Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Check Out My Moves!

**Update: Come see new and updated photos of this project HERE! :)

Does anyone else feel like their spice cupboard and/or baking cupboard is full to the max? Or overflowing, even? I used to dream of a spice rack that would allow me to have all my spices organized and at my fingertips. 

And then I got one. And it collects SO. MUCH. DUST.

SO.

I have been saving and washing Emily's baby food jars ever since we got back from Florida in order to do this:
(see that dusty spice rack????)
In order to eliminate all of these from my spice cupboard:


I still have some spices left in my cupboard, but I ran out of magnets, so I was only able to make 10 jars.

These took a bit of time, but very little skill. 

Obviously.  

I just collected baby food jars, rinsed them out, and pulled off as much of the label that I could. Then I popped them in the dishwasher (the lids, too). I didn't worry about the sticky spot left over since it would be covered by the paper/cardstock I wrapped around the jar.

I had some nice powerful magnets. I got mine from some store on ebay. 

To eliminate any need to coordinate colors on my part, I used the DCWV Latte Mat Stack, with its coordinating solid mat stack to decorate the jars. I had bought them a long time ago when I was on my paper kick. It was fun to be able to use them for something besides eye candy!

I Mod Podged 1" strips of paper around the jar. The Mat Stacks I had were 8x8, and I found that a 1"x 8" strip is the perfect size to wrap around standard baby food jars. I Mod Podged them to the jars, and then covered the strip in Mod Podge, too, to give it a nice finished sheen and to make sure the end of the strip wouldn't ever start peeling up. 

I made the labels out of two circular pieces of paper. I used a half dollar for my big circles, and a quarter for the cream colored circles. Hi-tech, I know. I wrote the names of the spices on the cream circles and let them dry for a bit, just to ensure they wouldn't bleed at all when I put Mod Podge over the top. I the glued the big circle to the bottom and let it dry a bit. Then I covered it in Mod Podge and put the cream circle on it, let it dry, and then covered the whole thing in Mod Podge again. 

Now for the magnets. The ones I had were smaller, so I used two on each jar. Kirby is a genius and pointed out that if I just hot glued the magnets straight to the lid, they might not end up being level, which would make the magnetic bond with the fridge weaker, and could even cause the magnets to pull free from the lid. So we got out an old card table and I stuck the magnets to it, put hot glue blobs on those, and actually set the lid (with the jar attached) on top of the magnets. That way, when the glue hardened, the magnets would be perfectly even. Worked like a charm. That wouldn't be an issue if you had magnets with a nice big radius, though. I reinforced the magnet by putting a ring of hot glue around the edge of the magnet. 

Whew! That's quite an explanation for a project that requires little skill!

So far I am loving it. It's SO easy to find the spices I need. No more rummaging around like a mad woman. Plus--my fridge is right next to our stove, so it is the most convenient spot to keep them!


I LOVE being able to see the colors and textures of the different spices through the glass. 
Yes. I am a texture junkie.


This is the less-than-creative way I'll have to keep them most of the time, or the cupboard can't open all the way.



It feels so great to finally have finished a project that's been on my to-do list for a while now.
Okay, so I'm wanting to make more so I guess I'm not technically FINISHED, but you get the idea...

58 comments:

Kristin Hanson said...

Those are so really rad, truly bad moves. I wish I had enough side fridge space to use your idea in my kitchen!

Erin_C said...

those are crazy cute. really. well done.

oh and thanks for the camera info. i've been looking into it for a christmas present, but it might have to wait. but thanks so much, it was really helpful!

Jewelyn said...

wow that is awesome! love the idea!!!

ldewey said...

I LOVE this idea. It's so cute and it's practical too! Way to spice up your kitchen....hahaha.

Adriane said...

LOVE it! I'm coming in after Zumba on Thursday to see it! It's adorable.

The Ranson Family said...

That is a great idea! You are so creative.

Meridith said...

You amaze me. I think you should come over, walk around my house, and tell me how I can make things look/work better. :)

Or you can just come over because I feel like it has been months since I've seen you.

Unknown said...

Oh! I love these! I would like to link to them on my blog, if you would allow me?

Lauren Davison said...

Amy--please do! :) I would love that!

Anonymous said...

That's so cool! i like lots! especially since my little cupboard for spices include our medicine and vitamins,oils and vanilla and cookbooks/recipes. Yeah... way too full!

Hannah said...

Fantastic!

Nerd Mama said...

How perfect! I definitely have an excess of baby food jars looking for a use.

Sarah (Sew Very Happy) said...

I had to hit the link to these from Amy's Mod Podge Rocks blog. What an awesome idea! I just wish my fridge was anywhere near the stove! Thanks so much for sharing. I am now your newest follower!

PS,-to the first commenter: I love the Backyardigans reference :) Surf's Up is one of my 2 year old's fav episodes.

Anonymous said...

Now, this is a simply wonderful idea. Thank you for the inspiration. ~Kelly

unDeniably Domestic

Katie P said...

Those are amazing!! Killer idea! Getting tweeted!

Katie P
Food, Wine, & Mod Podge
Tweet!

Alice said...

what a fabulous idea! my fridge is also right next to my stove so that would work perfectly for me.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE this idea. I have been saving baby food jars trying to come up with a spice project with them. I love what you did with yours! Great blog!!! www.keepitsimpleyay.blogspot.com

Shelby said...

This is such a great idea! Yay for organization! :)

Ruthie's Girl Designs said...

Great idea for reuse! I could see something like this in my craft studio with all my little findings I can never find. I could just get a strip of sheet metal and mount it to the wall then use the jars in the same fashion. I just have to find someone who's got a baby and I'm set. :)

Alexander's Adventures Abroad said...

Fantastic...I saved baby jars when my kids were little (now they are 9 & 7 yo), yes, I still have them in the moving box from about 5 years ago. (ok, we did move to Singapore & the jars are in Texas, so I have an excuse, right?) I now know what I'll be doing on our next trip to Texas!

Little Penpen said...

Adorable... did you use the large baby food jars or the smaller ones? I want to do this!!!

Lauren Davison said...

I used the smaller ones. Or, at least the Stage 2 size. I think there might be one that is even smaller, but I can't remember. :)

Thanks so much, everyone! I'm glad y'all like them!

n8'swife said...

I loved your idea. I changed it up a bit and I love how they're working out! (ldscraftproject.com)

Teresa aka Tess said...

Wow, wow, WOW!! These are so awesome and would make fabulous wedding gifts for the new bride that loves to cook. I think the paper stack idea was inspired. Great way to corodinate colors. You rokc. oH btw I found this blog post through the mod podge rocks blog...

Unknown said...

any idea where you might find spice tops that would fit a baby jar?

Lauren Davison said...

Sheryl--

I don't know. That's why I just used the baby food lids as what I glued the magnets to, and created custom labels to glue to the "bottoms" of the jars. But I have no idea how you would find pre-made spice lids to fit! Good luck!

Lauren

Darcie Helt said...

LOVE this...knew I was saving those baby food jars for the last 3 yrs for something! what size magnets did you use? I have seen them on ebay but wondering what size you used? Thanks for posting this wonderful idea!

Lauren Davison said...

Darcie, the magnets I used were 1/8 inch thick, 1/2 inch diameter. :)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous! Linked you right here: http://schlitzies.blogspot.com/2011/08/alete-mal-anders.html

Love, Nicky

Sue said...

This is a sensational idea!! For all of those people whose fridge isn't near their stove, or they don't have room on the fridge, I attached mine to a Dollar Tree Cookie Sheet I decorated with scrapbook paper and hung it behind my stove. It was easy and added some much needed wall art to my space. Thanks for the great idea!

Bonnie said...

Nice idea but spices must be in dark. :)

Mirawyn said...

It looks very, very cool, but Barbara is right: light degrades spices. (So does heat.)

However...it would be great on the inside of a cabinet or pantry door, or with the jars painted. You could leave a little "window" unpainted, so you could check the level of the spices without opening the jar...

jlsawat said...

So fun! I'm thinking of getting a magnet board (or try that decorated cookie sheet idea someone had) in my scrapbook corner and using the decorated baby jars for my craft elements! Thanks for a great idea that's cost effective :)

Karey said...

Wow, this is an awesome idea!! I am going to do this as soon as I can find someone with a bunch of leftover baby food jars! I need to clean up and organize my spices too because they are just all over the place!!

MJ said...

Found this post via Pinterest, such a great idea! Sadly my fridge is nowhere near my stove or I would have done this in a heartbeat! Love it!!

tan8454 said...

I did everything you said in your directions. put my spices in and they are too heavy for my magnets and I used the ones you said you used...what am I doing wrong? I have looked forward to this..hmmm any tips?

tanya

Anonymous said...

Your spices look fantastic - what a cute idea!! I've got this linked to my spice racks post too today, nice job!

Lauren Davison said...

@tan8454--(I would email you, but your profile doesn't have your address)--I can't be sure what the problem is! It's possible that that your refrigerator is less magnetic. Our last apartment had a fake stainless fridge that had about half the hold of a normal one. Did you use two of the magnets, or one? Besides those, I have no other theories... Good luck!

Jennifer J said...

Love this idea. I think I will use that new magnetic paint that you can paint on top of (so that it matches my kitchen) and put them right in front of the stove. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

These are amazing - too bad I don't have a baby to have a reason to have baby food jars laying around! haha...Might just have to steal, I mean borrow some from my friends! :) You should totally enter this project in Craftbaby's 'Upcycle Challenge'! http://www.craftbaby.com/contests/3/upcycle-it-sweeps

ayorty said...

You could also use these to store extra office supplies such as paper clips, rubber bands, stamps, etc. in a home office on the side of a file cabinet or other metallic surface.

~Jess~ said...

This is soo FREAKING AMAZING! Thank you soo much for sharing this! I have been trying to figure out a way to use all of the baby jars that I have! Can't wait to do this lil project!!!

Sandra said...

Hello I just joined, and I love the Ideas with the baby food jars. My kids are long past baby foods. But my youngest daughter, gives some from my youngest grandson. I use them in my scrap room.On a sheet of tin that I bought at lowes {they will cut to sz. you want}. and in the jars, I put my small findings, little tiny buttons,paper clips etc. I sprayed pained the jars { difft. colors} and I use the tiny, tiny little envelopes and small paper inside of env. I Write in pencil when I want to reuse the jars for other small things I can.

Anonymous Frazzled Lady said...

Sooo... glad I had another baby who I will soon be buying baby food for.

Diane said...

I did this using the real small mason jars but what strength magnet did you use? The ones I used do not hold and the jars kind of slide downwards...any suggestions? Thx.

nehi462 said...

my one issue would be the amount of heat where the jars are, as it would degrade the spices over time. great idea, though

none said...

now i know how to display my beads when i take over the kitchen for my workspace!!!!! way cool:-) thanks for this very useful idea.

Laura said...

Anybody got any ideas to make shaker toppers for these?

Lauren Davison said...

@Diane, I used 2 rare earth magnets per jar. 1/2 inch diameter, I think? If you go any larger than that, I would recommend using something like E6000, rather that hot glue. :)

Unknown said...

I'm going to use these! As far as the stove not close to the fridge...you can buy magnet strips (like holding knives and such) from container store or online. Just place the strip over your stove! Viola! Problem solved! ;) Also, I am thinking of buying Chalk board paint to paint the bottom so I can change the name of the spices as needed. :) THANKS so much for the wonderful idea for all those jars I have just sitting around! Also, thinking of putting a few inside my medicine cabinet for all those 1/2 empty boxes taking up too much room! :) OH...and, in the baby's room for her crafts! (Paint jars/glitter and beads!) Wow...so many ideas flowing! And, if you don't mind I would love to link to my page this wonderful idea! Thank you!

Unknown said...

Also, my hubby screwed the lids on the bottom of a shelf in his garage for small stuff like screws, bolts, nuts and the like for extra room...no more boxes lost or lying around! :)

Unknown said...

Great and convenient idea! Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for sharing this... I've been wanting to do this in my kitchen for awhile now... only difference is that I want to mount a large board (at least 3x4ft) on the wall divided vertically, blackboard on one side and metal on the other side for the jars to cling too...

Unknown said...

Go to the craft store they have the magnets as well as home depot.or lowes

Unknown said...

Oh sorry.... large really large magnets

Unknown said...

Oh sorry.... large really large magnets

Edna Krueger said...

I want to try this when we get our kitchen remodeled. Have several ideas to add. If not have refrigerator nearby, try montiing a sheet of metal on side of a cabinet or back splash to the stove. I’m hen attach you magnet jars there.
Also if not want to bother with the decorative paper, use duct tape that comes in colorful patterns. . Still do Mod Podge the jar but is less time consuming.

Gypsymaison said...

I love this idea you are so creative . spice jars

 

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