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Friday, January 22, 2010

EASY (and cheap!) Jar Fillers

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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  8. Jar filters are becoming very cheap nowadays, but yours looks totally different and the designs are great. Digital Canada pls visit our blog... we have designed the jar filters based on the needs and want of the customers.

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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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