Hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was great! My dad and mom spent Friday night which was SO.MUCH.FUN! The roles have been a bit reversed. I could not wait for them to arrive. Caleb had a friend over and my hubby was at work, so it was a very fun thing to have them spend the night. We had popcorn and hot tea and then I got to kiss them goodnight and tuck them in...but before that, my mom said, "Lisa, come sit down and talk." As if we hadn't already talked enough. It is still music to my ears to hear the soothing voice of a Momma! So, there we sat, them in bed and me sprawled across the bottom of the bed. Although roles have shifted a bit, they will ALWAYS be my parents and I will ALWAYS take full advantage of the little pockets of times we can enjoy together. For those of you who know my Momma and know she never arrives empty handed, this is what she brought: Cereal for breakfast {doesn't want to "inconvenience me"}, hard-boiled eggs {Caleb made a sandwich for dinner last night with them}, sour cream {because she only needed a little bit and would not use up the whole container} and artichoke tapenade that is to-die-for! :} oops, I almost forgot...freshly baked rolls, too!
I love overnight guests! What about you?
Okay, on to the spice jar labels. A girl can only take so many labels from a label maker! What to do? You DIY! I don't know why DIY sounds so snooty to me, but I guess that is what it is called. Maybe it reminds me of my babies deciding they didn't need my help because they wanted to "do it myself" {yes, this is what they would say word for word!} as they would grab the crayon, spoon or washcloth!
I could not figure out how to make waterproof labels that were cute, so I started experimenting. Contact paper was too thick and "cloudy", sticker paper was not waterproof, so I looked at my label maker and decided that the top of the label looked like packaging tape, and guess what? It was PERFECT...and FREE!
My spices have been driving me batty! More like insane. I took every single one out of the cabinet and washed them out. I put them into the oven to make sure they were nice and dry before refilling them. This was awesome because there were quite a few spices I simply never use, so I was able to condense the mess. My sis is getting a whole bag of extra spices and bottles for her camper...so there is no waste!
I took sections of spices and made up labels on my laptop as I worked on the project.
It didn't take that long and I am really excited about the simplicity of all of the spices having their very own old-fashioned labels!
Punches are spendy and do not fit into a tight budget, {unless you use your JoANNS/Michaels 40% or 50% coupons} but most of us know someone who has a paper punch that would be more than willing to lend it out.
How to Make Labels with Packing Tape:
1. Using your computer, type up the words you would like on your label. Make sure it is the right size font and that it will fit in the space allotted. I punched out the label I would be using and held it up to the computer screen to make sure it would fit. I am sure there is some mathematical way of figuring this out, but I wanted the project to get done in my lifetime!
2. Once you have your page filled with what you will be punching out, print it out. I printed mine on regular, old printer paper because it needed to be lightweight to wrap around the jars. {Eventually, I will find some striped or polka dotted paper...but for now, white is just fine and dandy and it was what I had}. Card stock would be great to use to mark children's toy bins etc, because it is almost indestructible! Using your punch, punch them out. Be sure to flip the punch over so that you can see the writing and "eyeball" it for centering.
3. Place writing on to sticky side of tape. Cut out leaving a bit of sticky tape exposed on the outside of the label so that you can affix it to your spice jar.
*I buy most spices in bulk to keep them fresh and to avoid waste.
*A spice you rarely use could be placed in an extra spice jar with the bulk tie thingy twisted around the neck of the spice jar.
Do you have any spice advice? Do you store any spices in your freezer?
Happy Monday and Happy label making! I would love to see the ideas you come up with or if you have any suggestions. I am sure there are a lot of great ideas out there.
PS. I never noticed it was called packaging tape. Did you know that? I have always refered to it as packing tape.
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