It all started with…

It all started with spotting a gorgeous laundry powder container on Pinterest.

To be fair, a lot of my projects seem to start with Pinterest, or sometimes Hometalk.

And it was only recently that I realised that I should be taking photos of the ‘Before’, and not just the results, and writing about them. Specially when I realised that I have done a few DIY things in the past year or so, and that I still have several on the go, and more on the wishlist.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. In my case I think its more the lack of the ready cash that leads me to make things, or upcycle things because I can’t just go out and buy them. And to be honest, I wouldn’t pay what most people ask for stuff anyway, not when with a bit of mucking around I can make it myself.

I also have a wonderful hubby who helps me with the bits I get stuck on, or just physically can’t do alone.

Sorry, getting off track…

Anyway, I saw this gorgeous laundry powder container and I wanted it. Or at least something I could make beautiful to use for the same purpose.

I had some lovely big jars that we’d rescued from my Father in Law’s place which long ago were used for churning butter at home. Yes, they were that old! But had never been used. They were still in the wrapping and boxed up just as they’d come from the shop. The lids were rusty and stuck on, this is where hubby came in useful on this project, by freeing them up and giving them a good going over with a wire brush.

I turned some of these jars into terrariums which made lovely Christmas presents – a blog post for another day, and I used one for my laundry powder, adding the label as you can see in the picture. Here’s how I did it:

Instructions

First I searched the internet for some labels. I found this lovely Art Nouveau one and downloaded the file, opening it in Photoshop.

I measured the size of the flat side of the jar, then in Photoshop I resized the label to fit neatly within the area on the side of the jar.

Using an Art Nouveau font, I added the wording to the label. For the wording I used the same colour red as is used on the flowers on the label so it all matched.

I printed out the label and then carefully cut around the outside with scissors.

I painted Mod Podge all over the back of the label, and carefully stuck it to the jar, using a soft paper tissue to ease out any air bubbles.

I am absolutely thrilled with how great it looks. It makes me smile every time I get to use it.

The next day I painted a layer of Mod Podge all over the front of the label to seal it. This is where I discovered that the ink in my printer is water soluble! Aarrgh I was not expecting that. But working carefully and quickly I managed to get the job done without too much smearing. So be aware, if you want to try this project, that it could also be a problem for you. Perhaps a spray sealer would have been better.

It must have turned out alright, because my sister in law requested one of  her own, but in blue and white:

Both labels are available, free to download, in our shop. Please help yourself 🙂

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