I was about to throw out some empty spice jars when I noticed the embossed glass along the edge and it stopped me in my tracks! It was one of those "Uh huh" moments!

I love to upcycle old pickle and food jars into home decor (check out my Vintage style bottles with faux rusted lids and this primitive style faux blackened beeswax jar), so repurposing glass spice jars as vases was almost a no brainer - except for the fact that I hadn't ever thought about it before now! Maybe you have never thought to reuse glass spice jars as vases, but I'll bet you'll be excited to now!

I've got a few tips and ideas I think you'll love, so keep reading!

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• glass spice jars, vintage or used from your spice cabinet
• Goo Gone or read on for my favorite natural way to remove label residue
• hot soapy water

See the pretty embossed edge on the bottle of Rosemary leaves below? These empty spice bottles were the perfect size for a grouping of mini tabletop vases! I also used an empty vintage spice bottle that I thrifted years ago and reused in my craft room. Click here to see how I repurposed a vintage spice rack and jars for craft storage.

Hot Tip: Look through your spice cabinet and remove any bottles of expired spices and extracts. Save all the glass jars to repurpose as mini vases! Don't throw out the tops or the plastic shaker tops, see how I used them below!

Removing label adhesive the natural way 

After emptying all the leftover bits of expired spices from the jars, I washed them in hot, soapy water and remove the labels. My favorite tip for removing paper labels and adhesive was shared by a reader years ago. Here is how to do it:

1. Run spice jars under warm water and peel off any paper that loosens.
2. Use a scrubber (or even your nail) to remove as much of the paper as possible.
3. Make a paste of olive oil and baking soda (it should be the consistency of toothpaste). 
4. Rub the paste over the stubborn adhesive in small circular motions. The olive oil helps to loosen the adhesive, and the abrasiveness of the baking soda will remove the rest!
5. Finish up with another wash in soapy water and set aside to dry.

If any of the spice jars you're reusing have the plastic shaker tops, save those and give them a wash along with the jars.

Using the shaker tops with the spice jar vases is a great way to position flowers! Similar to a flower frog, the small holes will keep the stems contained where you place them!

Save yourself more money and create floral vignettes using items from your own yard! I snipped some sage stems that had recently flowered, along with some greenery from our yard. Even a single rose or spring peony would be beautiful displayed this way!

If you don't have any flowers in your yard, check along the road and empty lots for wildflowers. Even flowering weeds look pretty when placed in a vase!

Bring your flowers and greenery into the house and rinse them lightly with water to remove any bugs. Trim ends of stems and remove any leaves that will be sitting in water. Fill spice jars 3/4 of the way with fresh, cool water and place stems.

To create a centerpiece, add spice jars to a pedestal or pretty plate (I used this scalloped metal stand from Michaels) and squeeze them together.

In just a few minutes, you can have a beautiful centerpiece! I love that these spice jar vases can serve you all season long in so many ways! Read on for more creative ways to use these reinvented spice jars.

• use them to hold seasonal paper straws at your next party
• keep one on your coffee bar to corral coffee stirrers
• save the lids and use glass spice jars to hold small craft and household items (like buttons, small nails, paperclips, etc)
• create cute and colorful party decor (cupcake sprinkles, small gummies, etc)
• fill jars with dehydrated marshmallows, chocolate chips and toffee bits for a fun hot chocolate station
• use them to hold your homegrown, dried spices!

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