My family is very environmentally conscious. We do just about everything we can think of to help the environment — we use cloth diapers, recycle, conserve energy, etc. I am always trying to find ways to reuse and repurpose things. This might seem like a hassle to some, but for me, it is simply another challenge to think creatively. It is fun and rewarding to look at everyday things that would be trash to most people and find a new use for them!

When my brother-in-law gave my son some organic baby food, I had about thirty baby food jars to find a use for. After I had taken the outer wrapper off, it hit me — these small glass jars would make perfect clear embellishment storage!



I started by cleaning the jars, inside and out. I then painted the lids with two coats of acrylic paint. I chose to make the lids correspond with the color of embellishments I planned to include in each jar. After painting the lids and allowing them to dry, I adhered a coordinating flower, using Mod Podge for adhesive. I also added a rhinestone center to each flower. Finally, for a finishing touch, I added a ribbon around the rim of each lid. I altered all my jars this way for conformity, keeping them simple to allow the embellishments to shine through.



After making my jars I was fortunate enough to find a perfect storage cabinet for them. My dad found an old trinket cabinet that was being thrown out because the front glass was missing. When I got the cabinet, it was dirty and worn looking. I cleaned it up, and applied two coats of fresh paint. After allowing it to dry, I added embellishments to the top front of the cabinet. I adhered the Bazzill Bling flowers using Mod Podge, and added a rhinestone center to that as well. Finally, I added a swirl rub-on to each side of the stacked flower.



The best part about this project is that everyone wins! These jars are not only good for the environment by reusing something that would otherwise be trash, but they are great for my wallet, since I got a free storage system.

I know some of you are probably thinking, that’s great, but I don’t have baby food jars to alter. Here are some suggestions:

• Post a listing to your local freecycle or craigslist, requesting baby food jars. Similarly, you can request these at local church nurseries, daycares, or from other moms you know.

• There are a plethora of other containers that could be altered for storage: plastic peanut butter jars, glass fruit jars, spice jars, and sprinkles jars to name a few. Think about this as you’re making purchases at the grocery store.

• Search local garage sales for items you can fix up. Remember to think outside the box, and imagine what things could be.

Supplies for Storage Jars:
• Acrylic Paint: Making Memories
• Adhesive: Mod Podge (Plaid Enterprises, Inc)
• Baby food jars
• Flowers: purple, blue, red, orange, yellow, white (Prima Marketing, Inc); green, pink (Imaginisce)
• Rhinestones: (K&Company)
• Ribbons: gingham, green ric-rac, organza (JoAnn’s Craft Essentials), purple striped (Making Memories)
• Stitches: yellow sticky (Colorbok)

Supplies for Cabinet:
• Acrylic Paint: DecoArt
• Flowers: Bazzill Bling (Imaginisce)
• Rhinestone: Making Memories
• Rub-ons: BoBunny Press

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