"Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature." - Gerard De Nerval

CRAFT WITH RECYCLED BOTTLES

I never realized how many glass bottles I actually go through until I set out to do this crafty project. In my mind, I was like "Ok, let's (I am a group, by the way) slowly try to collect some bottles to get going on this project." 

2 days later... I had 9 bottles! It did help I serve plenty of wine at my work, and they just throw the bottles there away, sooooooo...

I had collected dressing bottles, Pellegrino bottles, Corona bottles, and plenty of wine bottles. Since this project I have another 13 random bottles to get going on another few projects. 

STEPS:

1. Stash away any glass bottles you find.

2. Soak them in suddsy water to get the labels and glue off as much as you can.

3. Sand off any unwanted lingering glue.

4. Head on over to Home Depot or Lowe's (they have a larger selection of colors) and pick out the spray paint of your choice for about $4 a can. Get matte, silk, or glossy - whatever you like! 

5. Whip out your trusty glue gun (grabbed one from Hobby Lobby for about $12 - it's wireless.) I chose to write words on my vases. But you can do any kind of design or verse, quote, polka dots, stripes, or name.

6. Let that glue dry and try to peel off any of those crazy glue gun fly-aways. 

7. Take your bottles outside and set up a little station to where it'd be flat to set the bottles upsidedown.

8. Spray away! Avoid the other bottles while spraying one at a time if they are different colors. 

9. Flip the bottles over once there are 3-4 coats DRIED on them. 

10. Spray the top edges and a little in the bottle's opening.

11. I got my fake flowers from Hobby Lobby. I think I paid too much for them, but that was me being in a hurry to get this project rolling. I heard they go on sale about once a month, so look for them there. OR better yet, drop a fresh flower or two into the vase after filling it with water. (Fake is good for me, I don't have the green thumb I wish I did.) 

12. Enjoy your new, home made, recycled vases! Or give them as gifts - which is what I did ( I shipped them out so hopefully my besties get theirs before they check out my post! I color coordinated the vases and flowers to their room colors.) 

 And that's it! You could set them on your fireplace, dresser, in the window, laundry room, kitchen....anywhere you want to bring the colors together in the space you love!

 I am planning on using most of my next 13 bottles all together in one large display.... Wonder how that's going to look. I'll post that as soon as I do it.

Thanks Pinterest, for your many creative ideas!

"Get people back into the kitchen and combat the trend toward processed food and fast food." - Andrew Weil

ORGANIZING YOUR KITCHEN CUPBOARD

My culinary boyfriend likes to buy more natural foods from Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or The Sunflower. Unfortunately for our small cupboards that means more plastic bags tossed around and either tied up or not tied up again (we all know that leads to beans everywhere!) 

I needed a solution! A quick, cheap, and creative solution of course. I am falling hard for the chalkboard paint! 

I got the Krylon Chalkboard paint from Hobby Lobby for $6 (30% on sale.) I got the chalk for $1 from Hobby Lobby as well. I already had stencil paper and wanted to use that to cut out the correct size of square I wanted on the jars. 

The jars were given to us, so they were a wopping $0!!! They aren't the ones that'd I'd have picked out, but the ones I wanted were $8 each (ouch) so I will do with what I can. 

I origionally made the stencil and used it on a practice jar. The paint bled bad and it was difficult to keep it flat on the round glass. So I decided to use just tapeto make the square I wanted on each jar- that actually worked out better because I could leave it alone to dry. I noticed that there was still a little bit of bleeding. 

So I took an exacto-knife and scraped off the chalk paint that I didn't want. It was easy to scrape off, so it was no problem that the paint bled through the tape. 

WOW!!! What a mess. You know the saying "out of sight out of mind"? So true for the bags that are stashed away in the back of the cupboards. Pulling them out and putting them in glass jars will put your beans, chocolates, snacks, rice, whatever you want out on a pretty display so you will use them all up before hitting the grocery store again. I have mine on the counter for now, but the jars might all end up back in the cupboards for storage space, which is even better! Even this keeps your shelves clean and snack foods in a safe, organized, and labeled space. 

I like the chalk idea because you can change out what you put in the jars and re-label them in two seconds. Easy functionality is the key to organization in the kitchen. New ideas, new food groups, new nationalities, and new diets are in and out of my kitchen all the time, so this is a great idea for us to keep track of things. 

This is also a great idea for desk organization and kids' play rooms. You can stash paper clips, rubber bands, little girls' barrets, boys' lego pieces, scrapbooking items, and so much more into little or big labeled jars. Recycling the jars will also add the the feel-good vibe of the thrifty-ness of this project. 

DON'T be afraid to do this!! Start collecting a few things here and there and soon you will be ready to do this quick, inexpensive project on your own. Make sure you find the jars you like and filling them with things that fit into the space you love.