In praise of the canning jar..............

[enjoy the ride]

I have a food saver machine that is normally used for vacuum packing plastic bags but they do make attachements for putting over the mouth of the jar. You just put a canning lid on and put the attachment over the lid and the machine sucks the air out. I have one for the wide mouth and one for the regular. I've used it for about 20 years. The vacuum holds the lid on without the bands.
I re-use the lids and of course the jars- I always hated spending money on those plastic bags- this is much cheaper.

 

[the simple life]

I make the cookie, brownie , bean soup gifts out of them.
You know the ones where you layer all the ingredients in the jars so they look nice and then you attach the recipe/directions to it.
They look pretty and people love them.
We store all of our different size nails in them in the work cabinet, can see exactly which size they are and everything is organized.
I use the ones with the old metal screw on lids that you can't really find anymore. I think these were from the 1930s.
I use mine as vases and I store my homemade laundry detergent in them. I keep the main supply of detergent in a big container but I use the mason jars as the one on top of the washer and refill as needed.

 

[sweetcorn]

I have some I use for potpouri . Fill the jar with a small chain of craft christmas lights / 15 - 20 light set with potpouri placed around them. Cover top of far with a small crochet doily , screw on ring ( loosely because of the wiring) and tie with a ribbon around ring . Plug in ! The lights warm the potpouri and increase the aroma plus look cute. Have also given these as gifts.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Creative Sweetcorn. I can just see it. You post made me think-
I have never done this but I wonder if I took plastic screening and screwed the band over it, I could use it a flour or cocoa shaker?

Or make a little jam jar into a pin cushion - like glue a piece of cute cloth on the top of a lid with somestuffing under it- so the top becomes a pin cushion and the jar can hold the pins?