DIY Memory Jars
I was lucky enough to attend the Alt Summit conference in NYC last week held at the beautiful offices of Martha Stewart. You can check out my short video of the cocktail party and a pic of me in Martha’s office!
We spent the morning mingling and creating projects from her latest book, Martha Stewart’s Favorite Crafts For Kids and it definitely brought out my inner child.
My girls love the book and have plans to make pretty much everything in it – but first they wanted to make their own Memory Jars.
Like their mom, my girls have tons of tchotshkes scattered around so what better way to display them
The Simple Deets:
* Gather up your treasures
* Put them in a jar
* Label a sticker or a chalk board tag (this one is from Martha Stewart for Avery at Staples) which fits perfectly on my mason jar lid
* Admire your treasures for years to come while humming the tune to Memories
Thrilled to be part of 12 Months of Martha – where I create something fabulous every month. See my full disclosure policy here.
My 12 Months of Martha Projects
January – Valentine Table
February – Peter Cottontail Silhouette
March – DIY Paisley Plate Wall
April – 3-D Butterfly Art
May – Key to My Heart Statement Necklace
June – Mason Jar Memory Jars
I bought some antique Mason Jars at a yard sale several years ago and since I like vintage game pieces and marbles etc…. I started filling the jars with those. Eventually each person in our family got their own jar (all but 1 family member is an adult) and I put little things from here and there as I found them in the house. Our kids (age 24 – 32) love looking and remembering each time they come over and new stuff has been added. I have one each for my parents and grandparents, most of whom have already passed. For instance, my Nana’s has her old crochet needles, some wooden spooled thread, her eye glasses and a picture of us together among other things. They all sit on a special shelf and everyone who comes in our home loves them!
Great idea Kelli! Love the idea of making these for grandparents!
I love this idea, I dont have room to display much in our little cottage/home but I will keep them in an empty canning jar box for future viewings. The grandparent idea is great ., actually any person we feel close to can have their own Memory Jar.
I have a old scrapbook from when I was a kid with my stuff like this inside. I should get it out and put it where people can see it….. like in a jar. Even if I’m the only one looking at it, I’ll have fun thinking about all those years ago.
Bliss
I like your idea, make your day happy for yourself whenever you need a ‘happy lift’. I wish now I’d never got rid of my past memento’s.
Oh -What a really cute idea. I think my grandkids would LOVE to do this. Thanks! Hope you have a great week- xo Diana
Terrific idea! Palpable memories are the way to go, can you imagine a whole shelf lined up with these babies?! Love it! I recently came up a way to keep track of all the activities we as family do, will share it in the blog as soon as I can. Have a great week!
I love these, Kelly! Anything in a mason jar wins my approval!
I was selected as a Martha’s Circle blogger, too! Totally thrilled and I can dream that maybe one day I’ll get to see her offices, too! Or maybe even meet her! But first I have to conquer Haven 🙂
I love this idea! We’ve been using an large glass bowl as a memory keeper and dumping all our ticket stubs, postcards from trips, etc in there. It would be a great way to display jars (which I love!) and have them organized by year. You could easily then pick up a jar and say remember in 2011 when we…
Great idea! And going to Martha Stewart? Awesome!
Great idea! My daughter loves to keep souveniers… have to share this with her. 🙂
xo Heidi
Very cute idea — wish I knew about this 20 years ago when my girls were collecting all their junk, er, treasures. I saw another really cute idea online (can’t remember where!). A mom kept EVERYTHING she found in her little boy’s pockets when she was doing laundry and kept it all in a big jar. On his wedding day, she presented it to him. Also wish I had known about that 20 years ago.
Kelly,
Cute project!
Cynthia
This is a great idea Kelly!
This is so simple, but genius! Can’t wait to check out more of your adventures with Martha. Ipad is dying and I am nowhere near an outlet. The rigors of summer blogging!
LOVE this idea!!
Super cute! I love how you can do one for each year. I recently made a memory box for ticket stubs (http://www.dejongdreamhouse.com/2013/06/goin-places-ticket-stub-memory-box.html), but I like this idea for mementos and keeping the years straight. I might have to do this for my son.
i love mason jars and there are so many great ideas for them!
What a wonderful keepsake, so cute too!
Yep, awesome. Nuff’ said.
What an awesome idea!! Love Martha’s new book.
Oh my!!! What a blast! Lucky gals!!!!!!
Great idea! This would be fun to do with summer memorabilia to look back at what fun things we did!
Great idea! My kids collect EVERYTHING from our vacations, etc. so this is a great way to showcase them and keep them contained!