• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Pillar Box Blue

  • Home
  • Denim
  • Maps
  • Valentines
  • Crafts
    • Sweaters
    • Marimekko Crafts and DIY’s
    • Seasonal
  • DIY/Upcycling
    • All Upcycling
    • Ikea Hacks
    • Tin Cans
    • Round Ups
  • Christmas
  • About Me
    • What Is Upcycling What You Need To Know
    • Press & Working With Me
    • Link Ups
    • Privacy Policy
    • DISCLOSURE
    • Contact Me
You are here: Home / Crafts / How To Make Postage Stamp Decoupage Jar Tea Lights

How To Make Postage Stamp Decoupage Jar Tea Lights

4th June 2020 by Claire Armstrong 10 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
Rainbow postage stamp decoupage
Upcycled yogurt jars

With more time on my hands during the lockdown, I decided to tackle my craft cupboard. I came across a stash of used postage stamps and thought they would be fun to craft with. That’s how I came to make these decoupage jar candle holders.

Also amongst all my crafting bits and pieces, I found the perfect glass jars for this postage stamp craft. My husband doesn’t drink or smoke but instead has an expensive yogurt habit.

He buys fancy little yogurts, that come in these cute glass jars. They always seem a bit of a waste to me. I know the glass can be recycled but I kept a few aside to upcycle.

Postage Stamp Decoupage Jar Luminary

Rainbow Postage Stamp Decoupage Craft

I’ve always been fascinated with stamps. This is due to my love of travel and the fact that I have lived in more than one country. I collected stamps as a child. All the different countries and the pictures on the stamps fascinated me.

You have to remember this is in the days before the internet and very limited TV, as I was living in Hong Kong. I used to spend many an evening arranging my stamp collection. Not by country but by the pictures on the front.

So I’d have pages of stamps with birds and flowers on them or pictures of cars and sports. I thought that I could perhaps go with that theme with these postage stamp decoupage jars. Like I did with my postage stamp gift tags.

However, after an evening playing around with the stamps I decided to sort them by colour. I love crafting a rainbow and I thought a rainbow of postage stamp decoupage jar candles would look great on my mantle.

The rainbow stamps would look really good with the rainbow repurposed planters I made. I’m really pleased with how they turned out. I love how colours of the stamps glow with a tea light inside.

I have also made a rainbow of repurposed cardboard Christmas decorations using postage stamps.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

What You Need

  • An assortment of used international postage stamps. They are readily available to buy in cheap bundles on-line.
  • Small glass jars with a neck wide enough for a tealight. I used fancy yogurt jars, but you can get cute small mason jars or jam jars that will work just as well.
mini glass yogurt jars
  • Mod Podge or other decoupage glue
  • Foam craft brush
  • Remote-controlled electronic tea lights. I first discovered these when I made map luminary bags. They make life so much easier when it comes to switching on and off multiple tea lights at once.
Remote control tea lights

How To Make Postage Stamp Luminaries

1.. First, wash and clean the glass jars, make sure to remove any sticky residues from the labels. Make sure you check that the neck is wide enough for the tea lights.

Tea light in the jar

2. Next, decide on what stamps you are going to use. I sorted my stamps into piles of similar colours. I roughly followed the colours of the rainbow of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet/indigo.

If you make these as a gift you can personalize them by sorting the stamps into themes. Perhaps, you could sort them into countries or even nature or sporting themes.

Mixed postage stamps
Postage stamps craft colour sort

3. Next, put some glue into a bowl and dilute it slightly with water. I find that when decoupaging on a curved surface a runnier glue wets the paper more and makes it easier to bend.

Cover the jar in decoupage glue and then the back of the stamps. A foam brush works best when applying the glue to paper. Use more of a dabbing motion than a brush motion.

Stick the stamps to the jar one by one. To ensure the whole of the jar is covered there will be some overlap with the stamps.

With this postage stamp craft I left the rim of the decoupage jars clear.

Decoupage postage stamps
applying the glue
Postage stamp decoupage jar

3. When the whole of the jar has been decoupaged with postage stamps, cover it in another layer of glue. When this dries clear it will act as a protective varnish on the jar candle lights.

Applying top coat varnish

4. Repeat this postage stamp craft with the other coloured stamps, until all the jars are covered.

A rainbow of postage stamp decoupage jars

5. All that is left to do is to add the tea lights to the decoupage candle jars. You can either use real candles, or convenient remote controlled electronic ones.

Rainbow decoupage candles
Postage stamp rainbow yogurt jar luminaries

I’ve used my upcycled yogurt jars as candle holders. However, these postage stamp decoupage jars would also make fun planters for succulents.

A large mason jar decoupaged with postage stamps would make a fun themed pen holder for a study. It could even be turned into a piggy bank like the map mason jar banks I made.

If you liked this post check out the map decoupage glass tray I made. Or the decoupaged IKEA cake stand.

We carry on eating yogurt in these cute jars. I’ve upcycled the latest batch into some very cute and colorful Chinese paper Lantern tea light jars.

You can find more upcycled jar crafts here. These yogurt jars were featured in the A to Z of clever upcycling ideas.

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY Upcycling Tagged With: candle holder, decoupage, jar, luminary, mason jar, postage stamp, postage stamps, rainbow, stamp, tea light, tea lights

Previous Post: « How To Make Cool Marimekko Plastic Bottle Planters
Next Post: The Best Feather Crafts And DIYs For Your Home »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michelle Leslie

    13th June 2020 at 7:56 am

    Wow Claire, that’s quite the collection of postage stamps you have and what a wonderful way to put them on display. Love how the lit candles seem to pick up on the small details in the stamps. It’s so pretty

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      13th June 2020 at 6:28 pm

      Thank you, Michelle. I still have a ton of stamps so looking for more ideas.

      Reply
  2. LISA

    13th June 2020 at 3:17 am

    These are so sweet ! They make me smile. I love the colors 🙂
    xo Lisa S

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      13th June 2020 at 6:54 am

      Thank you Lisa, I do like a rainbow because it is so cheery.

      Reply
  3. Pam

    11th June 2020 at 1:12 pm

    These are really cute. I have a bunch of stamps that I have mainly used for paper crafting, but now you have given me a brand new idea! I’ve featured this today at the TFT link party!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      11th June 2020 at 2:17 pm

      Thank you so much, glad to have inspired you to craft.

      Reply
  4. creativejewishmom/sara

    11th June 2020 at 9:33 am

    Love it Claire! thanks so much for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      11th June 2020 at 2:17 pm

      Thank you so much Sara.

      Reply
  5. Donna @ Modern on Monticello

    9th June 2020 at 3:52 pm

    Very unique and pretty project. I love that you upcycled some jars to make these and added a great vintage look with the stamps. Thanks so much for sharing. #HomeMattersParty

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      9th June 2020 at 4:26 pm

      Thank you so much Donna, I love to use materials that I have to hand when crafting rather than visiting the craft store.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Follow Me

Subscribe to newsletter

Search This Website

Denim feather wall decor

How To Make Denim Feather Wall Decor

Tiled square Boho Moroccan planters

Make Beautiful Moroccan Planters In Under 10 Minutes

9 unique blue jean rug DIY's

How To Make A Blue Jean Rug, 12 Unique Ways

Free printable maps

Wonderful Free Printable Vintage Maps To Download

DIY No Sew Denim Rug

How To Make A Cool Denim Rug Without Sewing

Copyright © 2021 Pillar Box Blue on the Foodie Pro Theme