Have you been seeing these cute tissue holders made out of Mason jars lately? Let me show you how to make a DIY Mason Jar Tissue Holder.
Tools and materials needed for the mason jar tissue holder
- Mason style canning jar (quart size with regular mouth)
- Matte spray paint (color of choice)
- Cricut or other cutting machine
- Decal you’ll be using
- Vinyl (color of choice)
- Transfer tape
- Kleenex Perfect Fit Facial Tissues
- Felt (color of choice)
- Scissors
Pick jar
You will need a quart size canning jar for the tissues to fit correctly. I found my jar at a garage sale. If it’s not the right time of year for garage sales and you don’t have any lying around, you can find the jars at Wal-Mart or Amazon.
When picking your mason jar for this project, be sure to find a jar that is smooth on the outside. This will make it much easier when applying the decal. The jar I used had the word “Ball” on it along with the ridges all around it. I made it work, but it was tricky getting the decal to stick to the jar correctly.
Paint jar
I made a few attempts at painting the jar before I settled on one I was happy with.
1st attempt: I painted the inside of the jar with acrylic paint and a foam brush. The foam brush did not work well at trying to get all the nooks and crannies inside the jar. Scratch that idea!
2nd attempt: I painted the outside of the jar with same said paint and foam brush. The first coat went on ok. When I went to paint a second coat, the first coat messed up and got all gummy. Scratch that idea too!
3rd attempt: I scraped as much of the dried gummy paint off as I could and used spray paint to cover the outside of the jar. It took 4 sessions to get the jar looking good.
Cut decal
Measure the jar where you want the decal to go. This will help make sure the decal will fit once it’s cut. Below is the decal I used. If you want this saying; save the image to your computer and upload it to design space. You’ll need to size the decal to your preferences. For a quart sized jar, I measured the decal to be 3” wide and 3.25” tall.
Cut out the decal that you will be using with a Cricut or other cutting machine. Weed away the un-needed vinyl and discard. Apply the transfer tape to the decal and backing. Line up the decal with the grid lines on the tape itself to help that the saying will be straight. When you peel the transfer tape off; you want to pay attention to each letter to verify all of the decal comes off with the tape and that you don’t lose a letter. It helped me to turn the whole thing over and peel the backing away from the tape.
Apply decal
With the decal on the transfer tape and the sticky side down, hold the tape right above the jar. Position the jar where you want the decal to go. Let the tape slightly droop in the middle and move towards the jar. This will let the decal only touch in the middle and allow you to apply it from the middle outwards.
Use a scraper to smooth the vinyl down and adhere to the jar. Pay attention to the edges and around the ridges if your jar has any.
Slowly peel the transfer tape away from the jar, leaving the decal behind on the jar. After the tape has been removed, smooth out and press down on the decal again.
Remove tissues
I could only find the Kleenex Perfect Fit Facial Tissues at Target. (Link here) They come in a pack of 4; so if you like how one jar turns out, you can make three more as gifts. Or keep the other canisters as refills. Remove one canister from the package and remove the top ring. Squeeze the two outer edges of the tissues together and pull them out of the canister.
While the tissues are still being squeezed, slide them into the mason jar. Take note of the middle tissue and make sure it can be easily pulled out later. Set the jar aside.
Top of the jar
You have a few different options you can use for where the tissues come out of the top of the jar. You can use the original top piece from the canister. To do so, you will need to separate the cardboard piece from the plastic ring and only use the cardboard piece. I had separated the two; thinking I was going to use the cardboard piece, but ended up not using it. I chose to use felt instead.
Cut felt circle
Even if you don’t intend to use the original top piece, you will use the ring as a template to cut the felt. You can trace around the plastic ring if you prefer. I didn’t do this; I just held the cardboard piece and felt together and rough cut the felt into a circle.
Fold the felt circle in half. With the fold facing you, cut a slit 2/3 of the circle. Unfold the circle and fold it in half the other way. Cut a slit 2/3 of the circle again. Unfold the circle to reveal an “X”.
Attach top and ring
Bring back the jar with the tissues. The middle tissue that should be sticking out of the jar; push it through the “X” in the felt. Hold the tissue in one hand and push the felt circle onto the rim of the mason jar. Attach the metal ring onto the jar.
Now you have a DIY mason jar tissue holder. It is both complementary to your decor and functional for your needs.
