I love this time of year. The patriotic holidays are near, and it’s the perfect time to craft in red, white, and blue. I was planning to make citronella candles for the summer, so I decided to combine my patriotic craft urge and candle making into one project. DIY Mason Jar Citronella Candles can be made quickly. There’s plenty of time to have them ready in time for the upcoming Memorial Day and July 4 cookouts. Don’t let the mosquitoes ruin your summer fun!
You should know that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and buy the product or service, I will receive a very small commission of the sales price at no extra cost to you.
Here’s how to make DIY Mason Jar Citronella Candles. Start by making the citronella candles, then paint the cooled jars. Finish the vintage look of these jars by securing wide mouth Mason Jar holders to the neck of each jar. Add lids and rings, if you want (I do until I’m ready to use the candles). I like the Martha Stewart Crafts Vintage Decor paint line. The paint leaves a unique chalk finish with a vintage Americana look—one of my favorite DIY finishes. The 2 pounds of flaked soy wax will make 3 Mason Jar (16-ounce) citronella candles. DIY Mason Jar Citronella Candles can be made in one day.
Tutorial: DIY Mason Jar Citronella Candles
MATERIALS
- 2 pounds flaked soy wax
- candle making pitcher
- 3 wide mouth mason jars, 16 ounce
- citronella oil
- 6-inch pre-waxed candle wicks, 3
- glue gun
- Martha Stewart Crafts Vintage Decor Paint, Linen
- Martha Stewart Crafts Vintage Decor Paint, Red Wagon
- Martha Stewart Crafts Vintage Decor Paint, Sailor Blue
- Clear acrylic sealer, matte
- paint brush
- 100 grain sand paper
- 3 wide mouth wire handles
- paint sticks
INSTRUCTIONS
- Position the wicks in the center of each Mason Jar and glue into place.
- Add wax to metal pitcher and heat on low heat until melted or place pitcher in a pot of boiling water. Fill a pot large enough to hold pitcher with a couple of inches of water and bring to a boil. Remove pot from heat and place pitcher in pot. Stir wax to make sure that no clumps remain in the bottom of the pitcher.
- While the wax is melting, preheat jars in a 170 degree oven for about 5 minutes. The jars need to be hot before filling with hot wax. Please not that if you leave the jars in the oven for longer than 5 or 10 minutes, the glue holding the wicks in place will melt and the wicks will slide around.
- Add a few drops of citronella oil to each jar then fill the jar with wax leaving about 1/2 inch of wick showing. Let jars cool completely. The wax will become firm over several hours.
- When candles are set, paint 1 jar each red, white, and blue. Let paint dry and add second coat. When paint is dry, coat with sealer.
- Rub sandpaper over raised lettering and other raised designs. Rub sandpaper around each rim.
- Secure wide mouth jar handles around the neck of each finished jar.
Great tutorial on how to make these very patriot candles. I love anything red, white and blue.
Those Jars look great. Great for out door party too. I am so excited too make some. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
http://www.hugshomemade.com
Love mason jars and love citronella, so these are perfect! I used to make my own candles all the time, but haven’t done it in years! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
What a great way to use all the mason jars that I have. I need to get some paint.
What a great and useful project
Really cute, just in time for Memorial day!
This is a cute idea. We have so many mason jars left over from my wedding, this would be grat for my family to do!
These look awesome, so creative. I’m such a candle head and I’ve always wanted to make my own. I’ll be bookmarking this.
Thanks for sharing this awesome DIY! I can’t wait to make this patriotic and summery candles!
xo Mariam | The Petite Bijou
i love that they are red white & blue! the candles are so perfect for a memorial day, 4th of july, or Olympics party! thanks for sharing a great diy.
Great tutorial! We have a new patio that can use some holiday decor. Love his idea for keeping away mosquitos! Need to pin this!
These are perfect! I’ll have to give it a try!
These are so pretty! I LOVE mason jars but have never done anything like this with them. Such a great idea!
These are so cute!! They will look great outside.
These are a nice, festive addition to outdoor decorating! The citronella would be perfect for our backyard – we get so many mosquitos!
Oh my gosh, how cute are these!? Thank you, I am going to work on making these for Memorial Day and July 4th!
Sharing these on one of my pages!! Here: Facebook.com/DIYcreativityglobal
I love this idea! In NC we need to fight off mosquitoes, but these are so much cuter than the store bought versions! I can’t wait to try it.
These are so great! I really love the look of these. They would look awesome out on my deck. I’m going to have to try these! Thanks for sharing.
What a great idea and perfect for all of the outdoor get togethers this weekend!
love it very much needed in the summer time and festive as well now that looks awesome
I love the detailing of the sandpaper. Great idea.
Looks easy to do thank you for the tips🤗
I love these, you did such a wonderful job on these jars. Thank you for sharing!
Mosquitos eat me alive, so I love to find any way to fight them off. These turned out great! Pinned!
Love the idea of candles in the mason jars. So many great things to do with these jars
What a wonderful DIY project fro the holiday. I love how fun this is.
I am definitely going to have to make some of these! Thank you!
I’m obsessed with mason jars right now! I love this idea for the holiday weekend! On a side note, how do you like the brunch pro theme? Im thinking about changing over to foodie pro but not sure how it will work:)
Such a fun and simple project! Can’t wait to try something similar and love that you could do mason jar candles in different colors for a variety of occasions. 🙂
I love collecting jars! And what a creative idea to make it as candle holders with those colors perfect fo the holiday! 😉
These are adorable! They are so cute, plus they keep the mosquitos away. Perfect!
Love these! I cannot wait to try this project out!
These are such a cute and practical idea!! Pinning!
Perfect colors for tomorrow and for 4th of July too. These turned out nice.
Those are such a great idea. I love it! I love all the ways you can use mason jars. They’re so festive too.
This is so perfect for memorial day!
These are great! What a chic and inexpensive way to decorate!
Those are such a great idea! I’m going to make some for this summer.
This is such a fun project! Great for the weekend!
These red, white and blue Mason jars are lovely! Just in time for mosquito season.
Super cute mason jars!! It always amazes me how many different purposes and looks can be achieved with them! Fabulous DIY, it gets featured tonight at our DIY Crush Craft party! Come see it!!
Oh I love these! They look so cute!
I’d love for you to share it with my Recipe and Crafts Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Beautiful and lovely color of jars, I bought citronella candles from store. After seeing your diy I can make it my self, Thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop. pinning and tweeting.
Yes, the candles were easy to make and didn’t take long at all.
Ah these are absolutely ADORABLE! I’ve been wanting some natural ways at preventing those pesky mosquitos-which have already been awful in our yard this year. Definitely going to be attempting this cute craft (: Thanks for sharing
I’ve always wanted to learn how to make candles. This looks like a fun project to try. I do love the finish the Martha Stewart paint leaves on the jars.
Thanks for sharing this post at the Pin Me Linky Party at Diana Rambles. It is being featured today at part of a 4th of July food & craft collection. It’s also been pinned and tweeted. Have a great weekend! ~Diana
So pretty! I love that shade of blue and red. Your jars look really good!