Make Your Own Mason Jar Dispenser

You might have seen one or two (or three, or more) of these before...especially if you are on Pinterest! It seems to be a VERY popular D.I.Y project!

Just look at all the different canning jar dispensers I found through a quick Pinterest search! And this is only SOME of them!





It's easy to see though, how this could be so popular. It's simple, it's functional and it's got that whole "farmhouse chic" thing going for it!

Oh...and I forgot...it's made out of a MASON JAR! Mason jars have got to be one of THE most popular items to make stuff out of that ever was!



I could make a LONG list of things you can make with them...but that's been done over and over as well...so I will spare you. I guess what I am GETTING to, is that DESPITE the many, many times this craft has been done...that didn't stop me from wanting to make one of my own! I think initially I just wanted to prove to myself that I COULD do it (I'm not all that gifted in the crafting department.) But it's hard to dispute how gosh darn cute these little dispensers are, and in the end I just wanted a cute little mason jar dispenser by my sink.

I have to thank Julia at Blissfully Content for her tutorial...which was one of the easiest to follow I've seen. I just love a blogger who writes things like, "Don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfect!"  :-)

There's not a whole lot to assemble for this. A canning jar and lid (duh), a pump dispenser (I took mine from an old bottle of hand sanitizer), some glue and a couple of sharp, pointed instruments for getting a hole started.

For some reason I don't have a picture of it, but what I did to get the hole started in my lid was use an Exacto knife. I was very careful and only applied as much pressure as needed to make a tiny hole. Then I worked on making it bigger with a screwdriver and then with these cutters.

You are going to keep widening the hole you've made until it is just big enough to fit the pump in.
It doesn't need to be perfectly round...but it should be on the snug side so the pump will stay put. Just keep widening a little at a time until you get the right fit.

When it is the right size...take the "wrong" end of the screwdriver and lightly hammer down the pieces of metal that are sticking up so there are no sharp edges.

Now, if  you have one of those really old, antique jars with the lid that is all one piece, you can skip this part. But if you just have your standard canning jar with a two-piece lid...you'll need to glue them together. I just put some E6000 all along the inside of the rim of the band (please ignore the Band-Aid, I completely forgot I had it on! ugh).......

...then pressed the sealing lid inside. I allowed that to dry for a little while before I put the pump through the hole.

Now all that's left to do is put some glue around the base of the hole to form a nice seal...and you are done! Finito! You, my friend, have just made your own mason jar soap dispenser!  Pretty cool huh?

I have to say I was pretty stoked about how mine turned out.  Almost as good at the "real" ones on Pinterest. :-)   Oh wait....now mine IS one of the real ones. SWEET. 


It's hard to improve on a classic.... is today's.....