Have you ever walked through a store and have something catch your eye, but you just aren't exactly sure what you need it for?  It happens to me ALL.THE.TIME.  That may be why I have a garage and craft room filled with supplies that would be cool to do something with.. if I just knew what.

This "I love it, but I don't know what i'm going to do with it" impulse buy is exactly what happened to me and this month's dollar store design squad challenge.  I found these adorable mini cookie or candy jars and I knew I had to have them.  I wasn't sure what.. maybe I'd etch them or add some vinyl to the lids.. but I knew I'd do SOMETHING.

Well, it suddenly struck me when I was trying out different sized lids on the jars and realized the wide mouth mason jar lids would actually fit on the mouth of the jars!

I knew immediately what I could do with them.. Add cross stitch.   I've always known you can made cross stitched jar lids, but now I knew I could also use them on these mini candy jars!
So what exactly would I cross stitch for the top of these jars?  Why the American Poet Ogden Nash's quote "Candy is Dandy but Liquor is Quicker"

I actually learned of the quote from my grandpa, who used to say it when passing up M&M's my sister and I would offer him when we were kids.  (He was diabetic so this little quip was his tongue in cheek way of playing down his inability to eat candy!)

I have the pattern available in the shop. It is about 60 x 60 stitches so I made my version on 22 ct aida so it would fit (with room to spare) in the 3 inch jar lid.

To put the finished stitching on the lid, you first need to take the round cap out of the metal ring and make sure you design is centered. You could use some loose running stitches to hold it in place if you are worried about it sliding.
Next, I added a ring of glue around the upper lip of the lid ring.  this is to keep the lid itself from falling out.  Be careful not to use too much glue or it will smoosh out and show on your work. 
To trim the extra fabric I used a razor blade.

 You could trim it with a scissors as well, but a razor blade gives you a completely flush cut.

Now your lid is ready to use!  (Obviously you can't actually use it for canning, but it works great as a decorative lid.


Plus it also fits on wide mouth mason jars (which is a great idea for gifts.)
Not bad for a dollar store candy jar! Super cute, quick and easy.. plus a great excuse to whip out the cross stitch supplies!

Make sure you also check out the other projects in this month's dollar store design squad challenge.