in lentils
  • Fill in any gaps by patting lentils in place (your hands will get sticky)
  • Spray paint color of your choice
  • Again, I think the texture is great
  • Forgive the bad lighting! Yellow ball is actually a great, pale yellow. I took these pictures at night, and the lighting doesn't do them justice!
I think they look cute! I've got a few more to make to really fill up my bowl!

12 comments:

  1. creative! Love your blog name, by the way :)

    ~ Emily N. from "too Blessed 2 Stress"

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  2. These are great - I love all the different textures. Very clever to spray them! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Very cute. I have many of those jars and am always looking for fillers!

    XOXO
    Jen

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  4. You have no idea how happy this post makes me! I have a bowl in my entry that needs cute fillers so bad. Mainly to keep my husband from putting candy wrappers in it. I just could not bring myself to pay the ridiculous prices they mark on them at the store. Thank you for such a cheap fix!!

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  5. These could be found at Pottery Barn for a lot of money. What a clever alternative. Enjoying reading your blog...

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  6. These are awesome! So beautiful! I love decor balls. I am featuring this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com today. Grab my "featured" button.

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  7. This is great! Lentils?!? they are fantastic.

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  9. fabulous content guys, your step by step process thought us many more things.... Brain Cancer Types is the best content pls go through this

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