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