1.10.2010

Olive jars, meet Twine... Twine, meet Olive jars

I type this afternoon with hot glue burns on my fingers... but, they were worth it :)

For Christmas, we had a Mediterranean theme for food at my grandma's. My brother stocked up on olives for the feast.




I originally saved these because Dustin is always reusing containers in the garage to store things. (that Navy OCD keeps things pretty tidy out there!)

But then, I took back my offer and decided to try to repurpose them myself for the house. I love clear glass things. I also have a new obsession with twine-type things also. I thought I'd give it a whirl trying to combine the two and try to save them.

I'll be honest, I haven't used a glue gun in about 10 years. I know, I call myself a DIYer, cheapskate, thirfter.... and I had to call my mom to go pick up a glue gun for me while she was in town. (Since I work from home, I've become quite the hermit; she often gets calls to "grab" something for me.) I had recently been on a quick Hobby Lobby trip where I'd picked up some supplies including 200 ft of goodness, aka sisal. I actually have other plans for this, but today, I just worked on this project. I REALLY wanted some old twine (why didn't I think of this a few years ago when we cleaned out an old barn we owned that had MILES of the stuff? We can't win 'em all.)

In anticipation of this project, I ran these jars through the dishwasher once to get the olive juice out and again to try to tackle the labels a little harder. I also was curious to see how my homemade dish detergent would do. These were in the inaugural trial run.


The dishwasher was no help with the label, even after I had attacked them all with an ice pick--yeah, I know, a tad extreme...I was on a mission. So, I went looking for something to help remove the paper and stickiness. I knew rubbing alcohol would do the trick, but that seemed that it would require a lot of alcohol. Then, I remembered my love for Magic Erasers. I went over all six jars with a steady stream of water and a Magic Eraser and in about 10 minutes, I had them spotless. I was ready to (un)roll (the sisal)...



So, I got my sisal, brand spankin' new hot glue gun and glue and went to work.




 

I was a bit disappointed at this point. It was kinda like when you clean out the closet only to turn around and see that you've filled the WHOLE room up with junk. Sometimes you have to make a mess to clean one up. I soon realized that the messier the beginning, the better the outcome.

I started at the bottom and wound the rope towards the top. I kept a steady bead of glue on it. Then, at the top, I went back around and around to the beginning. This way, I was able to fill in all those gaps you can see in the above picture. My original vision required only one pass along with glue and rope. But, I did two on each and am happy with the results. By doing two passes, I have good coverage. (and double the glue/burns on my thumb) :) The things we to be cheap recycle.



I spent the morning cleaning up and cleaning off our mantle, so I needed something to put on one of the shelves. I thought these would be perfect there... for now at least. :) I also added a little bit of rope belt around all three of them here. But, I've already taken it back off... I"ll also explain the rocks in the picture sometime later :).

 

I thought they looked a little naked, so after searching the house, I found some wine corks I've been saving for another project and filled 'em up.




Here's one final shot, with the little rope belt removed. I'm pretty happy with them. I still have two smaller ones and one bigger one left to do. I think I'll give the thumbs a break first :).









PS-- The links below are a few places where I shared this.. they are GREAT places to get ideas. (Watch out though, if you are like me your ToDo list will double with every link....)

I shared this link @
Cottage Instinct's Make it for Monday, The Persimmon Perch, 

Twice Remembered
Making the World Cuter
Skip To My Lou
The Girl Creative
Between Naps on the Porch
The DIY Showoff
Reinvented
Toot Your Own Horn
A Soft Place To Land
Get your craft on
 Penny Pinching Party (Check this one out! My dictionary wallpaper is a feature!!!)
BlueCricketDesign's Show and Tell
We Are THAT Family  (Don't you love their title?!)
Bobbypinsboardwalk
Strut Your Stuff, Show off your stuff,  Romantic Home's Show and Tell, Frugalicious Friday
Saturday Nite Special

39 comments:

  1. Really cute! Like the rusticness of it all. Is that a word? Rusticness? It is now!

    Donna

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  2. Looks great. Love the wine corks in there.So you had olives with wine then for Christmas? Good combination and nice way to preserve those memories too ;-)

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  3. I think it is a good word, Donna :)

    The wine corks aren't all from Christmas :) But, I thought they'd add a good color with the cork and red.

    I'm on a twine kick lately... I have 2 other projects up my sleeve with repurposing and covering things with twine.

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  4. Thanks so much for linking! Going to add your blog to my blog roll too!

    Next time you need to remove a label, use a hair dryer. Heat up the label nice and good and start pealing (while dryer is still on). Should come right off. :) My dad taught me that!

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  5. Where was this hairdryer tip a week ago?! :) Thanks though, this is a tip I will definitely be using in the future!

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  6. They look cute. I am interested in the detergent you made. On my way to check it out!

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  7. I love the bottles wrapped together. I am linking this to a post I made about wrapping bottles with twine at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com

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  8. Cute way to decorate by reusing and making it your own. I love the grouping of three.

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  9. I love these. what a great way to recycle. I use jars for all kinds of things. Thanks for sharing.
    Cha Cha

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  10. OOh I like those! I feel ya on the burned thumbs, the project I am posting tomorrow gave me one or two good blisters because I wasn't patient enough to let it cool a bit before I pushed the burlap down! Thanks for sharing...and for linking!
    -Tiff

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  11. these look great! love the way they turned out. We have a ton of jars b/c I always save them for my husband to use. Unfortunately we tend to go through more jars than he has use for. Guess I have a use for them now! woohooo!

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  12. Cute idea. I fill my jars with water and sit them in a bigger pot of water and just let them soak for a few hours then use a scrubby sponge like you did to get all the label and sticky off.

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  13. Very Cute. Now I'm thinking of how I could fill some for my kitchen.

    Janet

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  14. Thanks, everyone. I am pleased with how they turned out. I was originally going to do all 6 and pit little pillar candles in them... then I realized what I fire hazard I was creating with the twine/cisal. Sooooooo... Plan B was a temporary fix with the corks, but I like it! :)

    Now every time I open a jar of anything or empty a bottle of something I stick it in the dishwasher, JUST IN CASE! I have a feeling my hubby will soon tell me I need to use or get rid of :) MY response..... "You just never know"

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  15. My mother saves jars that she likes, but she sticks them in her cabinet and forgets about them! Your idea is cute as can be!
    Glad you played Toot Your Horn Tuesday!

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  16. How cool is that!! I have been looking for a decorative way to display my wine corks and I think your idea is great. Thanks!! Terry

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  17. I love that idea! I'm going to make those for all my buttons. Thank you so much for the fab idea.

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  18. I love this project! But DARN, I used all my jute on those balls! I'll have to go get more! Thanks for checking out my blog.

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  19. Love this idea, very very cool! Thanks for sharing!

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  20. So beautiful! Reused items are my favorite!

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  21. Fun fun! I especially like the use of corks. Very cute!

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  22. So so cute! Each picture just kept getting better and better, then when I saw the corks and how the bottles were entertwined, I was lovin' it! Thank you for posting a link to the Boardwalk Bragfest!

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  23. I love the simplistic look of the twine. I vote for no belt. They look great. Thanks for posting to Made it Monday! Jules

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  24. I love them with the wine corks inside! I love the twine on the top! ADORABLE!

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  25. I love ideas for reusing old food packaging! These turned out great.

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  26. I predict mass consumption of olives in my future. Oh my but this is a good one friend! I must confess I have been known to buy a jar of jam at the store purely based on the lovely shape and not at all the contents. Thanks so much for sharing this here little gem!

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  27. What a clever idea! I have so many jars here and now I know what to do with them - thanks!

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  28. Very cute! and ouch with the glue gun I have done that also ~Great pictures Clever idea indeed!! thanks for sharing ~Blessings Heather

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  29. that's cute! I haven't covered jars in a while... it may be time to do it again LOL

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  30. What a great idea! I will try this one out myself. --Delores

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  31. love what you did with the jars, I would of never thought to use a magic eraser I have sometimes let labels soak for hours LOL
    Helen

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  32. I REALLY like this. So happy you posted about them. I've been working on all sorts of things at our house, trying to clean up Christmas and move on ... this is certainly something I might give a try. Thanks for inspiring and motivating! :) Artie @ Color Outside the Lines

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  33. Great transformation, I love the twine too. they look great with the corks inside! Thanks for linking up!

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  34. Those turned out wonderful! OUCH on your digits, though!

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