Solar-Powered Sea Glass Mason Jar Lanterns
DIY Solar-Powered Sea Glass Mason Jar Lanterns
Hey, friends! I’ve got a fun, sustainable, and simple project to share with
you today and it’s perfect for summer. Today is the Thrifty Style Team’s
monthly challenge where I join with some of my talented blogging
friends.
We give you ideas for using freebies, thrift store items, hand-me-downs, or
anything that’s budget-friendly. My friend Julie at Redhead Can Decorate hosts
this challenge and there are always so many creative ideas. They’re all at the
bottom of today’s post, so be sure to keep scrolling after you finish reading
about my project and visit everyone.
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. For full
disclosure go
here.
For this project, I visited a creek on some rural family property and did a little digging for creek glass. It’s pretty much the
same thing as sea glass, but it comes from a creek.
Sadly, there are houses
upstream that have dumped various things in the creek over the last
several decades. It’s not toxic or gross, thank goodness. I really love this project because it cleaned up the creek bank as well as provide me with some pretty glass.
My trusty sidekicks of my mom and youngest daughter helped me with the dig. We spent an hour or so overturning rocks and finding small glass treasures
on the bank. And by the way, I’m pretty sure they thought I was a little crazy for wanting to gather dirty old pieces of glass, lol.
Our haul from the day included some pretty green, aquas, and blues as well as white, clear, and brown pieces. When I got home, I separated the pieces into color groups and gave them a
good scrub with some soapy water with a little bleach added. (Please wear
protective gloves, goggles, and old clothes if you do this).
This is how my favorite one turned out! I love the piece of the old blue
Coca-Cola bottle.
They look pretty during the daytime with all of the various colors. I grouped together greens and aquas, greens and blues, and browns and blues.
And they’re so fun to see at night. I have them out on our deck and they stay lit for several hours if it’s been a sunny day and they’ve soaked up a lot of light.
The little vintage cola piece is so cute.
Even the old brown beer bottle pieces look pretty at night. I love mixing them with the blue pieces.
My favorite Coca-Cola piece looks pretty at night as well as during the day.
Supplies Used
Jars
The jars I used for this project were various leftovers from spaghetti sauce, etc. so I spent nothing on those.
Lights
The rustic lights are from my shop, Emory Valley Mercantile, and can be found here: Solar Powered Glass Jar Lids with Lights.
Sea Glass/Creek Glass
The glass pieces cost nothing except the time it took to dig it up and clean it.
- If you don’t have access to a place to dig, you can find some similar glass here: sea glass for crafts.
- Or you can make your own with this machine: DIY Glass and Rock Tumbler Machine
Here’s a quick tutorial for these fun solar powered sea glass mason jar lanterns.
Yield: 1
Estimated cost: $15
DIY Solar-Powered Sea Glass Mason Jar Lanterns
prep time: 5 Mperform time: 5 Mtotal time: 10 M
materials:
- Solar Powered Jar Lids with Lights
- Glass Jars
- Sea Glass
- (Optional) DIY Glass/Rock Tumbler Machine
tools:
- No tools required for this project!
steps:
DIY Solar Powered Mason Jar Sea Glass Lanterns
- Gather your supplies.
- Add the sea glass to the jars.
- Attach the solar powered lids to the jars, placing the lights where they accentuate the sea glass.
- Enjoy!
NOTES:
Depending on how much sunlight the solar powered lids have absorbed, the lights will stay light for hours.
Recommended Products:
Rock and Glass Tumbler Machine
Here are a few more creative ways to upcycle glass bottles and jars:
- 20 Creative Ways to Organize with Vintage and Found Items
- How to Make a Macrame Mason Jar Planter
- Mason Jar College Survival Kit
- A Dozen Different Flower Containers
- DIY Glass Bottle Dish Soap Dispenser
Here are more budget-friendly decorating posts with the Thrifty Decor Style
Team:
- Tiered Tray Decor Ideas with Thrifty and Vintage Finds
- How to Make Flowers from Paper Egg Cartons
- 13 Ideas for Thrifty Wall Art
- DIY Wooden Toolbox Mail Organizer
- Champagne Bucket Christmas Tree Stand
- DIY Wine Bottle Luminaries
- DIY Sheet Music Watercolor Fall Leaves
Now be sure to visit all of my thrifty and creative friends to see the projects they’re sharing this month!
Redhead Can Decorate – Million Dollar Fresh Peony Centerpiece for $35
The Painted Hinge – Easy Sunflower Centerpiece with Vintage Bottles
DIY Beautify – How to Make an Industrial Initial Sign
2 Bees In A Pod – Rope Wrapped Candle Holder
Postcards From The Ridge – Solar-Powered Sea Glass Mason Jar Lanterns
The Tattered Pew – World Market Potting Bench Makeover
Sweet Pea – DIY Patriotic Garland
What Meegan Makes – Using Unique Vintage Pieces for Home Decor
Salvaged Living – Watermelon Garland for Summer
Sharing this project here:
Silver Pennies Sunday Link Party
I can relate to digging for treasures in the dirt. I have been searching for artifacts by the beach seashore, where there were old ships docked years ago. Thanks for this post.
A very cool, clever and creative project!
Love these sea glass lanterns, Angie! Perfect for the summer and for any coastal style home! Pinned!
These are beautiful! I just love sea glass. Pinned.
What an incredible way to turn throw away bottles into something special. Love what you did Angie
Fun project! I love the greens! You could sell these!
Love this summer lighting idea, Angie!!! Thank you for sharing these cool solar powered lights in a jar. Really fun idea!
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
These are so pretty Angie! And what a great way to repurpose the glass you found in the creek! Fun project!
Thanks, Michelle! It was so much fun to find the pieces and then see the project come to life!
These would be so perch on my cottage back porch! I am amazed at all the gorgeous glass you found. The colors are stunning.
Thanks for sharing Angie.
Have a great weekend.
They would definitely look nice on your porch. I was pretty amazed at what we found too. Have a great day!
This is such a great summer project! I have lots of beach glass and jars, will have to give this a try!
It was so easy and fun! Old colored bits of glass are always so pretty!
I am in love with this idea! I have heard of sea glass but never creek glass…you are brilliant! I love all of the colors you found and they look so pretty in the jars all lit up. I can't wait to try this!
Thank you! I had found a piece or two once when I was there just visiting and went back specifically to look for more. It was a fun dig and project!
What a wonderful idea, Angie! You found some super neat pieces in your creek expedition. Reading your post reminded me of finding all sorts of glass bottles in the creek bank at my grandmother's house. My mom said that there used to be a hole in the ground beside the creek where they threw their trash. Over the years the creek slightly changed its path and what was in the old hole was exposed. It was so much fun to dig out those bottles! You've inspired me to look for some creek glass on my grandmother's old farm. My cousin lives there now and I think she might enjoy doing this as well.
Thanks, Paula! These pieces have probably accumulated over the past 50 or 60 years because the site is very isolated. Doing a dig at your grandmother's farm sounds like so much fun! I hope you do it!