DIY Mason Jar Soap Dispenser *BONUS* DIY Foaming Hand Soap

Again, I'm apologizing for not posting sooner. I have a bucket full of excuses I could use... mainly that the sale of our current home and purchase of our next home totally fell apart, and we've been trying to rebound from that. Even more reason to make our existing bathroom look new!

Since I have more time on my hands now that it's summer and I have time to think about these things... I was looking at my soap dispenser the other day (yea, that's weird...) and noticed it was pretty boring. It was just your regular, run-of-the-mill store-bought soap dispenser. When I got married and bought my house I always envisioned that it would be one of those houses with neat things in it... like soap dispensers that are unique. Unfortunately, the vision in my head doesn't match the reality of my house (I decorate my family room with toy bins instead of elegant vases and in place of the picture collages of my travels, my walls are adorned with the faces of my little cherubs...). It's okay, I figured I can add a unique or elegant touch here and there.

THE PIN: Confession: I didn't actually find this on Pinterest, but it is on there now on my "DIY" Board. I find a lot of the projects I like on other blogs as well. When I saw this I was immediately intrigued when it said "Homemade". In my mind that generally translates to "cheap", as a lot of times the materials can be found for inexpensive at the local garage sale or hardware store. As was the case with this one, I already had many of the materials from other projects I'd undertaken. It looked easy enough and it was SO PRETTY (for a soap dispenser...) Plus, as a bonus and I already had mason jars. Perfect!

Picture from www.domesticallyblissful.com/

FOR THE SOAP DISPENSER:
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

The top half of a Foam Soap Dispenser (I dismembered my foaming dispenser from Bath and Body Works)
Mason Jar with Lid
Hammer
Small Nail
Super Glue (I used Gorilla Glue because it's what I had!)
Tin Snips (pliers used to cut through tin) 

Newspapers
Spray Paint

Mason jar - I have a gazillion (because I think that one day I might actually can my own food... one day). Hammer and nail - the hubby has to have one somewhere. Super glue - always have that. Tin snips (these are optional but very useful... see below for why these are good to have for this project). Newspapers - everyone has those. Spray paint - I even have some left over from an old project. Fantastic!

Once I had all the stuff, this was actually a lot easier than it looked. If you don't want to bother with cutting the tin on the lid, you may have to enlist the help of your significant other or friend who likes acting tough and cutting things apart (we all have one!). First I rinsed out the top of the foaming dispenser (it takes some time, because the water recycles back into foam, but after awhile it's just foamy water) and set that aside to dry.

The next thing I did was make the top for the dispenser. I took the lid off the jar and separated the screw-top ring from the tin disc. I took the flat, round part and made a hole in the center so the foaming dispenser would fit into it. The suggestion on the original blog didn't work for me, so I just poked the tube of the dispenser through a Post-It, and drew a circle around the part on the dispenser that would need to fit through the tin disc. Then I wrapped the post it around the tin disc so I could use it as a make-shift pattern to punch a hole in the tin disc. Hopefully my picture and explanation makes sense. If not... comment and I will clarify!

Pattern for the dispenser hole

Once I had the pattern on the tin disc, I made the hole for the dispenser by poking holes through it with a hammer and nail. You will want to make sure the holes are as close together as you can get them. Once I made it all the way around the circle pattern, I broke a piece out of the middle of the tin disc using the nails and hammer to help. Once I could get them into the hole, I used tin snips to finish cutting (it was a lot easier and I wasn't afraid I was going to cut off my finger with the jagged pieces of metal). Mine ended up looking something like this...

I will try to add a picture of the tin disc with the holes in it - wanted to get the post up!

I placed the dispenser on top of the tin disc and glued it on with the Gorilla glue, then left it to dry while I started painting the other stuff.

I will also try to add a picture of the tin disc after I attached the dispenser. See comment above. :)

I used newspaper so my lawn didn't look like the side of a railroad car. I just used spray paint (in colors I had used for other things... the best things in life are, indeed, free!). I love spray paint because it is so easy and it makes boring things look so much nicer (most of the time...). I made two of these, one for me and one for my sis for her newly remodeled kitchen. So I painted her jar blue (to match her new kitchen) and my jar green. I used tan for the screw on lid and dispenser. I liked the contrast. Play around with the colors that will work for your house. I planned to do about two coats on each item, but ended up doing three. You'll want to make sure you turn them at different angles to get the coverage you want. Three coats turned out to be the right amount.

Post-paint

To paint the dispenser part, I used an old Windex bottle filled with water (to weight it down), stuck the dispenser in, tube down, so that I could spray it and get an even coat. You can use whatever creative tricks you can come up with! I painted the dispenser the same color as the screw-top ring (again, three coats).

Painting the dispenser

After that I just had to let everything dry. I don't like waiting, so I needed something else to occupy my attention. Enter: Homemade Foaming Hand Soap.

FOR THE HOMEMADE FOAMING HAND SOAP
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Water
Regular hand soap

That's it! If you're like me, you go to the nice-smelling soap and lotion place and buy ten thousand soaps (because they're on sale!) and then they sit under your cabinet for God knows how long. Okay... maybe that's just me. You can transform any regular hand soap into foaming hand wash with just water? Why could I have not known this years ago?

This is so easy it's almost stupid. 1 part water, 1 part soap. Viola! Hand wash! Once you mix them, you'll have to shake them up a bit, but it really is that easy. Once I got done with that, I still had to wait for my stuff to dry. It's okay... I have three kids to keep me busy. I actually forgot about it until later that evening. But it turned out so cute! I wanted to wash my hands over and over (yes... I'm that weird).

My sister liked hers too (I think...). Here's hers!

Next up... one for my other sister. She just moved into a new house too. Oops... just ruined her housewarming present. :)

COST: $$ In terms of DIY projects, it's actually really cheap. If you already have a stockpile of mason jars (for that canning you're going to do... some day) and spray paint (because you have to buy a different color for Every. Single. Project.) then it costs almost nothing. If you did have to buy the materials, I still think it would cost you only about $10-$15, including the soap to put in it.

DO-ABILITY: It was pretty easy. If it's your first craft project, it's probably not the one you want to start with but it's definitely do-able. The hardest part was punching the holes in the tin lid and poking it through so that you have a space for your soap dispenser to go through. I was kind of leery that i was going to cut my hand on the sharp edges. Tin snips work very well for cutting the hole once you have an edge you can work them into. They make the edge a little neater and less sharp. Since almost anyone can spray paint stuff (channel your inner graffiti artist!) that part is super easy. Other than that, you glue stuff. I think they teach that in kindergarten. :)

THE SKINNY: This was actually kind of awesome. I loved it mostly because it was so cheap and easy (wait... that sounded kind of bad...). I had mason jars sitting around (somehow they pile up in our garage) and a few soap dispensers that I sacrificed for the foam-pump tops. I had nothing to buy for it, which made it really easy to throw together. Plus, as an added bonus, I got to "up-cycle", which I am getting more into these days. Why buy something new when you can make something just as good out of old stuff?

THE GOOD: Super easy, super cheap, and most of the materials should be lying around your house (or at least in a good thrift store somewhere). Even if you did have to buy all of it, it's still not going to break your budget. You'll still be able to spring for that Starbucks latte. Plus it fits in with the whole "rustic chic" style that's so popular. I'm so stylish!

THE BAD: Punching the holes through the tin is a little difficult and you're likely to cut your finger or hand. Again, using tin snips will help with this. It's also a little difficult to get the circle cut exactly in the center of the tin top. It didn't really bother me that much (the off-center top made it have character!) but if it does, you might want to have a couple extra tin discs. Also, measuring how big the hole should be is a little tricky, but there are definite tricks to help you get it right (like I did above, using a sticky note that had been dipped it water to make an outline of the approximate diameter. It doesn't have to be perfect because it will be covered up anyway.

PIN OR BUST?: Pin it! Again, it's not for the rookie crafter, but it is definitely someting almost anyone could handle once you get your feet wet. It's so easy, really inexpensive, and it will add a little "rustic chic" class to your kitchen or bathroom! So much better than the dispensers your soap comes in!

ANY LAST WORDS?: I definitely want to try this in different colors and with different sizes of bottles. I think it would be fun to make a matching lotion pump to go with my new soap dispensers. I'm also curoius to experiment with different types of soap (the antibacterial ones with the little flecks in them?) to see how they work making them into foaming soap. There are so many different types of jars you could use... go crazy with it! And let me know how it goes! 

Happy pinning!