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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Repurpose Glass Jars, To Vintage or Not




I love finding new uses for things that are usually  trashed.I have saved jars,plastic containers with lids  and boxes.The list goes on and on.i am not a pack rat by any means ,the things I save have a clear purpose in my mind.If they do not get used at some point I do trash them.The net has been a source of great inspiration to me.I use it like a library and feed my mind of new things everyday.
Now that being said lets move on to what I have always wanted to do.... make my own vintage looking jars without paying an arm and leg for them.
I can still see my Grandmother Cason's cook house with it's cement floor and long bench tables that we all sat around on family gatherings.She was a mother of 15 children and I forget how many grand and great grandchildren.  When I was growing up there was never a lack of playmates.The cook house was large  and hot in summer and cold in winter.I can remember looking inside the shelves   and finding coffee cups that had filters right inside the cup to strain the coffee grains(no coffeemaker just steep and strain) .
The depression coffee cups and the colored jars. Depression
 glass was given out free at many store even movie theaters.Some was included in food package like toys was in cereal and crackerjack boxes.This was to entice the buyer to purchase the product .After all during the Depression  times was hard and the poor people had no money to wast on pretty dinner ware.The pretty colors and etching on the depression ware gave them pretty dinner ware to use. If you would like to know more about the subject I have included some links.You might be surprised at the things you can learn about that time period just by looking at the products that were used .


Copyright © 2008 by National Depression Glass Association 


Teal Depression Glass
Copyright© 2006 - 2012 - SuzieMax.com
http://www.suziemax.com/Depression-Glass.html

 Hazel Marie Weatherman, copyright 1974.
http://www.mindspring.com/~reyne/dg.html



 Now mason jars  were colored blue and a few other colors  because it was said that the darker the jar’s color is, the longer the food lasts. Today the jars are used not only for food but as a decorated accent for the home.Had we only known that the things from our past would be the treasures of our future we each could have carried a link to our family roots that could be shared with our children. 
Copyright © 2012  The Inglenook Decor. 


Now I will share the links I found on how to color your own jars below.Remember you don't have to limit yourself to mason jars.I save pickle ,mayo,fruit,and just about any other jar that catches my eye.
Lets begin exploring the diy  art of jar color !
 First thing to remember is that these methods are NOT intended for food use.If you want color jars for food use you will need to purchase color jars.
If you know of a way to color jars that are safe for food use ,please share with us .I always love learning something new.

1. HispanicallyEverAfter has a great tut for coloring jars .Nice pictures and clear directions.

http://hispanicallyeverafter.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/diy-color-tint-glass-jar/

2. Chicken in the Road is  another tut.In this one she goes in great detail of the failures and successes of dying the jars. I found this tut of great help in information .If you never look at another tut I would recommend  this one be on the must read.
She has a very nice imagery of the process and as a visual person this was right up my alley.
Do read the full post and not skip right to the tut.It has very good information .

3. DIY: Tinted Mason Jars in Rainbow

Another nice image  tut 
alt


4 Craftaholice Anonmos 

has a tut on creating permanent dyed jars basically the same as the others except she uses Crystal Gloss Enamels  to color the jars.
DIY tinted mason jars
COPYRIGHT © 2012 CRAFTAHOLICS ANONYMOUS

5.Last but not least is creative little daisy blog site.Another great image tut .I love the little jars!So cute


2010_06190010

there you have it.Several sites to get you started on creating those vintage jars at a fraction of the price.Even if it is not the actual ware from my childhood it still brings back those fond memories of my childhood that are long past.Families grow and move on,mothers ,daughters ,sons and farthers all have families of there own and if we don't hold to our past we lose a little bit of our future.So tell the stories and save that scrap of past to hand down to your children and most importantly make those memories .Sometimes memories are all we are left with,save the good and lose the bad.


Remember
Love What You Are Doing 
and 
Do What You Love!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Pumpkins,Trees,Apples, Teeth and Dogs ? Oh My

Poor little Dove b4surgery  
Dove AFTER surgery 
I haven't posted in several month.Things here kind of got crazy. Not sure what happened first.I think it was my best friend Valery's dog Dove.Now mind you she lives across the road from me and at one time we shared a dog named Froggy (yes I named him that ,it's another story for another day ).Well he ended up living with me and she pays the vet bills .Then we got Ranna (I KNOW ,I KNOW means frog) Now she is my dog and her brother Dove is Valerey's. Dove seems to think he is Superman main dog.Meaning he sails off things with out a care.He is a dachshund and  his little back just can't take it.So far he has has 2 surgeries on his back ( her 2 mini car payments she likes to say) and on this last one we came to an agreement that he stay with me while she works out of town on the weekend to better watch the supper dog complex (Dove)

Ranna and her enemy Lucy protesting  together
over Dove
 Now my other dogs are just getting used to having my oldest daughter 's  dog Lucy ( who is leaving with her in 30 years when she moves out)in the house all the time .then Dove started staying and they are still trying to figure out what the heck we were thinking . So basically I have been nursing   Dove and now he is better just babysitting him.So far so good except the marking my house war! That is finally under control( can you say doggy diaper? Yes you can)
Froggy  taking Dove spot
Erica left Jordan right
Next came the special order I got from a haunted house attraction company for fake teeth .Crunch time they wanted 100 by  2 weeks! But I did it and sent that off ,whew doing all that with jealous dogs  was not easy .They spent a lot of time with my daughters and outside lol. next came special orders for clay apples with music, twilight and harry potter quotes, That one took awhile,burning ,pasting drying ....But it all came together very nicely!


 Lastly my youngest graduated this past week and all the pick her up go  get her and drop her off was hair pulling .Mostly my oldest did that as I do not have a car (laughs evilly) And the where are you at? game we play when trying to find her.Very busy.
Erica right Jordan left 
Froggy hunting flies
 So now I am sitting back writing a post finally  while boling chicken for soup.thinking and taking time to watch Halloween movies ( I am in Halloween mode ALL year  .I love it) while sculpting spooky trees that my daughter ,husband,and sometime fly hunting Froggy ( see name fits but there is more to that story ...okok later) break off limbs every chance they get. All in all it has been tiring but satisfying past months.I can't wait to see what happens next  hmmm maybe I can.



visit my Etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ARaysCreation


Remember
Do What You Love
and
 Love What You Are Doing!