If you've ever stared at a jar and thought I could do something with this, this video is exactly where to start. I walk through five handmade jar gifts — a sewing kit, a button jar, a bookbinder's kit, a scrapbooker's jar, and a "treasure soup" catchall — showing how to fill them, how to arrange the contents so they look genuinely gift-worthy, and how to decorate the lids so even a plain pasta jar becomes something beautiful. Then I share fifteen more gift-in-a-jar ideas to cover every occasion you might face this year.
What we cover
This is a roundup-style tutorial built around one central idea: turning everyday jars into thoughtful, handmade gifts by choosing the right contents and decorating them simply but deliberately. I show five jars in detail — including how to make a fabric pincushion lid, how to wrap twine cleanly around a lid, and how to assemble a paper rosette topper — then walk through a full idea list covering occasions from Christmas and birthdays to baby showers, retirements, and "just because."
What you'll learn
How to make a fabric pincushion lid for a sewing-themed jar, including:
- Tracing and cutting a cardstock circle (cereal box works perfectly) sized to fit the lid
- Layering polyfill stuffing over the cardboard, then wrapping fabric around and securing with hot glue or hand stitching
- Gluing the finished cushion directly onto the lid and wrapping decorative trim around the edge to hide any untidiness
- Adding pins on top to finish the look
How to wrap twine cleanly around a jar lid Apply double-sided tape to the lid first, wrap the twine snugly over it, and finish with a knot at the back. The tape holds everything in position; the knot stops it unravelling.
How to decorate a lid with a paper rosette and embellishments, including:
- Making a paper rosette (from my "Quick Inspiration – 5 Minute Project Ideas" tutorial) and hot-gluing it to the lid
- Adding a doily underneath for a layered, vintage look
- Using a pendant or charm on top of the rosette as a handle or focal point
How to use a vintage or crocheted doily to cover an unattractive lid Lay the doily flat over the lid and secure with hot glue, then add a trim or button on top to anchor it. A shank button works well here once you remove the shank so it sits flat — I just snip the shank off and hot-glue the button face-down.
How to arrange jar contents so they look deliberately gift-worthy, not just thrown in Face your best pieces toward the front — the scissors and measuring tape in the sewing jar, the most beautiful buttons in the button jar. Hide anything dull or visually busy at the back. This one habit makes the difference between a jar that looks like a gift and one that looks like a junk drawer.
How to wrap a toilet paper roll for a money-surprise jar Wrap the roll in decorative paper, then cut paper strips up to (but not through) the roll and fold them in. Making the strips slightly thicker means they stay flat without glue. Drop money inside the roll, place it in the centre of the jar, and fill the gaps with candy or buttons — so the recipient only sees the treat layer until they dig in.
Ideas for five complete themed jars, including:
- Sewing kit jar (elastic, gold thread, clear thread, small scissors, measuring tape, buttons, travel sewing packs)
- Button jar (layered by colour and style, finished with a doily lid and central button)
- Bookbinder's kit jar (glue brush, binding supplies, mini book charms, wrapped-twine lid)
- Scrapbooker's jar (stamps, ink pad, washi tape, stickers, sequins, photo corners, brads, chipboard pieces, mini journal, lace-wrapped peg, gold and silver thread)
- Treasure soup jar (a curated mix of craft scraps and small finds — chains, wooden embellishments, tags, die cuts, pegs, washi, tiny scissors — anything too beautiful to throw away)
A full idea list for gift jars across every occasion, including:
- Jewellery maker's kit (eye pins, elastics, pendants, beads, pliers, wire)
- Scented sachet jar (essential oils, rice, small sewn bags or cotton balls in tulle)
- Embroidery kit jar
- Paper dyeing kit jar (tea bags, coffee, and a little handwritten scroll of instructions)
- Toilet roll junk journal jar (a full mini journal hidden inside a wrapped roll — I have a dedicated tutorial linked in the description)
- Pamper jar (lotion, soap, bath bombs, nail polish, lip balm)
- Self-care or wellbeing jar (personalised to the recipient — migraine kit, pregnancy kit, etc.)
- Mini perfume jar, mini liquor jar, or mini essential oils jar
- Artist jar (rolled canvas, paint markers, watercolours, soft pastels, charcoal — scaled to jar size)
- Doggy treat jar
Tips & gotchas
Remove every sticker and label from the jar before you do anything else. Dried-on label residue will show through decorations and the jar will never look clean.
When filling the jar, do a quick mental edit of what you want visible from the front. Put your most interesting or thematic pieces facing outward — the sewing scissors, the gold thread, the prettiest buttons — and tuck anything dull or bulky at the back. It takes two minutes and it's the single biggest difference between a jar that looks thrown together and one that looks considered.
Hot glue is the right tool for attaching embellishments to metal lids. Regular craft glue often won't bond properly to metal and the decoration will lift. If you're using a different adhesive, make sure the label says it bonds to metal.
When making the pincushion, cut your fabric circle generously — you'll need enough to wrap under the base cleanly. And size the whole pincushion to fit within the lid edge, not slightly over it. A pincushion that spills past the rim looks messy and won't sit properly.
If your pincushion comes out very flat once it's closed up, it just needs more stuffing. Open it back up, add more polyfill or rag scraps, and close again.
For shank buttons used as lid toppers, remove the shank entirely before gluing. A shank button won't sit flat, so the embellishment rocks and the glue bond is weak. Snip the shank off and you have a perfectly flat surface that hot-glues cleanly.
When wrapping paper strips around a toilet paper roll for the money surprise jar, make the strips a little thicker than you think you need. Thicker strips fold over and stay flat on their own — you won't need to glue or tape them down.
The toilet roll journal idea pairs especially well with the scroll tutorial (also linked in the description) if you want to tuck a note or a "reasons I love you" scroll in alongside the journal. And for the lid toppers, the paper rosette tutorial is worth bookmarking separately — those rosettes work on tags, cards, and journal covers just as well as they do here.
