Shells are making a huge comeback in decorating.You can fill it with beach memories.Mardi Gras beads and costume jewelry would be very retro.Colored sand is another option.Marbles if you think it can hold the weight,or sea glass shardsin layers of colors.Wooden spools would be nice for a sewing room,postcards and photos might also work.Rope for a nautical twist,xmas ornaments of different sizes would also be neatShow us a picture when you are done.Sandy

How about buttons? Or pottery shards, or soap or feathers, or...? Be sure to let us know what you decide.

Thanks for the ideas, guys. Yep,I thought of old costume jewelry today and also Mardi Gras beads and Christmas ornaments.

Anybody else? TIA

A goldfish? *S*

I have one filled with shells and one filled with buttons. We were going to fill one with keys that my DH has collected/accumulated from his job but haven't done that yet. Gosh the possibilities are endless!!

Cathy

Lydia, go to your room! LOL

golf balls, marbles, stones, colored pasta, potpourri, sand, rag balls, thread spools, pennies, beans, popcorn; just anything you can think of.

I saw a clear lamp filled with 'twinkle' lights.

Do you think it would drive you crazy to fill it with your favorite candy? lol Just a thought

My late husband used rocks he had polished in his rock polisher- looked good but sure made the lamp heavy.

Thanks for all the good ideas. I DO know one thing - not gonna put my rubber duckies in there! I tried that and they look like they're smothering! LOL

Your remember how they used to have "pickled" premature fetuses, etc. in jars in vet's offices? That's how those poor ducks looked! LOL Kept thinking I was gonna have to get'em outta there and administer CPR on'em! LOL

I have lamps in my bedroom that I filled with rose petals (dried obviosly). I bet potpouri would work too.

How about artificial plants? A mini ferns, palms, moss. It would look like a terrarium! Of course it all depends on the size of that hole.

Rolande

Ohhhhh.... I like Rolande's idea!

Rolande's idea reminded me of something cool. There is a wonderful catalog/store called Cabelas that sells these cool lamps that are glass with displays with little Bobwhite Quail in them. Not super cheap, but I hope to one day own one.

Here is a link that might be useful: quail lamp

I have yet to get out to Cabela's. My husband's parents live near one in PA and from what I hear, it is the mecca of all sporting goods stores. THere's even an aquarium in there!

Mine too is fill with polished 'river' rocks from Walmart. They were $1 a bag, I think. Does make it very heavy. It makes a nice neutral palette but now I'm wondering what to do with the rocks if I want to change it out. LOL

Hey, polished rocks! That's a good idea. Never thought of that and I LOVE rocks!

When you get tired of them being in the lamp you can always put them on top of the soil in your houseplants, etc.

For a kids room: legos, or hot wheels, or small doll clothes, color crayons, fast food toys. Doggy treats or kitty toys, aqarium rock in all the colors in the rainbow. Maybe pennies or nickles. I have lots of jars of shells in my house and a few of beach glass. Maybe puzzle pieces all painted front and back differant colors. Match books, bottle caps. I have a jar filled with tiny strips of paper with one word on each piece. Maybe fill it with pasta or beans or seeds or nuts. So many things so few bottles!!!!!!

Instead of filling the lamp with objects...how about spray painting the inside with Krylon's mirror glass paint?
I've heard that the paint is good and really does make plain glass look like a mirror.

I just bought a new lampshade for mine so we are on the same wavelength.

I plan to put candy corn candy in the jar for another Halloween decoration. My SIL had an old Martha Stewart magazine that I was looking at and she had taken sticky black paper? and cut our bat shapes to place on the inside of the lampshade so that when it was on you saw the silhouette of the bats (for Halloween).

How about making it to look like the lighted glass blocks that people are creating?

Just now got around to making a photo of what I did with the lamp. It's almost filled (DGD left the other toys out on the bed! LOL) to the top with assorted small, colorful toys. Forgive the mess around the lamp. Didn't want to take time to clean around it! LOL

PERFECT !!!!!!!!!!

I have jars all over the place full of "stuff". I have cookie cutters...the old aluminum ones in one, those old dark red, clear ones in another, and copper ones in another, and a mixture of all the rest in another. I have old measuring spoons and little kitchen gadgets...especially the old plastic ones with advertising on them..in two or three jars. I have a square jar full of dice of all kinds. I have marbles in several jars...and about 10 jars full of broken and some not broken jewelry. I have one with beach glass and one with some polished tiger eye stones....I'd have to go look to see what all I do have in jars. Oh, I have one with brass bells in it. Little ones. And I used to see a lot of jewelry with elephants on it...those carved elephants, so I started collecting those and putting the elephants in a jar, but since I started collecting them, I seldom see them any more...but I am sure I will eventually find more of them. I have little scoops in a jar...and
oh, yeah, and little balls in jars. I especially like the ones that are clear and have a picture inside. I don't get them out of gum machines, but I pick them up at yard sales.

I have thought about doing a jar of little toys, like yours.
I have some toys that belonged to my daughter and thought I would find some other small ones to fill up a jar.

Did you ever see those clear glass heads?...Pier 1 had them and last time I was in there, they still did. I got one at a thrift, and was going to fill it with objects...each one representing something that I like or collect. However, the cat knocked it off the shelf before I could do that. I am still thinking about doing it tho.

I think this is one of my oddest collections. Remember those little charms that people used to have back in the '70's that had pictures of their loved ones on them? I collect those and have them in a jar. I don't have a lot of them...maybe 8 or 10, but still looking for more.

You mean the kind that you would get when you'd order photographs made at the Wal-Mart type studios? LOL Yeah, I have some of those of ExDh, the kids and me.

I have two jars started for my kids of toys that they had when they were little. DD's has a lot of charms and little girl hair barrettes in it. DS's has what he called his "armies" - little plastic soldiers and cowboys and Indians. Also have his Cub Scout scarf ring, etc.

I used to make "filled " lamps for presents. I've used all sorts of things to fill them: candies, crayons, marbles, buttons, sewing notions, rag balls, cartridges (for the hunters), stones, small toys, potpourri, balls, small stuffed animals(happy meal size). Most unusal (but neat looking) was one I made for a woman who emptied her desk drawer into it, badges, tickets, scraps of paper, small scissors, etc.

For a Christmas gift last year I filled a jar with potpourri and twinkle lights ... covered it with an old doily ... tied it with a decorative ribbon laced through doily edges. Smells great when it's plugged in.

I also have an old jar filled with miscellaneous game pieces. It sits on the stairs ... game boards are on the stairwell walls.

was at Hobby Lobby today and saw these bulk packages of hobby puffs, about the size of cotton balls or a tad larger.in various colors, would think you could be creative with these. They were large packages for a couple bucks

Love all the "lamp filling ideas". For the lampshade on my bedroom jar which is partially filled with marbles, I recently re-did the shade and really like it. I tore strips of homespun in colors that match the room, tied them together and sent round and round the shade (top to bottom). Doesn't damage the shade at all - quick and easy -- sorry I don't have a pix to share.

I have a friend who filled some with her son's old matchbox cars and action figures and gave them to him for his 18th birthday. He's in college now, and uses them in his dorm room. Everyone loves them!

I saw one the other day filled with hair clips and scrunchies that a lady used to use when she had long hair. It also had a few braided locks of her old hair wound around the stuff. Cool, huh?

I think I would fill it with different coloured spools of thread ... or shamrocks ;) good luck

How about filling it with memories of one of your childrens
new born baby things. Birth announcment,rattle,teething ring,shoes,hair brush,first outfit,etc.,you get the idea.
Now give it to the new mother to pass on to your grandchild.
Or even collect wedding items from your next wedding
that you might attend. And then on that couples 1st anniversary present them with the lamp.I think it will warm
your heart and theirs.
Laney Bug

Man! There's some good ideas on this post.

Thanks, guys!

ttt

I have made jar lamps in the past. A fisherman's lamp I used bobbers in the jar and decorated the lampshade accordingly. A golfer's lamp I put practice balls in. My son's lamp I put wooden blocks that spelled his name. I made a kitchen one with dried apples and oranges and put in some small cookie cutters. My MIL collect Coke things and I wrapped some foam balls in Coke material and put those in the base. Other ideas...seashells, buttons, wooden spools wrapped with a piece of plaid material or any country print, glass marbles, you could just change it out seasonally as well. Good luck.

We have pine comes in our lamps that we purchased from target!

I made my daughternlaw an ocean scene,sand,star fish,shells she loves the beach,I have marbles in one,material balls in one,buttons in another.

Moss balls, Acorns or pine cones