Recycled Jars to Chalkboard Containers

I love the various containers that are out there for storing food in the pantry.  And, now that I actually have a pantry, I’d love to be able to use them.  However, if you haven’t noticed, it’s quite pricey to buy enough of them to beautify your pantry.  My solution?  Turn old jars into canisters:

Here’s how I did it:

I removed the label from two spaghetti jars (any jar would do), and soaked them in soapy water for a few hours.  Having rice, beans, etc., that smell like spaghetti sauce would not be acceptable.  Just to be sure the smell was gone, I also ran them through the dishwasher.

Then, I determined where I wanted my chalkboard label.

Using painter’s tape, I taped around the remainder of the jar.

This is the spray paint that I used:

I did three coats of paint, waiting about 20 minutes between each coat, and then let it sit for several hours before removing the tape.

When the tape came off, there were a few spots of paint outside of my label area.  Surely there is a more professional way to do this, but I simply removed those spots with my thumbnail and it did the trick.

Now, you’re supposed to let chalkboard paint dry for 24 hours before you write on it, so in an attempt to actually follow the directions on a project, rather than being impatient, I waited.

While it was drying, I worked on the lid.  Have you seen all of the jute that is being used now?  Well, it’s everywhere, and I recently saw some jars at TJMaxx with jute lids.  I found some jute in the garage, and working from the center, I hot-glued it around the top of the jar.

I just kept going around in a circle until the lid top and sides were covered.

Back to the jar.  The paint was dry, so I used the flat side of a piece of chalk and covered the entire chalkboard surface with chalk.  Apparently this allows you to write and erase chalk from the surface later on. I let it sit there for a few hours, erased, and then wrote my labels.

I love looking at my jars and I can’t wait to make some more!

On the shelf in the pantry