recrafted::mason jar chalkboard tags. And a tutorial!

tag-a-licious

Last Christmas I did one Craft Sale.  I’m hard core like that.  Especially when you consider the fact that it was put on by my friend so the extent of my research into craft fairs and all that jazz was bar none.  Assuming bar none means having coffee with said friend and handing over $15 for the table.   oh!  And I showed up the day of the craft sale with crafts!  To sell!

I even sold stuff.  In fact, I made more money at the craft fair than I did at my paying job (I was on maternity leave, but WHATEVER.  STILL COUNTS, STEVEN.).

One of the things I had at the fair were mini chalkboard Christmas tags.  I thought these were brilliant.  Only one other person shared my passion for the brilliance, though, and bought any.  The rest were doled out to family and friends as Christmas presents.  I’m thoughtful AND hardcore.

The other day another friend inquired if I had any tags leftover because she was hoping to use them to label some mason jars.  That first batch of tags all had Christmas designs painted on them, so they wouldn’t have been very pratical for mason jars, unless you’re storing Christmas Food, then they would be the most practical.  They were also wood and I was having a hard time figuring how that would work on a mason jar without being annoying.

Since I can’t sleep these days I spend a lot of hours lying in bed thinking about random shit.  During that time I came up with the idea of painting chalkboard paint onto cereal boxes, and then using an elastic to put it on the mason jar.  Cereal boxes are like perfect cardboard.  Stiff enough to be sturdy, but not so damn thick that they can’t be flexible.  Cereal boxes would win gold in the cardboard olympics.  I was also confident that a cereal box would hold up to being spray painted with chalkboard paint.  I was so right.  I AM A GENIUS.

if you were a genius, you would have thought of THIS.

Yes, I know normal people just slap a sticker on their mason jar.  The girl wants a chalkboard and I want to make things.  It’s win-win.

It wasn’t until after I spray painted the cardboard did I bother to do a google search.  Turns out you can buy chalkboard contact paper.  OF COURSE THERE IS CHALKBOARD CONTACT PAPER.  But that’s still a sticker.  A fancy-ass sticker with a lot of glam and sparkle, yes, but still a damn sticker.

Besides reusing cardboard helps save the planet.  We’re going to conveniently ignore the paint in an aresol can and the fact that I bought the elastic at The Dollar Store.  I REUSED CARDBOARD.

Here’s a tutorial so you can make your own!  Because I know how complicated painting cardboard can be!  Very Complicated.

Step 1: Paint the cardboard.  I did this outside.  In a $70 skirt.  Without first testing the direction of the wind.  Be ye not so stupid.

Step 1: paint

Step 2: Cut out your desired shape.  I tried a few on for size, and prefered the oval.  I don’t have a fancy cutter so I went old school.  Those in the know will recognize the Creative Memories Cutting System.  That makes me Super Cool.  I ended up with 30 tags from 1.5 cereal boxes (the other half had a $5 coupon for gas.  I wasn’t so stupid that I painted over free money!), two granola boxes and a fruit rollup box.  What?  We went to the lake this weekend.  That’s weekend food.

step 2: cut

Step 3: Measure 0.5 cm in from each end for the elastic holes.  Don’t be banging those holes right away if its the middle of the night.  The rest of the family doesn’t find that amusing.  Not even for Genius Tags.  They’re no fun, those guys.

step 3: measure

Step 4: Jazz up those labels!  For my dots I used the end of the toothpick, and then had to redip in paint every second dot.  How’s that for detail?  It ain’t perfect, but it did the job.

step 4: pizzazz

Step 5: Go to bed.  In the morning, pound out some holes.  I have this fancy eyelet kit with a handy tool for hole making.  I used it, despite the fact that getting this box out is a guarantee to having three children suddenly appear out of no where and be deeply interested in whatever it is you’re doing and desperate to help. My kids really like hammers.

step 5: hammertime

Step 6: Tie on the elastics.  I have no pictures of this.  The first 5 pictures were boring enough.  I used a dollar store roll of clear jewelery elastic, cut to about 10″ which gave me a generous length to tie with, and then I cut off the excess.  I did a triple knot.  Safety first!

oh yeah, that looks slick.

wordless wednesday::please never change

please never change

wordless wednesday::my monkey making music

my monkey making music

baby-baby

I would like to have another wee rotten.

I KNOW.

When I tease Steve about this he rolls his eyes and plants his feet firmly.  The answer is no.  Which is, in all honesty, ok.   It really is.  It makes sense NOT to further populate the already crowded and strained earth.  It makes sense to concentrate on Phase II (or III or IV depending on where you start numbering Life Phases).  It makes sense to stop and soak up the awesomeness that is Right Now with three healthy, happy, and seriously awesome little beings that I share my days with.  Besides, I’ve given away all the baby stuff.

Still want another.  Can’t help it.  Maybe we’re hardwired that way.

I could probably stamp my feet and whine and carry on and get my way but babies aren’t usually something that you throw a temper tantrum over to convince the other person (especially if it is the other person responsible for providing the food and shelter for said wee rotten).  Instead of stamping and whining I decided to be adult and take a hard look at my reasons for More!Babies!.

They’re pretty lame, to be sure.

1.  Babies allow you to check out of life.  It’s like this get-out-of-dealing-with-the-real-world pass, like a bathroom pass but better.  It’s the bathroom pass where you meet your boyfriend in the bathroom and then make out for 15 minutes.  That kind of pass.

2. I really dig this life.  I mean, my life totally rules.  Steve has prefaced many sentences with “I know you don’t want anything in your life to change but…” and he’s right.  This life, right now, this second?  AWESOME.  To be fair, that is also part of my personality.  The cup is half full, usually with wine.

3. Not working becomes me.

4. I don’t think there is anything else in life that matters more than the relationships we keep.  I really like people.  I really like kids.  I really like the idea of this big, crazy, loud, ridiculous and annoying family.  I like the idea of a community and in theory I should be able to get this from my community.  The truth is, I’ve never had a community that was - I don’t know what the right phrase here is - that fulfilling?  that true?  that comfortable?  I never fit in 100%, which I imagine no one really does because we’re all people and we’re all different and for some reason that is really hard for most people to accept so there is always this push, albeit a subtle push, to conform.  To change to be more like the group or the community.  People, as a general rule, aren’t that great at just accepting but we’re REALLY good at passing judgement.  Plus, I’m kinda weird.  Families have a way of embracing the weird.  Friends don’t have to be as tolerant, and generally aren’t.

5.  I have this romantic notion of homeschooling my kids (another blog post, I’m not talking out of my ass, I’ve done the research.  Besides, this is a great community to do that, there is a huge homeschooling population that is very supportive so socially you wouldn’t be holding back the rottens), raising and growing my own food, sitting on the front porch in the evening playing the banjo and singing to my chickens. For some reason I think you need a lot of children to do this.  At least 4.  Maybe even 6.  I mean, think about it.  AWESOME, yes?  I knew you’d think so.

6. 3 is an odd number.  4 is even.  Things should be even.

It really is a mystery why Steve doesn’t just jump on this bandwagon.  I mean seriously, right?  RIGHT?

wordless wednesday::downpour

downpour

handmade::the birds

This little mobile was one of the Christmas Handmades.  One of the Christmas handmades that actually got wrapped and placed under the tree.  I know, right?  CRAZY.  You should totally invite me to your next party, I’d liven that shit right up.

tweet tweet

This was the gift that Callum made for Claire.  The inspiration was this mobile, which I figured would be easy enough to recreate and make our own.  I cut out the birds from some neutral construction paper that I had on hand knowing that Callum would be coloring them.  I cut out many more birds than these two.  I would have used cardstock but I didn’t have any and I wasn’t about to go out and buy some for this since I literally have a suitcase full of paper.  One with a suitcase full of paper needs not to buy more paper.  Ever.

Then one fine day when Claire was napping – which, seriously, when was the last time that girl napped?  Last summer? – Callum went to work personalizing Claire’s Birds.

Callum wasn’t big on my abstract art idea, or say, wildly colored birds.  I even broke out the “good” markers but could not convince him to add any more color to each bird.  Once he started to get pissy about it I let it go.

I do love how he colored each bird a breast, and the eyes.

He also decided that two was plenty.  This may have been because I mentioned that when he was done we could go outside on an adventure and find the stick they’d hang from.  He was all over that.

I don’t think I used his stick to make the mobile.  Man, I’m a bit of a bitch Mommy.

ANYWAY.  Once the stick was collected, I had to assemble that sucker pronto because it had to be wrapped and let me tell you, the wrapping and presenting of presents is still a big deal over here.  It’s Very Important and honestly, happens a lot.  The kids routinely wrap up  my stuff and give it to me as a gift.

Getting your own bra wrapped up in a box is a bit of a letdown.  I’m just sayin’.

just hanging.

The birds were well-received.  My kids love to get stuff that the other made for them as I’ve brainwashed them well.  These now hang proudly over the head of Claire’s bed.  Where Claire’s head doesn’t lay because one day last month they decided to sleep backwards, so these birds hang over her feet.

This would look really adorable with pretty paper and several birds, don’t you think?  I mean, Claire’s Birds look adorable too and are totally awesome in that kid-made way, but you could inexpensively make something pretty stellar as a baby gift.  You should do that.  Go! Create!