Colorful Plant Markers/Garden Bling

Aren't these fun?  

This little bouquet of brightly painted plant markers/garden bling

 were the presents we gave this year for Mother's Day.  

Anyone recognize what they are made from?  

Yup, old canning jar lids!  

I always have canning jar lids that are dinged or scratched 

and can't be used again for canning, but I hate to throw them out.  

I used hot glue to add rings to a few to make them more "flower-like".  

Tip: Place glue around the inside of the ring, add the lid and 

hold firmly while dragging another line of hot glue around the rim 

to hold the lid and fill any gaps.

Enter the stash of leftover craft paints and glitter glues!

If you are feeling brave or outside where you can hose it down, 

let the kids pour their own paint.  

Actually, his bright color selections match his sunny personality.  :)

Hard at work!

Meanwhile, I coated the inside of canning jars with this 

delightfully bright pink spray paint.

And cut a handful of straight branch lengths with my nippers.  

All of the leftover ice storm debris we are still 

burning, chopping, etc. provided several straight branches.  

I picked ones about as thick as my finger and snipped them at a sharp angle 

so they would be easy to push into the ground.  

They are roughly 10-12 inches long.

I used a large amount of hot glue to secure these 

firmly to the back of the canning lids.

The kids chose to paint the back of some.

Then they got bored and took over the camera for a little while - 

"Smile Momma!"

Works in progress!

Groups of 5 of mixed sizes worked well for these smaller jelly jars.  

I cut blocks of floral foam and slide them in the jars to provide 

some stability to the "arrangement" and then covered it with a little moss 

(hot glued into place of course).  A ribbon around the "vase" finishes the look.

We did several of these in about an hour and they turned out so nice 

that we will be doing more for our own garden this weekend.  

Plant names can be added with paint, paint pens or sharpies 

over top of the paint or on the unpainted backs.

Or these could just be used as bling to brighten up any boring areas 

or spots where nothing is really blooming.

Did the kids or grandkids make you anything handmade for Mother's Day?