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I might have mentioned one or two (OK, maybe a a few more) times before that jars are some of my favorite things to paint, distress and decorate, so today I’m sharing with you some more Shabby French painted jars in beautiful whites and pastels!
What I love most about painted jars is the fact that they are so versatile and multifunctional and you can use them both for storage and aesthetic purposes, all around your home. They can be quickly adapted to your needs and integrated into beautiful seasonal vignettes, perfect for your house, special anniversaries or even weddings. You can simply fill them with flowers and instantly revive any dull corner. Not to mention they can be easily turned into amazing chic gifts for friends and family, which I’m sure they will all love! :)
Disclosure: *This post contains affiliate links so you can easily find the products I love. See more of my favorites {HERE}.
The Shabby French painted jars are super easy to make once you get familiar with all the steps. And yes, they are the same steps that I use for all my decorations:
- painting, distressing and creating a Shabby Chic effect using two contrasting colors and candle wax
- transferring an image using waterslide decal paper
I will only quickly walk you through the basic steps, as I have showed you in several occasions how to create a Shabby Chic effect on different surfaces. As a general and very important rule when painting jars – just make sure you don’t use any water and only use undiluted paint. I’ve tried this painting method on jars with acrylic paint, chalk paint and even milk paint and had great results with all of them – (paint suggestions – afflinks: black acrylic paint & white acrylic paint ||| black milk paint & white milk paint ||| black chalk paint & white chalk paint).
How to make Shabby French painted jars
1. Apply a coat of dark paint (black, brown or any other dark color) using a brush. Try not to insist too much in one area, as the paint might crackle, because of the shiny surface of the jars. Let the paint dry completely, even overnight.
2. Use some candle wax and rub the surface of the jars. You can see on the front brown jars below some shiny lines, those are from the wax. Then apply one coat of undiluted white paint (or any other pastels) and let it dry completely.
3. Apply another coat of white paint and again, let it dry completely.
4. Use a 180 or 400 grit sandpaper and gently distress the jars. You can lightly distress them or you can go crazy and insist on some of the areas you want to distress more. You will see that the dark paint will show from underneath the white paint and you will get a beautiful Shabby Chic effect.
Don’t you just love them already? :)
5. You can use them like this, all Shabbified or you can proceed to the next step and make them even more beautiful with some tres chic French labels – you can find all about waterslide decal paper here. Just make sure the paint is completely dry when you start applying the decals!
The Cacao, Cafes & Chocolat French Ephemera with Vintage Frame French labels, which are essential in creating these beauties are available for free download, I’ll tell you more at the end of this post.
6. Protect the jars with a clear matte finish sealer and you are done!
You can also check this YouTube tutorial I’ve made a few years ago which will show you a more detailed view of the whole process of making the Shabby French painted jars (both the painting and the waterslide decals part). You will see in the video collage that back then I initially used gesso as primer, but that step is totally optional and you can go ahead and use the dark color directly on the jars, like I did in the pictures above.
And if you like my paper Hydrangeas, you can find HERE the tutorial on how to make them.
There are endless possibilities when making the Shabby French painted jars. You can use white paint or your favorite pastels when painting them and you will have some amazing decorative but also storage oriented pieces, in different size and shapes that you can use in your home as you wish.
I love that every painted and distressed piece is truly unique, just like a little piece of art wearing your signature.
Well, that’s it, I guess I just shared all my secrets with you :) Well, maybe not all, I’m keeping a little bit of mystery for other future posts :P
But guess what? I really don’t mind! In fact, I love it and I really hope I will inspire you to create something beautiful for your home. And trust me, if I can do it, anyone can do it! That’s the best thing about creating handmade decorations, you don’t have to have any special artistic diploma to create beautiful things.
Some patience and a little bit of determination might help, so make sure you have plenty of those! :)
LATER EDIT:
I’m starting a new and exciting collaboration with Karen / The Graphics Fairy and I’m gradually making my collages and printables available for FREE download on her website.
Click HERE to download the printable I made for this project.
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For other Shabby French painted jars ideas, make sure you also check these posts for more inspiration:
Shabby French caddy and French painted jars
Home decor ideas: French painted jars
DIY French made jars with waterslide decals
Easy seasonal decorating with French jars, flowers, fruits, fresh herbs and essential oils
\\\ Pin for later ///
Have fun creating, feel free to leave your thoughts below ♥
And don’t forget to smile:)
P.S. If you want to know more about how to apply the decals*, learn all about decals here.
Follow Diana / Dreams Factory’s board Frenchified ♥ on Pinterest.
P.P.P.S. If you make some decorations inspired by any of my projects, please use them for personal use only. And don’t forget, on Instagram you can hashtag them using #bydreamsfactory or tag me using@bydreamsfactory. Have fun! :)
Sharing with lovely people at these awesome parties.
Beautiful jars, these would make wonderful hostess gifts. Glad I found you.
Thanks for sharing,
Celeste, you can do so many things with them, hope you will try to make some :)
These are absolutely beautiful!!
Happy you like them, Sylvia!
Thanks for stopping by!
Diana, I love the way you transform humble jars, destined for the recycle bin into priceless little treasures. The loving care with which you have painted, distressed and transferred images onto each one shows through so clearly. Thank you for sharing your methods, and for being so generous with your time!
I love finding lots of new and different items and surfaces to paint and exercise my techniques on.
Sometimes I just can’t believe almost 4 years ago I had no idea this beautiful handmade world even existed :)
So wonderful so beautiful thank you
Thank you, Anita! :)
Beautiful! Pinned and tweeted to share! Thanks for being a part of Brag About It this week!
Laurie, I appreciate all the shares, thank youuu! :)
Such a beautiful project – love these jars! Thank you so much for submitting your project to this week’s Monday Funday Party. We’re featuring your project this Sunday!
Thanks for the feature, Jen! So happy you like them!
Positively swoonworthy- just love them! Thanks so much for linking these up at Talk of the Town. :)
Thank you, Sadie! I’m in love (and a little bit obsessed ) with jars lately :)
I have a thing about Mason Jars, not that i make them but I collect them on Pinterest, wherey ours are quickly being Pinned!!
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Karren
Oh My Heartsie Girl
I know what you mean, Karren, I love Mason Jars!
Unfortunately they are almost impossible to find in my country, so pinning them is my only option too :)
These are really beautiful jars Dianna. We would love to have you share your beautiful posts with us at Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop. It goes live every Wednesday night.
Olivia -Co-hostess for Thursday Favorite Things
Thanks for stopping by, Olivia!
I will be there, see you at the next party! :)
You are very welcome! I just noticed your post in the links! Still love this pretty jars! Thank you for coming over to Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop.
Thank you for sharing with us at Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
Olivia- Co-hostess
Reinvented Collection
These are so pretty! I see projects like this and think how much I need to get a new printer to be able to do these awesome decals.
Liz, don’t let a printer stop you! :)
I initially used to print my decals at copy centers, maybe you will find one near your home.
These are fabulous! They look exactly like something I’d spend months tracking down at a flea market — love them!
Thank you so much, Sue!
Why chasing them when you can make some on your own? :)
I love this idea…thank you for the great tutorial….sharing it on Pinterest. You have another new follower….would love for you to check out my blog and follow back :)
JP
Thank you for stopping by, JP!
I love your idea of painting unconventional materials, I do that a lot, too! ;)
I love all your projects Diana and these jars are fabulously shabby. Thanks for linking up at Shabbilicious Friday. I’ve pinned this to our board xxx
Kerryanne, that means a lot coming from you, thank you, thank you, thank you! :)
I just love all of these! They are so gorgeous! Thanks for linking up to the Handmade Hangout last week. I will be featuring you on my blog (www.occasionallycrafty.com) when the new linky goes live today at 6pm ET. I hope you will stop by and link up again!
Yeyyy, thank you so much, Valerie!
Happy you like them, will link up some more, for sure! :)
What type of bottles are the taller ones? Love them!
The taller bottles are similar to those used to can tomatoes. Hope that helps :)
Beautiful! I saw these featured at Pieced Pastimes and had to come see more. These are stunning, Diana, and would look beautiful in any setting. Thanks for the great tutorial. Truly inspired!
I’d love to feature this post on my monthly Tuesday Tidbits with your permission :)
Thank you for your lovely comment, Robyn! Maybe you will give them a try! :)
I really appreciate the feature, so happy you find my project inspiring!
These are seriously the best painted mason jars that I’ve ever seen. They are perfectly french shabby chic. Thank you for sharing at the Celebrate Your Story Link Up Party.
Danielle, best compliment ever, thankkk youuu! :)
Absolutely LOVE these!!! Thanks for linking up to Link Party Palooza!!! Your site is beautiful!
Thank you so much, Stephanie!
these are lovely, you did such a wonderful job n them. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite things blog hop xo
Thank you, Katherine, happy you like them!
I love your website and all of the items you feature. I am going to try the jars and had a question about the wax. Where do I get the wax and what kind. Can I just rub the jars with a candle or does it have to be softer. Not sure. Can you help with this…thanks!!
Hello, Donna!
Thank you for your kind words.
Any candle will work, but the softer it is, the better.
If it’s too hard it might scratch the paint underneath, but you can try not to apply too much pressure when rubbing it.
Don’t be afraid to experiment, just go for it! :)
Please let me know how it goes.
after 2am here in New Zealand – have no mason jars but a ridiculous amount of Maccona coffee jars kept for me by a friend – KNEW I was going to be able to do something amazing with them!!!!!! So excited – they have their 1st black coats on – can’t wait to get up in the morning and make them amazing – and going to make them into candles… thank you so so much -and ditto with the tins/cans – darn just put the recycle bin out the other day which had perfect tins – same with me with homemade hummus and chickpeas :) thank you so much for your inspiration – lots of love – Sarah xxx
Sarah, I cannot find mason jars in my country either, so I’m improvising with … everything else I can put my hands on! :)
So happy you decided to give this project a try, I hope you managed to complete all the steps and are now enjoying the most beautiful French jars, made by you! :)
P.S. Would love to see them, if you decide to share them.
Have a lovely week! ~ XO
Hello, thank you for the lovely projects; I’m trying this today!
I found some transparencies made by Chartpak, called DAF8 for copiers, and it looks like I may be able to use it for some transfer work – but i’m not sure yet…going to see what it does, and I’ll get back to yousoon. It may not work with chalk paint – but then again, it might…
thanks again!
Linda, I’m super excited that you decided to try this project!
I hope you managed to use the transparencies mentioned (I’ve never heard of them before :) ), would love to hear your input on this type of transfer.
Hi Diana,
Oh my – these are so pretty! I had to go through and read your tutorial on the waterslide decals too!! Have not worked with waterslide decals before – but it looks easy enough. Thank you so much for this tutorial. Have a great weekend.
Catherine (newest follower of your blogging adventures!) :) :)
Diana, I am newly subscribed to your blog. Everything have seen love so much. Think I used up most of my ink printing out several of your wonderful posts.. Since it’s really late or should say early here in western CO, will have to come back later today to print out post about your French tray.
Want to thank you so much for your more than generous sharing of labels. etc.. for posts so I can make these projects. Will be watching for jars/bottles even more than usual from our trash which we usually recycle for glass and other certain items. Will be very busy old gal making things to pretty up our home.
Hope you have wonderful weekend. So glad you joined party on Shabby Chic’s “Create, Bake, and Grow”/.
Thank you so much for your wonderful ideas and the tutorial!