Coffee Filter Jar Topper

If you want to give a jar of homemade jam, jelly or other home-canned treat as a gift, it can be a nice added touch to dress it up a little with a jar topper. Instead of sewing one, you can use a coffee filter to make a decorative topper with a delicate cutout pattern. They look quite pretty and delicate, but are actually very easy and inexpensive to make.

What you need

White paper coffee filters (the round kind, not the cone kind)
Pair of scissors with small sharp pointed blades
Utility or craft knife with a sharp blade
Decorative scrapbook punches (optional)
Paper punch (you can use different shaped punches if you have them)
Iron and ironing board
Cutting mat
Tea bag, boiling water, and a large cup (optional, only needed if you want to make a tea dyed topper)
Pencil
Enough ribbon to tie a bow around the jar
Gift tag or recipe card (optional)

Instructions

1.    Measure your coffee filter on the jar you wish to top. If there is too much overlap at the edges because of using a smaller jar, you can trim the coffee filter into a smaller circle before you begin.

2.    If you want to make a tea-dyed jar topper, soak the coffee filter briefly in a cup of hot tea. Remove, and blot with paper towels.

3.    Flatten the coffee filter on the ironing board and iron it flat with a warm iron. Spritz the filter lightly with water first if you need help getting the creases out. If you tea-dyed your filter in Step 1, you can dry it flat with the iron, making sure to protect the ironing board surface and the iron so that they don’t get stained by tea.

4.    Fold the filter circle in half. Then fold in half two more times, similar to what you would do if you were cutting out a paper snowflake.

5.    Your cut designs can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like. You can use a pencil to lightly sketch the areas you wish to cut or simply cut the designs freehanded. Use the scissors, utility or craft knife, and paper punches to create the designs.

6.    You can also unfold the filter paper and use scrapbook paper edge punches and other design punches to add further decorative cutout areas. Punches cannot usually go through more than one layer of paper, so it’s better to use these with the paper unfolded.

7.    When you are done cutting your design, lay the filter flat on a protected ironing board surface, and iron carefully to remove all the creases.

8.    After the filter has been ironed flat, place it on top of the jar you wish to decorate.  Tie it onto the jar with a piece of ribbon or cord, tying the loose ends into a decorative bow. You can also add a gift tag or recipe card to the ribbon before you tie it on the jar.

9.    Give your beautifully topped jar as a gift.

Creative home decor is what we are all about at Metal-Wall-Art.com and our staff writer, Alyssa Davis, is an expert in designing it with butterflies metal wall art and black metal wall decor.