Chalkboard Painted Jars

So I had a few minutes to myself the other day (chime in with the hallelujah chorus!) and decided I wanted to do something crafty.  I haven’t made time to do something besides housework, mommywork, and sewing in a long time.  I’m redoing my sewing area (I can’t call it a sewing room, it’s overrun with gobs of toys!) to make it a little more functional to hold all of my stuff.  I have more fabric than I know what to do with (addiction, maybe?) and all the usual office looking clutter.  Anyway, this post isn’t about my redo.  It’s about the jars!  So in my redo, I decided I wanted some cute little jars to hold things like buttons, pins, safety pins, alligator clips, and the like. 
This is a very easy tutorial with lots of pictures.  You’ll have to excuse the pictures, though.  Go read this post to see why. 
Okay, so let’s get started!

I got some half-pint canning jars at Walmart.  These are the Better Homes & Garden line.  They have a small space on the front to write on. 

Then go get some chalkboard paint.  It’s not crazy cheap, but the possibilities are endless with this stuff!  I have more things I’m planning on doing with mine.  There are several different brands.

Tape around the edges of where you’re going to put the chalkboard paint.
Ahem.  We did not have any painters tape.  I HIGLY recommend painter’s tape.  I did, however, have Scotch tape.  And because I’m cheap, and lazy, and live 20 miles from town, it’s what I used.  Regardless of what you use, if your jar doesn’t have a flat surface for the tape to adhere to, you’ll probably have a little seepage.  But never fear!  You’re painting on glass so it can easily be scraped off with a knife or razor blade.    Carry on.

Take your fingernail (or whatever) and do your best to make the tape stick down around the edges.  This is probably where painter’s tape would’ve come in handy.

Get your paint out.  Shake the can up a lot! 

Smooth some paint onto the surface.  Go from side to side (not up/down) and try to do it in one or two strokes.  Don’t worry if it looks a little drippy.  It gets smoother as it dries.

Paint your jars (I did 6/12) and wait on them to dry.  They dry to the touch in 30-60min.  The can says not to write on them for about 4 days.

Sit your jars aside.  If you want to spruce the lids up, continue on!

You’ll need scrapbook paper (or fabric) glue, a marker, the 2 lid pieces, and some scissors.

Take your jar lid and and marker and trace a circle onto your scrapbook paper.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.

The circle will be just a smidge bigger than the inside piece of the lid.  Anyone know what that thing is called? 

It will fit like this….

Put some glue on your lid.  Yeah, it’s clear.  Don’t ask why I took a picture.  Whatever.

You have two options here.  You can glue the excess edges onto the inside piece or you can cut the excess off.  I chose to cut it off.  Doesn’t have to be perfect, you won’t be able to see the edges.

Here’s the new inside lid piece.

Stick it inside the outside piece. 

Screw the lid on your new cute jar!  This is post-tape peeling and paint scraping due to the scotch tape incident.  USE PAINTER’S TAPE. 


With buttons!

This entire project was done during naptime!  It doesn’t take very long.  I did 6 jars!  The package came with 12.  Any crafty ideas on what I should do with the other 6?   
Enjoy!

I'm linking up to Power of Paint @ Domestically Speaking, Somewhat Simple Link Party Thursday, and Transformation Thursday @ Shabby Chic Cottage!