I can not be more pleased with the out­come behind this sim­ple Memo­r­i­al Day lumi­nary. Not only is it upcy­cled but I was able to use a crack­le prod­uct by Valspar that I had been excit­ed to try!. Grab your­self an old jar and a can­dle and come make one of these beau­ti­ful lumi­nar­ies for your­self or in remem­brance of one of the brave men and women that gave their all serv­ing our beau­ti­ful country.

You can see some of my favorite patri­ot­ic and Memo­r­i­al Day DIYs here!

Supplies for the Memorial Day Luminary

• Old mid sized jar…I’m using a pick­le jar from my craft stash
• Chalk Paint by Waver­ly, I am using plas­ter and ink
• Valspar Crack­le Varnish
• Wire
• Patri­ot­ic Napkins
• Hot Glue
• Rib­bon and embell­ish­ments of choice

I began this Memo­r­i­al Day Lumi­nary by chalk paint­ing an old pick­le jar, any mason jar will do. I used the col­or Ink by Waverly.

Next comes the mag­ic of the crack­le glaze! The key is to apply it between coats of paint, Once your first lay­er of paint is dry, apply a thin coat of crack­le and apply your sec­ond coat imme­di­ate­ly after.

As your sec­ond coat of paint begins to dry, the crack­le tex­ture will begin to appear! My plan was for the can­dle light to shine through the cracked areas…ps I was sooo tick­led to see the cracks appear. Deep down I knew my plan was going to work! Just wait til you see it.

For a lit­tle extra added touch to this Memo­r­i­al Day lumi­nary, I used patri­ot­ic nap­kins from a super fun nap­kin club by Miss Tra­cy Cre­ates and mod podged them around the cen­ter of the jar. 

For this par­tic­u­lar jar I cut on nap­kin in half to be able to reach around the out­side of the jar.

I embell­ished the lumi­nary with rib­bon, raf­fia and a wood bead! This is the part where you can real­ly let your cre­ativ­i­ty shine! Of course you can always skip these steps for a min­i­mal look. 

For lit­tle extra added touch, grab some cop­per jew­el­ry wire and wrap around the mouth of the jar as a handle.

Look at those beau­ti­ful cracks in the paint! This is exact­ly what I had in mid for this Memo­r­i­al Day Lumi­nary. Sim­ply place a small votive can­dle in the bot­tom of your jar and viola!