Christmas Crafting upcycling project 2025

Christmas Crafting with ARTdiscount: Upcycled glass Jars turned into beautiful Lanterns 

As the nights draw in and festive lights begin to twinkle, it’s time once again to gather around the table for some creative Christmas crafting! Over the last few years, we’ve painted our way through the 12 Days of Christmas and even created our very own Painted Wreaths — both wonderful projects that brought colour, creativity, and cheer into the home.

This year, we’re keeping the festive spirit alive with another joyful, eco-friendly craft for all the family: Upcycled Christmas Lanterns. These charming little lights are made from everyday jam jars, vinegar bottles or coffee jars — transformed with acrylic paint, glue, and a sprinkling of glitter into glowing keepsakes that sparkle on windowsills or as table centrepieces throughout the season.

So, grab your paints, turn up the Christmas tunes, and let’s make something magical together!

 Materials You will Need:

• Clean, empty glass jam jars or coffee jars or any interesting jars you can find (paper labels removed)

• Acrylic paints – choose festive colours such as white, red, green, gold, and silver

• Paintbrushes (fine and medium), a piece of old sponge

• PVA glue or Mod Podge

• Glitter (White, silver, gold, or iridescent optional) 

• Red, green, white, gold or silver ribbon or festive string

• Fairy lights or a small tealight or LED candles (battery-operated for safety!)

• Paper and masking tape to create stencils (optional)

• White and metallic posca pens to create small detail (optional)

• Any left over baubles you don’t need for the tree (optional)

• Cotton buds, to create little dots of snow. 

• Masking tape or parcel tape

• Metallic or coloured markers

Discover our fantastic art materials with these convenient links, designed to save you time.  

Go Large 500ml!

ARTdiscount Acrylic Paint 500ml - Single Bottles Made by Daler-Rowney especially for ARTdiscount, our Own-Label Acrylic Paints are carefully formulated to deliver reliable pigment strength and smooth flow during application. Once dry, the paint exhibits water resistance, providing added durability to artwork. The water-soluble nature of ARTdiscount Acrylic Paint makes them easy to use without the need for any solvents, making them safer and more eco-friendly. Complying with EC labelling regulations, all colours in this range are classified as non-dangerous for artistic use, especially important for our young creatives.

 

Or Go Small! 200ml

Both acrylic paints are equally as good for this project.

STUDIO Heavy Body Acrylic Paints - 200ml Large Tubes Studio Heavy Body Acrylic Paints are made from high-quality, eco-friendly water-based pigments and finest acrylic emulsion. Available in over 30 colours. Their thick consistency makes them an ideal choice for usage with both brushes and palette knives for textural impasto techniques. They have excellent blending and mixing characteristics, and dry to a waterproof finish.

 

Paintbrushes for those small details

ARTdiscount School Brushes - Packs of 10 - Round Made especially for ARTdiscount, these Round School Brushes come in packs of 10, making them an excellent value for educators and art classes. Round brushes are a versatile tool for painters, ideal for fine detail, fills, washes and shapes. The durable white synthetic filaments are hard wearing, versatile, and keep their shapes. Available in a variety of sizes: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. The brushes are completed with short, matt black handles made with wood from managed forests and the ferrules are polished aluminium.

ARTdiscount Bristle Brushes - Fan A long handled bristle brush ideal for either Oils or Acrylics. They are resilient, durable and have good colour retention. Nickel-plated brass ferrule with coloured wooden handle that is made with wood from managed forests. These brushes are essential for creating snow covered or bauble decorated Christmas trees. And they come in four different sizes!

 

Glue for sticking on the snow and glitter!

Craft Planet PVA Glue 240ml	Mod Podge Matt

 

Metallic markers for that extra special detail

Pentel Paint Markers These Pentel Paint Markers feature a permanent, opaque pigment-based ink, suitable for use on a variety of surfaces, especially thick card, metal, glass or plastic. They're ideal for arts and crafts projects, hobbyists, as well as industrial applications.

 

POSCA Markers - 0.7mm - 4 Mono Tones - PC-1M This set of four mono toned Posca Markers are perfect for creating striking tonal variations with black and white work, and for adding lustrous metallic highlights in gold and silver. Uni POSCA Markers contain water-based pigment inks that produce poster-like, vibrant colours. They are lightfast and waterproof and will write on virtually any surface from glass to paper without bleed. PC-1M pens feature a 0.7mm nib, perfect for illustrating fine detail and adding precise highlights.

 

POSCA Markers - 8 Standard Colours - Assorted Sizes These assorted sets of Posca Markers feature 8 standard colours, making them a perfect place to get started with these unique, versatile markers. Uni POSCA Markers contain water-based pigment inks that produce poster-like, vibrant colours. They are lightfast and waterproof and will write on virtually any surface from glass to paper without bleed. Once dry, the opaque ink can be completely covered with a new ink application. We recommend giving these pens a try with black paper for a look that really pops or Bristol Board for exceptionally smooth flat application. Each Set Contains the Colours: Black, Green, Blue, Violet, Red, Pink, Yellow, White

 

Choose your Sticking Tape to make stencils

Masking Tape

MEEDEN Art Masking Tape - 1" x 60yd

Brown Packing Tape - 48mm x 66m

 

Tips and tricks to help you create your beautiful Christmas lanterns:

We made several versions of  glass lanterns, ranging in size and design. Here are some tips to help you create yours.

Step 1: Prepare Your Jar

Start by washing and drying your jar thoroughly. Remove any old labels and residue using warm water and a little washing-up liquid. You can lightly sand the outside if you want the paint to grip better, or simply wipe it with rubbing alcohol. We let ours soak in warm soapy water to remove the labels then put them in the dish washer to remove any glue residue.

Step 2: Plan Your Design

Sketch out your ideas or imagine how you’d like your jar to look, you can change your mind or even make more designs as you paint onto the jar. Think of Christmas trees laden with snow, snowflakes swirling, or sprigs of holly with bright red berries, and snowmen.  If younger crafters are joining in, simple star shapes or dot patterns can be just as charming.

Step 3: Prepare the Jar's Interior and Exterior Base Layers (this can be done before adding your motif or after around your motif on the outside)

For a snowy effect, paint the inside of the jar with watered-down white paint. Alternatively, for a sparkly finish, use watered-down PVA glue on the inside before adding glitter. We experimented with gold and iridescent glitter. Applying the glitter to the jar's interior prevents it from spreading when you paint your motif on the outside of the Jar.

Preparing the Exterior of the Jar (this can be done before adding your motif or after, placing it around your motif)

Use a soft brush or sponge to apply a thin coat of white or pale acrylic paint around the jar — this will act as your winter “frosted” background. You can cover the whole jar or leave clear patches where the light will shine through. Let it dry before adding your motifs.

Step 4: Add Your Festive Motifs

Prepare your materials and equipment so they are all close at hand along with a rag to wipe your hands occasionally. Before committing to your glass jar, practise different designs and a number of motifs on a piece of paper. Using fine brushes or stencils, start painting your chosen designs. We used both stencils, hand painted designs using a brush and hand drawn motif patterns using Posca markers on our jars.

Step 5: Final Touches

When your designs have dried completely you can add your festive ribbons or string. You can even add small charms, jingle bells, baubles or a sprig of artificial holly for extra detail.

Step 6: Light It Up!

Pop an LED tealight inside your jar and watch it glow! The soft flicker will shine through your painted designs, casting cosy patterns around the room — the perfect handmade addition to your Christmas décor.

Tall Xmas tree with Black permanent Maker (We used an old Balsamic vinegar bottle)

For the Tall dark Xmas trees, we used a black permanent marker on the outside of the glass jar.  Simply create squiggly lines either side of a central column.   We drew this first then added some watered down PVA and sprinkled glitter inside once the black marker had dried.   

 

Gold and White Christmas Tree

 To create the Gold lantern, we first used a gold Posca marker with a large nib to form a triangle tree shape. After this layer had dried, we applied more texture using a gold Posca marker with a smaller nib, followed by a white acrylic marker, also with a small nib.

Once these layers had dried we dropped some watered down PVA into the jar and swirled it round so it caught onto all 4 sides of the jar. We dropped a small amount of white glitter first to cover the bottom of the jar then added some gold glitter to cover the remaining PVA.

Lastly we added some more snow onto the outside of the Jar around the Xmas Tree shapes using white acrylic paint and applying it with a cotton bud, alternating the scale of the dots.

 

White Xmas Tree

To create this white Christmas tree jar, we first prepared the inside by coating the bottom and halfway up the sides with watered-down PVA glue, which was swirled around for even coverage. Next, we added white and iridescent glitter.

For the outside decoration, we used white acrylic paint and a small round brush to paint charming little Christmas trees. Once the white trees were completely dry, we added the bright red baubles using red acrylic paint applied with a small cotton bud. A metallic marker pen was used to add a little silver star atop each tree. Finally, small dots of snow were dotted on using a cotton bud.

After everything was dry, we completed the decoration with a red ribbon and fairy lights.

 

Snowflake Lantern Instructions

To create the Snowflake lantern, we used a small jam jar. Use a bullet-tipped white acrylic marker (like a white Posca pen) to create the main snowflake shape. For the smaller snow dots and stars, use a cotton bud or a small round brush with white acrylic paint.

Once these motifs are dry, coat the inside of the jar with watered-down PVA glue, swirling it to ensure full coverage. While the PVA is still wet, sprinkle in iridescent and white glitter.

For the outside decoration, use a sponge and white acrylic paint to cover the raised glass shapes on the top and bottom of the jar. Once this sponged layer is dry, paint the small leaves with a metallic silver marker and use a cotton bud and red acrylic paint to create the berries.

 

Stencilled Christmas Lantern Jar

Lastly we made a very easy Christmas lantern by using brown packaging tape to create a stencil. There are two ways you can do this, method 1; is to cut all your shapes out first on a cutting mat then stick them onto the outside of the jar, or  method 2; which is the technique we used is to stick your parcel tape onto the outside of your jar, roughly draw some tree shapes in different sizes, then cut your shapes out with a craft knife. This requires a little bit of time, so don’t rush it. Keep all of your cut shapes and stick them underneath the packing tape to create another row of designs.

We created a snowy textured background using white acrylic paint applied with a sponge and completely covered the jar. Once dried we started to remove all the packaging tape off the jar. Again take your time so you can retain all the detailing from the stencil shapes. Once all the tape had been removed we added some more white snow dots with Studio Heavy Body acrylic paint and a cotton bud alternating the size as we worked around the jar. Lastly we added our festive ribbon around the rim of the jar and popped in some little fairy lights.

 

Tips and Variations

• Try frosted glass spray paint for a professional look before adding your acrylic designs.
  

• Create a set of lanterns in different sizes for a mantelpiece display.
  

• Use metallic acrylics for a touch of luxury — gold stars or silver snowflakes look stunning by candlelight.
  

• Make it a family craft night: everyone can design their own jar to add to the Christmas table or gift to loved ones.
  
  

 A Craft to Treasure

This simple yet heart-warming project brings together creativity, sustainability, and festive fun — a beautiful way to repurpose what you already have and enjoy some mindful making during the holidays. Whether you’re crafting with little ones or winding down after a busy day, these glowing Upcycled Christmas Lanterns are sure to brighten your home and your spirits.

From all of us at ARTdiscount, have a wonderfully creative Christmas — and don’t forget to share your finished lanterns with us on social media!