I finally had some time to put together my second mason jar graduation party centerpiece for the upcoming graduation party. In this post I’ll share how I created it. My instructions will be for the centerpiece shown on the left below. Also, at the bottom of this post, you’ll find a YouTube video with instructions to make this centerpiece.
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Supplies Used:Supplies Used:
- tall mason jar. Use these for the two pom pom centerpiece
- spray paint (if painting the mason jar). I used this.
- kitty litter (unscented). Try this.
- dowel rods
- foam brush
- small acrylic paint jar (if you are going to paint the dowel rods)
- tulle for poms (each regular size spool makes about two 4 inch pom poms)
- some type of thin ribbon for the pom poms
- burlap ribbon for around the mason jar
- jute twine for around the mouth of the mason jar
- card stock – in the colors of your photo frames and graduation year
- tissue paper – for making tissue paper shred to cover the top of the centerpiece
- glue gun and glue sticks
- scissors (sharp scissors for the pom poms)
- Paper trimmer (to cut rectangular photo frames) or Cricut machine to cut shaped frames)
- 2019 cut out – I cut mine using my Cricut machine.
- Glue dots
Paint mason jars.P
If you’re making the graduation party centerpiece with 2 pom poms, this kind of mason jar is the best size to use. Use this kind of mason jar if you’re making the centerpiece with 3 pom poms because it gives you more room around the mouth of the jar and you’ll be able to get better angles with your dowel rods.
I used this Rust-oleum paint for my jars and followed the instructions on the jar to paint them.
Paint the dowel rods, if desired.P
The centerpiece on the left requires four dowel rods and the one on the right requires seven. You can use a foam brush and acrylic paint to paint your dowel rods. I just lay mine on wax paper to dry.
It’s fine to leave the inch where you’re holding the stick without paint. It will be in the jar (not visible) anyway. I typically only do one coat of paint.
Make tulle pom poms in desired colors.M
Making pom poms is really easy. First, you need to decide the size of your pom pom. For the centerpiece above, I made 4.5″ pom poms. I was able to get about two pom poms out of each spool of tulle.
You can take a couple of different approaches to create your pom poms.
The first way is to create a cardboard cut-out to use as your template. I have a different blog post where I explained this approach, so read through the post to learn more if you want to take that approach. You’ll also see in that post that I didn’t make the pom poms very full. More tulle (more wrap around the template/pom pom maker) make fuller pom poms.
The second way to make pom poms is by using a pom pom maker. I resisted this for far too long and finally bought one because I knew I was making a lot of pom poms at once and I wanted them to be a consistent size. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my pom pom maker! The best part is that the pom pom is fully fluffed for you when you do your cut. I wished I would have bought this a long time ago. Anyway, here is the size of pom pom maker that I used. I mistakenly originally bought a combo pack and the largest one in that pack was too small. See my YouTube video on making the pom pom using the pom pom maker below. Eventually, I’ll do a blog post on it as well.
Make pom pom sticks.M
Find the knot on your pom pom. If you don’t want the ribbon that you used to tie the pom pom to show, then cut off excess ribbon, making sure that you don’t cut too close to the knot.
Place a generous amount of glue on top of the knot.
Place the dowel rod on top of the knot and glue. Press the tulle around the stick and into the stick so that it is adhering around the stick. BE CAREFUL as the glue is hot.
Keep squeezing the tulle into the dowel rod all the way around the dowel rod. Let glue dry before putting pom poms into the centerpiece. I only waited about 15 minutes.
You’ll end up with sticks like those shown below.
Make photo frames.M
Decide the card stock colors that you will use to create photo frames. You’ll see above that I used 3 different colors. You can either cut rectangles for your photo frames or use a Cricut machine to cut a shape to your photo frame. I LOVE my Cricut machine and use it for so many things.
I glued the photo frames together with glue dots. Tape runners are definitely easier, but glue dots hold really well. When I’ve used tape runners before for projects like this, the weight is too much and the pieces fall apart. Using glue dots is kind of a pain, but worth it when I need the pieces to hold together.
Place a generous strip of hot glue in the center on the back of each photo frame/picture and press a dowel rod into the glue.
I ended up adding a fourth layer to my photo frames because I felt like the photo wasn’t popping on the gold glitter card stock (example photo on right). By adding, a 2.2″ x 3.2″ white card stock rectangle behind the photo (at left in photo below), the photo shows up so much better.
Make graduation year cutout.M
I used my Cricut to cut my 2019 graduation year cutout. However, you could simply print a graphic or image from the internet and cut it out to use around the neck of your mason jar.
Add kitty litter to the mason jar.A
The one downside is that it can be hard to dig holes for your dowel rods. For this reason, you don’t want to fill the jar all the way up when you start. I’d recommend filling it up about 3/4 of the way.
This is a great filler. First, it’s heavy. If your party is outside, you can worry less about the centerpieces blowing over. Second, it is CHEAP. Third, you get a much better fill in your container compared to Styrofoam. I feel like this makes the items in the graduation party centerpiece stay in its right place. Fourth, when you cover it up, it will look great.
Wrap ribbon around mason jar.W
Use a glue gun to glue the ribbon onto the mason jar.
Wrap jute twine around the mouth of the mason jar several times. Be sure to leave about 6-8″ at the end because you’ll need it to tie on the graduation year cutout.
Tie on the graduation year.T
Insert the pictures into the mason jar.I
Break the dowel rods as necessary so that the pictures are just above the mouth lid. I took about 4″ off each stick.
Place one in the jar facing the front.
And place the other on the opposite side, facing the opposite direction. Both sticks should be placed very close to the side.
Place the pom pom sticks in the centerpiece at angles.
Add kitty litter.
Now that all the sticks are place, fill up the jar with kitty litter, leaving a little bit of room for tissue paper shred at the very top.
Cut the tissue paper shred (or buy shredded tissue).
I make a lot of tissue paper shred for all kinds of projects. It is very easy to make and it is really inexpensive. If you’ve never made tissue paper shred, see my tissue paper shred blog post.
Watch this project by checking out my YouTube video.
Planning a graduation? See my other graduation posts below:
