Easter is upon us!

Springtime is a glorious time of year, filled with rambunctious hope. An auspicious season to emerge from our third national lockdown. So much around us is waking up and blossoming back to radiant life. Schools have already reopened, we can meet outside for coffees in pairs and soon we will be able to congregate around a picnic blanket and soak up some springtime sunshine.

Springtime is the perfect time of year to create, craft and contribute. We’ve gathered craft ideas and thrown in a super simple jam recipe to help you gift gorgeous Easter creations. Homemade gifts are a fantastic tonic for our wellbeing and mental health. Not to mention being the lucky recipient of an unexpected gift arriving on the doorstep!

Adorable Easter cupcakes for jam jars

These delicious treats are brilliant gifts. They also help absorb your glut of glass jars and make a great supervised project for little helping hands. Bake your favourite cupcake recipe. Instead of using traditional cupcake cases, you will bake the cupcake mix inside glass jars. For something eye catching and different, consider using your collection of hexagonal jars. The glass helps lock in all that lovely cakey moisture, and form the perfect backdrop for some easy Easter decorations.

After your jam jar cupcakes have baked and cooled, it’s time to decorate. Homemade or shop sourced icing, followed by your choice of sprinkles, chocolate bunnies, mini eggs or pom pom chicks.

Easter hunt baskets from jam jars

The ultimate Easter egg hunt accessory. Upcycle glass jars and create your own Easter egg hunt baskets. You’ll need some 'Easter grass' (readily available from trusted online emporiums) to line the bottom of your stylish Easter egg jam jar basket.

Fashion your Easter egg basket handle using some craft wire. Wrap the wire around the neck of the glass jar. Add the Easter egg basket handle as a separate piece of wire, secured to the neckband wire piece. Thread ribbon around the wire handle, the neckband or both.

Sprinkle mini eggs at the bottom of your glass basket, or fill the jar with eggs, depending on recipient’s access to Easter egg hunt facilities.

Clever Calla Lily centrepieces using jam jars

For an effortlessly elegant Easter gift, repurpose your glass jars to welcome the first flowering of summertime calla lilies. Spring is the perfect season to plant delicate summertime blooms, and calla lilies are a fantastic gift.

All you have to do is place some pebbles at the base of your jar, so the bulb itself is elevated and adequately drained. Experts recommend a soil based compost for lilies, if you are keen to use one. Ensure compost is damp rather than wet. If you are keen to feed your bulbs, lilies like liquid fertilisers with a high potassium content.

It's good practice to keep your bulbs away from radiators, however if you are keen to encourage the bulbs to bloom, their ideal flowering temperature ranges between 18 to 21 degrees Celsius. Keep a steady source of natural light available, too. No need to wait for the bulb to flower before gifting. Decorate with ribbon, handwritten care instructions and a smile.

Juicy springtime rhubarb jam to fill up those jam jars!

For juicy jewel coloured jam, you can’t go wrong with spring rhubarb. This super simple seasonal recipe yields up to four 120g glass jars. You’ll need one kilo of spring rhubarb stems, one kilo of jam sugar (sugar with pectin added) and four teaspoons of zesty lemon juice.

Sterilise your jam jars by giving them a turn through the dishwasher or a scrub with warm sudsy water. Ensure they are properly rinsed, dried and set them to one side. Remove foliage, snip stem ends and rinse your rhubarb stalks. Chop into half inch sections and tip into thick bottomed saucepan. Add the sugar and mix with the stalky pieces of rhubarb overnight. Make sure you cover the mixture with your saucepan lid. The sugar extracts the juice from the rhubarb.

The following day bring the concoction to a boil, then add your fresh lemon juice and stir gently for approximately five minutes. Try not to break up your rhubarb pieces. And that’s it, job done. Spoon your gorgeous jewel coloured jam into your waiting jam jars. Add your jam jar lids and handwritten instructions to enjoy with toast or drizzled over yoghurt and puddings.

We hope these simple jam jar crafts will help you celebrate emerging from the long cold tunnel of winter. Every day welcomes evidence of springtime. The happy hum of bumble bees mingling with bird song. Flourishing fistfuls of snow drops, crocuses and daffodils brightening our daily walk. Sunlight shedding its winter white glare. Daytime stretching out, inching closer towards summertime length. All of us inching towards picnics, swimming pools and barbecues. Happy Easter!