Halloween Luminaries Craft

Like the cute Halloween luminaries above? Hint: they're super easy to make, so we'll let you in on our secret and tell you how to make them! To start off, here's what you'll need:

• Pumpkin Face decals from Beautiful Wall Decals. We have FOUR sets of them HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. Each listing contains four, so get as many faces as you plan on making luminaries!
• Acrylic paint in whatever colors you want to use
• As many glass Mason jars as you want luminaries
• As many tea lights as you're making luminaries
• A good-sized paintbrush for each color of paint you're using
• A can of glaze (You can typically find this in the spray paint section of your local crafts store.)
• A lighter to light your luminaries
• Newspaper to protect your work area from paint

I'm not a big holiday decorater. Everyone in my neighborhood has these beautifully done homes come Halloween or Christmas, but I can never seem to find the time (or money) to do something similar. I ran across this Halloween idea on a blog craftsbyamanda.com and I loved it! However, I am not a very good painter at all! Those cute faces would turn out sloppy and smudgy if I did them. I was so dissapointed.

Then it hit me…I wouldn't paint them on! After all, our family owns a decal business and they'd work great on glass jars! If you order them, it's not expensive at all. With our free shipping and easy installation, this craft is a snap to do! I think they turned out really beautifully, and I know you can do this too!

So how do you actually make them? Well, we have some really easy steps for you to follow:

• Step 1:Cover your work area with newspaper and lay out all of your supplies. Put on your paint clothes and cut your faces apart.  Figure out which jars you’d like to paint in which of your colors.
• Step 2: Paint your jars! Use vertical strokes with your paintbrush to spread the paint onto the jar, but not too thick! Only paint on one complete coat. The tea light won't be able to shine through if you paint on more. The paint will also run if it's thick and that doesn't look good.  You can also paint the lid part. We did!
• Step 3: Let your jars dry...completely! Trust us, this craft doesn't work if you don't let the jars dry. The decals won't stick and you'll smudge the paint. Be patient (and maybe wait overnight)!
• Step 4: Peel the backing paper off of your face decal and line it up on your jar where you want it to go. Press it on the glass really well and remove the tape. The face should stick on your jar all on its own if your paint's dry. Do this for all of your dry jars!
• Step 5: After all of your jars have faces on them, spray thin layers of glaze on your jars to seal the faces and your paint onto the glass.  Once again, you don’t want drips. I applied three coats of glaze, but it does chip easily, so you can put on more or less, depending on your preference.

Look at how they turned out! They're even cuter than I expected them to be! You could even put some type of handle on the lid of each jar to hang them. They might be even more adorable that way! Just remember to use a non-flammable material for the handle. Always supervise open flame!!!

Tips & Tricks:

• Use real paintbrushes, not foam brushes!
• When holding the jars and painting them, hold them on the inside. It doesn't smear your paint and it's way less messy. 
• Allow the paint to dry fully on the jars before applying decals to them. 

No matter how you decorate for the holidays, Beautiful Wall Decals always offers free shipping site-wide,  color samples, NEW custom designs, and a free practice design and installation tool are included with every order! Don’t forget that our friendly customer service staff are always available via e-mail to help you out with your trickiest decal problems!

Remember… your walls should make you smile! Have a Happy Halloween, everyone!