Organizing With Jars

Good morning everyone...

I would imagine all of you are in the midst of your summer activities by now...

We are definitely on a summer schedule here - 

sleeping in late, no real meal schedules, lots of pool and beach time.....

and

lots of activities.

This week little Miss A went off to her first ever week of camp.

As you can see, she was all smiles and quite excited...

we were the ones having the qualms and sniffles.

Thank goodness it's only a week 

I remember my days at camp as a child 

and

  I am sure she will have all kinds of stories to tell us when she does get back.

Can't wait to hear them.

So, on to today's project....

I am always looking for ways to organize all the craft items 

that I feel I  have to have around.

One of the areas I have the most problems with is my scrapbook supplies.

There are so many pieces that need to be organized 

and 

if you put them  away they seem to be lost 

or forgotten - then never used.

I am a very visual person 

and

need all my supplies out where I can see them.

But, I also need them organized, neat and pretty to look at.

So, I am constantly looking for ways to bring all these requirements together.

I also save a lot of stuff - cans, jars, boxes -

and

try to put them to good use.

When it came to organizing some of my scrapbook supplies - such as wooden letters, 

larger buttons and charms, label holders, book rings 

( you know those big, necessary items)-

well, jars just seemed to be the best way to go.

I cleaned the labels off the jars with a little trick I read about somewhere.

First peel off as much as you can 

and 

then rub with olive oil and they come right off.

You need very little "elbow grease" when using this.

All that glue residue just slides right off.

Too bad I didn't read this years ago because I have 

done a lot of scrubbing, peeling, and seething over those stuck on labels.

Now, they just come off  lickety split... love it...

They were ready in no time.

No storage solution can go undecorated by me.

So, I painted all the lids with DIY white chalk paint ( it was out already)

but, 

you could spray paint them.

Then they received some great embellishments.

I used burlap, raffia, twine, buttons, bits and pieces of all sorts 

that I had lying around to pretty them up a bit.

Here are some of them being displayed on my desk.

I love how they turned out and how they add to the vintage feel 

of the room.

As you can see here I have also used some tin cans to help 

with my organizing problems.

I love using recycled pieces to organize with 

because 

I change my mind a lot and they are basically free.

What have you recycled to organize and make your life easier?

Tell us about it in the comments - I love to hear from you.

I answer all comments through email.

I will be linking up to the parties on the "I Party At" page.