#3 Colorful Balloon Covered French Yogurt Jars
You can create colorful vases for flowers by covering the little yogurt jars with balloons! You’ve seen this done with other jars. I’ve seen them but really couldn’t find step-by-step directions. What I did find was, first, choose the balloons you want to use. Next, cut the rolled opening off the balloon. Then, open the balloon with your fingers on both hands and stretch over the jar. Push the neck of the balloon down into the jar opening. Doesn’t that sound easy?
First Attempt
Reality check! It is not so easy to stretch that little balloon over a jar. I tried it without cutting that little rolled opening off, then, cutting it off, then cut a little extra off. Each time, the balloon would only go about a quarter of the way up the side, if it was possible to stretch it over the bottom at all.
At this point, I kept thinking, other people have done this! In frustration, I searched for directions and could only find a video on YouTube in some other language.
I couldn’t understand what the lady said on the video but what I gathered was that you need to blow the balloon up and then deflate it. It appeared that she had really big balloons, too.
How To Do It Right
So, let’s start over. The largest balloons I have right now are 12-inch rose-colored balloons
. The balloons I have are actually from the party store but there is a variety of colors to choose from at Amazon. Blow up the balloon until it is fully 12-inches and then release the air. (We are an Amazon affiliate and may receive a small percentage of any sales through this link at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting this website!)
You can see in the picture that the balloon looks significantly larger than the one I had tried to stretch over the yogurt jar in the beginning.
Next, I snipped off the rolled edge at the mouth of the balloon. That was still a little tight to stretch.
I snipped off about 5/8 to an inch of the neck of the balloon and voilà. It was relatively easy to stretch over the jar!
Then, just poke the neck of the balloon inside. I did have to manipulate the balloon a little to get the hole in the middle of the mouth of the jar.
Imagine what you can do with all of the colors and patterns available in balloons. You can create these little vases in as many colors as you want! I love this rose-colored look! Add the little pink roses and it’s adorable!
Add some pretty flowers, a little satin ribbon, and a bow!
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Three More Ways To Use Oui French Yogurt Jars
These little French yogurt jars are so versatile! They are cute just as they are! Add some paint, some glitter, ribbons, charms, and, or balloons and they are adorable! There are other plans for these little jars but here are three more ways to use these.
#1 French Yogurt Jar Flower Arrangement
My goodness! Doesn’t this look like a little tabletop garden? This flower centerpiece is made using French yogurt jars!
For this project, you will need 9 yogurt jars, a glue gun, glue sticks, water, gel food coloring, scissors, and fresh flowers. (If you are planning to use multiples of these for an event or plan to transport one, I would definitely use E6000 Glue
or epoxy instead of the glue gun. You will need to allow the glue to set-up for a longer period of time with those glues. I slid the whole arrangement onto a cutting board and onto the dining table. Doing that with one arrangement in close proximity is one thing. Transporting to another location and, or transporting multiples is another.)
For this yogurt jar centerpiece, you will need 9 Oui French Yogurt jars. Make sure they are clean. To find out how to thoroughly remove the glue residue from the top and the sides in an earlier post, ◄ click here. After you remove the glue, wash the jars with soapy water, rinse, and dry.
These Oui jars are about a quarter of an inch wider at the bottom than the top. I quickly realized that it would be easier to glue these if you turn the jars upside down.
Begin by turning two of the jars upside down and applying a liberal amount of hot glue or low melt glue on the side of one of the jars at the base where the two jars will touch. Push the jars together and hold for a couple of seconds.
I used the low melt glue gun
for this and it really held well. The more I use this gun and the low melt glue, the more I like it. (We are an Amazon affiliate and may receive a small percentage of any sales through the links in this post at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting this website!)
Keep It Straight
In order to keep the rows straight, use a sheet pan to line up the first row of jars along the straight edge while gluing. You want the rows straight.
Next, glue another jar to the first two, creating a row of three.
Turn the first row of jars to a 90° angle, lining the jar on the end along the sheet pan. Glue 2 more jars, creating a right angle.
Dab some glue on the bottom edge of the second jar from the bottom and the second jar to the right where the next jar’s bottom will touch. Quickly and firmly press the loose jar into the glue. You can add a little more glue to be sure it’s secure.
Continue gluing the jars in this manner until you have a square of 3 x 3 yogurt jars. You can make it a square of 4 rows by 4 rows, 3 by 4, or any combination you like.
Flip the jars over with the openings facing upward.
I was a little worried the jars would not hold together well enough and thought it would be necessary to add big globs of glue at the top, too. Surprisingly, the glue on the bottom created a pretty solid configuration. I probably wouldn’t want to test this too much and would suggest supporting the bottoms of the jars to move it from one place to another after filling the jars with water and flowers.
Coloring The Water
First, fill a yogurt jar with water and measure how much it takes. Multiply that by however many yogurt jars you have. Fill a measuring cup or pitcher with that amount of water. For these 9 yogurt cups, it takes about 5 5/8 cups of water, 5/8 cup for each jar.
For a pastel color, these Wilton Gel Food Colors
are great. It took 3 drops to create this pastel pink color. (We are an Amazon affiliate and may receive a small percentage of any sales through this link at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting this website!)
Applying The Ribbon
Wrap a ribbon around the square of jars, allowing a little extra for tying an overhand knot and short tails. On one side, place a dab of glue on the two jars on each end stretch the ribbon across the three jars. Try to keep the ribbon straight and at the same distance from the rim of the jar.
Place another dab of glue on the two jars on the outside on the front edge, stretch, and press the ribbon into the glue. Pull the ribbon up and make an overhand knot in the middle. Trim the ribbon ends at an angle. I dabbed some glue on the jar behind the knot, too.
For a vintage look, you can wrap lace and a ribbon or jute twine over the top of the lace.
Trim any leaves from the flower stems that will be in the water and cut the stems at an angle. Begin placing the flower stems in the center yogurt jar. Continue filling the jars with flowers. How cute is this?
#2 Gold Painted French Yogurt Jars
For this project, you can paint the inside or the outside of these jars. If you paint the inside, you can still use them as a vase but you will have to use a smaller jar or a glass filled with water inside the yogurt jar.
You could also put a votive or tealight candle in these.
Although I used gold paint, you can use any color to match your decor.
My favorite gold spray paint is 24 KT Pure Gold by Design Master.
(We are an Amazon affiliate and may receive a small percentage of any sales through this link at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting this website!) After one light coat of gold paint, the jar, obviously, needed another. It has been my experience that several light coats are much better than one heavy coat. The light coats limit the possibility of the paint running and having visible drips on your project.
Turn the jar upside down to spray the paint. I did not have to touch up the rim at all. After another couple of coats of paint, it looked pretty good.
Tips For These Painted Jars
Thus far, I have only painted the outside of the jars. Although I haven’t had a problem with scratching the paint, I read that one person who sells metallic painted jars on Etsy first sprays a thick coat of paint and allows that to dry. Then, she says to spray a clear coat on top of that. The clear coat can dull the shiny finish. After that dries, she says to spray another coat of gold on top of the clear coat.
Why? Apparently, the metallic paints are a little delicate and tend to chip easily. If the outer layer chips at all, then the first coat, which could be a little duller, will show through. The jar won’t look bad, it will just give it a bit of a rustic look. As with anything painted, you want to try not to scratch the surface. If you worry about scratching the surface, you might want to use the clear coat and another coat of metallic paint.
Another tip she had is to avoid wrapping jars sprayed with metallic in any plastic. The plastic bubble wrap she used to wrap and send the painted jars through the mail caused damage to the painted surface. Tissue paper would probably be a better alternative.