I’ve been on a spring cleaning kick lately! I’m pretty sure I’m driving my family crazy cleaning out the drawers and cupboards, the playroom and closets…even the garage! I feel the need to purge and create a fresh beginning to a new season! And even though I’ve been somewhat successful in getting rid of things we’ve outgrown, don’t use, or just don’t even remember why we got it in the first place…the hidden hoarder in me sometimes shows her face and makes me think twice about discarding an item or two! Such was the case when I found some sweet little spice jars in a box of mostly junk that I was ready to throw away. I pulled the tiny containers from the trash and was about to plunk them right into the “donate” box when I realized that I just might want to see if there was a way I could make these things useful! So even though my goal has been to clean house…a simple DIY idea made it possible to hang onto these mini vintage beauties…at least for a little longer! Let me share a fun, any day project…
a “spicy” repurpose!
i just thought these little jars were so cute! and if we didn’t already have enough spice containers in the kitchen i would have washed them up and re-used them in the spice cabinet! so what to do with them? i’m sure you’ve noticed that bottles are kind of a craze right now. you see them lined up in pretty wire baskets, or clustered in groups…even hanging from wires, all filled with flowers and foliage! it dawned on me that i could use that same idea with these unique jars and create something fun with very little effort!
since i decided to use them as vases it unfortunately would mean losing the little pink lids, at least temporarily! i used a spool of heavy gauge wire (but pliable enough to bend it with bare hands) and began stringing up the little jars to make a hanging garland! a simple twist under the rim would secure the bottle to the strand…
this is how it looks on the backside…
and spacing them a couple inches apart, i just kept attaching the little bottles to one long strand of wire. don’t worry about being exact with the measurement either! since the wire is fairly strong, the shape of the garland and the way the bottles hang can be adjusted later. you’ll never notice that they’re not perfectly spaced! plus, it sort of adds to the whimsical, farmhouse charm to have it less than perfect!
once i had them all attached, i hung the garland of bottles across my window and tucked a sprig of artificial greens in each one! the heavy wire will come in handy on special occasions when i might want to remove the fake foliage and add water & fresh blooms instead! i think it’s so fitting that my kitchen garland of vases is made from these old spice jars!
of course any collection of small jars or bottles would do! so even if you’re on a spring cleaning kick too, keep an eye out for tiny treasures hidden away…