Bonne Maman Jar ideas -Week Two : Recycling in the Home

I have a Bonne Maman jar addiction. There we go I’ve committed it to the written word. No going back now and by way of proof, I toted up the current number in my arsenal before writing this post. 47. Which is probably just plain greedy. Some with red lids and many with green. And it’s not only the French jam jars I covet. I also tend to keep many an intriguing shaped glass jar or bottle I find aesthetically pleasing, to store or display in one way or another around the home. Today, in the second part of my Recycling in the Home series I thought you might like a peek at how I reuse these items rather than recycle at first. And I have a simple craft and several thoughtful Bonne Maman jar ideas to make gorgeous gifts, with countless variations on each theme…

I haven’t personally eaten the contents of each of the Bonne Maman jars in my stash. Many lovely friends and family pass them on to me when they have finished and one lovely reader in particular, regularly tops up the green jars I use in the home. Thank you Sally.

And although glass requires less energy to manufacture and to recycle than many other materials since it is made from natural substances, I like to get as much use as I can from these pretty glass jars before they end up at a recycling plant.

Storage first then. At any given time, the vast majority of my Bonne Maman jars are in my kitchen storing a great many essentials. Nuts, seeds, dried fruit and baking ingredients mostly, each labelled simply just as I like it. On a more practical level, I also store many half-eaten tins of food in them; cold baked beans, lentils, chopped tinned tomatoes that sort of thing all lined up in the fridge for another meal. And you’ll always find a homemade sauce or salad dressing mixed up ready to use on a shelf in there too. And have you come across overnight oats or chia seed puddings yet? I am a fan of both and find these jars perfect to shake up all the ingredients in, leave overnight and enjoy the following day. I am mindful however this is not a food blog, so I’ll stop right there.

In my Scullery (oh yes indeed) The Spotty One’s needs are catered for on a chippy shelf located conveniently by the back door. And over at Belle’s, I have a couple more housing choc drops and mini biscuits used to entice him up the ramp on our blog writing days. I also store a supply of regular firelighters in one and these in another for when stoking up the potbellied stove becomes essential on cooler days.

And it’s not just the French jam jars to be found inside my much-loved craft cupboard keeping safe just about everything from buttons and ribbons to bits of this and that which I feel sure may come in handy someday. Any glass jar works in there. Particular favourites include these small glass spice jars. Once rinsed of any trace of their culinary contents, these are perfect for storing smaller craft items such as beads, mini pegs and the tiny trinkets I use for this craft. I even have one at Belle’s too which acts as a useful emergency stationery kit. Top Tip: if the spice or seasoning initially stored in the jar was particularly pungent, add a small amount of bicarbonate of soda with a few drops of this essential oil to the empty jar and leave to stand overnight. Rinse and add to the dishwasher cycle the next time you clean the dishes and most odours dissipate. A mix of all my glass jars sits perfectly on this, spinning around rather helpfully to aid a creative afternoon.

By no means an exhaustive list, this is simply a sample of the life of a humble empty glass jar at The M’s. Now though for today’s quick and easy Bonne Maman jar ideas and for my craft I am again using lavender as my chosen scent since I have rather a lot of it. Homemade Bath Salts would be just as aromatic with Rosemary, Rose or Calendula petals or perhaps even a gentle mix of them all. I have made these bath salts several times over the years for others as gifts; and they would look just as good in another fancy glass jar of your choosing. This is the first time I’ve packaged them this way though and I am rather pleased with the whole presentation.

First gather together a sterilised Bonne Maman glass jar – see how to here – Epsom Salts, and a generous handful of dried lavender buds. And if you have it, the addition of a couple of desert spoonful’s of dried milk powder will make the mixture quite magical too.

In a clean bowl and using a clean spoon, mix it all up. You can vary the amounts of each ingredient to suit and if you have any essential oil, you could add one or two drops for a stronger smell at this stage if you like. Simple alchemy at its best.

Next, get creative with your labels. I love this stage as quite simply any plain label can be made to look delightful. You could use similar to those I chose for my kitchen storage or take the simplest of paper labels to create something striking. I have a small stash of printed labels from here and here which I enjoy using. There will simply never be enough time for me to try every label I fall in love with; a quick Amazon search will help you choose your favourite. And if your label is blank and your handwriting is enviable get scribing or out with the dusty typewriter and add a few soothing words. Off-cuts of string, ribbon and cord all work well to attach any hanging labels to the jar if this is the way you like to roll.

Back to the lavender bath salts and I added air dried clay tags to label mine with a few encouraging words stamped on, using the process you first read about here.

These homemade bath salts make a delightful gift together with a favourite magazine for a busy friend and might also be well received with a small bar of indulgent chocolate too. I know what you are thinking… there have been another two issues since August but this front cover though…

And since the clay was out and that time of year will soon be fast approaching, I made a batch of tiny tags to add to a few more Bonne Maman jar ideas which help to keep each gift personal. One for a green fingered gardener friend and another for a creative crafter and how about a game of good old-fashioned marbles for a child at Christmas. Simply let that imagination run wild again and you surely will create the most thoughtful and unique offering. Think first of your recipient; what do they like/need, what hobbies/pastimes do they have and once determined, just create.

Do you do something similar to this bath salts craft yourself? And do you have any glass or Bonne Maman jar ideas to share with us? If so, do leave a comment in the box below; there is joy and inspiration to be found in another’s ideas. And if you’d like more inspiration yourself, you could check out my glass jar ideas board here and my Lavender Crafts board too; both are full of creative talent from other crafty people in the Pinterest world.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s craft and read. No blog next week as it’s the last Thursday in the month, I will be back the week after though with the last part of this recycling mini-series looking at making good use of the humble tin can. I am prepared to make a pretty bold statement here: Once you have one of these tin can creations in your life, there’ll be no looking back. See you very soon I hope…x

If you missed the first part of this mini series click here and if you’d like another lavender craft to inspire you, try here…