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Hi, my name is Darcy, and I’m a mason jar addict.

Maybe it’s my life-long dream of becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder (or maybe I should say my idealized, romantic version of her), maybe it’s my desire to take on a quality of life that is more simple and frugal, and maybe because I needed to find an alternative to the plastics that had overtaken our kitchen, but at some point, I fell madly, deeply, passionately in love with Mason Jars.

For so long, mason jars were just the stuff of country kitchens and old ladies who still canned. At least in my mind that’s how it was. They were cute and quaint, but had no place in my home. Then, a few years ago, as my desire to begin a cleaner life for our family, I began seeing how helpful mason jars can be. We’ve nearly completed our move from plastics to more natural/organic materials in the kitchen, so all of our glasses and plates and storage containers have been replaced by glass, stainless steel, bamboo and wood.  That also required coming up with some inventive ways to begin storing pantry items – and mason jars became the way to go!

So, after storing all I could store in the pantry in mason jars, from teeny little things to big gallon jars that we would find at garage sales, I still had a kitchen overflowing with them – and then Pinterest became my friend 🙂 

How I really use them:

Everyone has seen this application of a mason jar turned soap dispenser. It was the very first real decorative thing I did with my jars (well, should say I had my husband help me do as I’ve been grounded from the use of power tools for a bit).  I hated to cut into the zinc top, but I loved how it looked more than a regular canning lid.

I do actually store my spices and dry goods in mason jars and other large glass jars. These products do best when kept out of the light, so even though I keep them in a glass container, they’re inside my pantry, which is just fine. I love being able to see the selection without having to read a label, to see how much of something I have at a quick glance, and I love just how pretty it makes my pantry look. And yes, I know the dangers of glass in a bathroom, but we’ve learned how to use them safely, and the things just don’t break the few times they’ve been dropped.

This one should actually be a dream + reality idea. We do use small mason jars to store some of our bathroom supplies in like q-tips and cotton face wipes and floss picks in. I foresee a time when I can redecorate the bathroom that I share with the boys in a sort of farmhouse chic that will have something like this integrated with a towel bar.

Not only do I use mason jars to store typical things like canned veg/fruit/jams in, but I store leftovers in my jars. I love seeing all the food, ready to grab and go – it’s so pretty!

We drink out of these mason jar mugs my mother-in-law found for me and gave me – I love them!

 

How I dream of using them:

Our front porch light glass broke not long ago, and we still haven’t replaced the fixture – so when I saw this treatment, my brain went directly to the jars sitting along my kitchen bar hoping that one of them will fit! It’s on my to-do list this week!

 

My dining area is not big enough to host a feature this big, but one day, I’d love to have a version of this over my dining area – or one day, when we’ve actually been able to remodel the kitchen, to do some single lights like this over the length of the bar.

This is a project that just looks too fun – and the boys would LOVE having them!

Fairy Light Jars

 

And of course, I want to start baking in these puppies! How cute is t is?

 

Some cool gadgets for mason jar lovers –

Tattler lids

Recap Lids

All images here are taken from Pinterest, but linked to original sources wherever possible.

 

 

And of course, if you have a mason jar fixation like I do – here are some kits in the store to feed your mason jar habit!

and one DIY printable project for your canning jars – and keeping those kids from being bored this summer!