Today we’re excited to share a guest blog post from the lovely Mel of Melanie Rose Makes blog. Mel is currently working on her amazing homemade home and we’re so thrilled to be a part of it! Read on to hear all about her latest DIY make, and discover how to make your own preserving jar soap dispenser from Crafting with Mason Jars and other Glass Containers by Hester van Overbeek. Without further ado, over to you…
I'm Mel, and I'm a craftoholic! I started blogging earlier this year as a way of sharing my creative ideas – but I have been passionate about crafts since I was a child. I specialise in cake decorating (check out @melanierosebakes on Instagram and Facebook), pyrography and general DIY projects. I live in Essex with my partner Matt and I fit my crafting around my full-time job as Chief Sub Editor of Love Sunday magazine, a national newspaper supplement.
How to make a soap dispenser from a preserving jar
In the last few weeks I've been on a crafting mission. I'm about to move into a new house with my boyfriend Matt – our first home together – and I want to include as many homemade things in it as I can. So I've been making candles, wood-burning EVERYTHING, and spray painting picture frames. Not only is it cheaper than buying everything new or ready-made, but these items will give our home a lovely personal touch.
One of the things I made – and LOVE – is this soap dispenser, inspired by a make from a gorgeous book by Hester Van Overbeek called Crafting With Mason Jars (published by CICO Books, £12.99). It has more than 35 great ideas on what you can do with the humble preserving jar, from presenting homemade gifts and flowers to using them as candle holders and light shades.
The soap dispenser caught my eye because it was really simple to make (if you know how to use a drill!), and I thought it would fit in perfectly with my future country-style kitchen – think creams and coppers. As I'm not in the house yet, I've taken a picture in a fancy bathroom – but hopefully you get the idea!
You will need:
A Ball jar (or other jar)
A bottle of handwash
A drill and wire cutters
Super glue
Scissors
Optional: spray paint
Start by unscrewing the pump from your hand wash and giving the pump a good wash to get rid of any soap.
Use a drill to make a hole in the top of the Ball jar – it need to be big enough to fit the top of the pump in, around 1.5cm across for standard pumps. If you don't have a drill bit big enough, use a smaller one to make little holes and use metal cutters to join them up. I have a confession to make – I am no good with a drill, so Matt helped me out with this bit. Once done, make sure your pump fits snuggly into the lid.
You can leave the lid silver (or whatever colour it comes) or you can spray paint it to match your interiors. I decided to use my FAVE copper spray paint (I used Rust-Oleum Bright Copper – Metallic, Spray Paint, £9.49 for 400ml, Homebase) to go with my copper and cream style kitchen. Make sure all surfaces are covered, then spray a couple of light coats of paint and leave it to dry.
Once dry, attach your pump to the lid (use superglue if you like, but mine didn't need it). You may need to snip off the end of the pump tube if it is too long to fit in your jar.
Fill your jar with the soap from the handwash bottle, and screw on the lid. Then it's ready to use. So simple!
Thank you so much to Mel for writing this guest blog post - you can see more of her DIY home developments and lots of great craft ideas on her blog.
This mason jar soap dispenser project was taken from Crafting with Mason Jars and other Glass Containers by Hester van Overbeek.