mason jar quickies.

to continue with our mason jar week long celebration ill share with you the three most simple and marvelous things to do with these cute little containers.    

mason jar quicky #1     hold the change
two people acquire ALOT of change. boyfriend being more of the change acquirer and im the cash it in SPENDER. obsessively thinking of ways to contain the change that seems to find its way ALL OVER the house, it hit me. a few months back i was in the wedding of a fantastic friend. at one of the festivities in her home i noticed that her fiancé kept all his change in jars.  WHAT A GREAT IDEA!  i went with it and dressed it up a bit to work with my decor.  because that IS what really matters. 

thanks mr. & mrs. glass!!

mason jar quicky #2     lightning bug game
kids love catching lightning bugs, child me being one of them.  evil little bug killers, i know, but HEY it was fun. my dad would always give each my sisters and i a mason jar to catch as many as we could.  the one who caught the most would win (forgotten about after hours of fun). when a few were caught the jars became something straight out of a midsummer's night dream. this weekend is a weekend of outside celebrations, use this activity to revisit that kid from within.

picture found at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brodyjt/

mason jar quicky #3  jar it
this-is-kindof-amazing-so-remember-it-diy-quicky. every year my boyfriend and i get loads of free pecans from his family. after eating what we can the rest are candied and jarred for favors.  if you dont get an amazing price on peanuts then this can be COSTLY.  
the option: make your favorite candy and wrap it with a mason jar!

 

pictures found at
http://www.elanaspantry.com/a-holiday-gift/
http://www.homemadegiftguru.com/old-fashioned-oatmeal-cookie-recipe.html

this idea i have to contribute to my cousin, rachel. having seen it done before i recognized the cleverness when she used it last christmas for favors. it IMMEDIATELY found a place in my clever little notebook.  take your favorite recipe and put all dry ingredients in the jar.  add a cute recipe card to it or a wooden stirrer, as pictured by this clever person.  your creativeness will blow everyone away! 

everybody loves.. mason jars!

only ONE MORE WEEK till the 4th?!  it got here so fast this year. as everyone is gathering together and hostesses assemble their parties, mason jars are coming out of the woodwork.  if they arent, they SHOULD be.  no matter the material, there so many different diy things to make.  why mason jars are so amazing - any way you use them they are so freaking cute!  stay tuned. every day this week i will have a different way to use and reuse these awesome jars with some amazingly clever ideas.

using my two favorite things, mason jars and candles, here is a clever idea followed by the how tos.  read on.

mason jars with floating candles

needs:

raffia ribbon or twine

mason jars
small candles (tea light candles float just as good and are CHEAP.  just take them out of their metal holders and fold over the wick so it wont fall through)

food coloring - the option

wrap your choice of string several times around the top and then in a bow 

add water and candle.

change the candle color OR add a drop of food coloring to give it a personalized look.

i love everything pumpkin, cue orange candle.  

celebrate independence day with a red and blue with white candle.

i loooove a blue and brown color scheme!

to get this look add about a half of a drop of blue dye.  

<3 it!

rainy day diy.

we are all still getting to know each other here in cleverkristy land but something you might have seen coming is that i am a coffee LOVER. like looooove.  like cant eat cant sleep reach for the stars over the fence world series kind of love.  got it?  good.  so whenever i see something that has anything to do with coffee, im all over it.  and there is NEVER  better time to make a hot cup o' joe, then when its all grey and rainy outside. 


how this clever idea came about
i was amazon surfing my favorite key words and happened upon coffee stencils.  for those of you who dont know what they are, SHAME ON YOU.  haha, jk this is what they are:

dont you love them!!!  and for just 4 easy payments of $5.00, plus s&h, they can be yours!  well... i immediately thought i can do that.  I searched through my house for inspiration to come.  it didnt. i got back online and searched the stencils and found a lot of plastic ones that other people had made. JACKPOT. hello plastic wonton soup cup from last week.






diy caffeine happiness tools
exacto knife 
plastic - old togo container, top to your margarine, a deli lid... top of a pringles can. you get the point.
cappuccino - frothy goodness 
coco powder 

draw a design on the lid.  use the exacto knife to cut it out.  hellooooo cute! 

  

plain cleverness.

today marks my 1 week, 7 whole days blog ANNIVERSARY!  and can i say goal:  500 views!!  congratulations readers on getting some great ideas and making my blog something to be sought out.  lets keep pay'in it forward because i am committed to you!  =D

as bloggers, we are always trying to be innovated and come up with new and ingenious ideas.  when those creative juices are flowing things just come to us, ie. my pvc pipe turned curtain rod.  as you know my posts are a consolidation of amazing things that some of my amazing fellow bloggers have discovered.  i am making it my mission to keep my followers knowledgeable on ways to decorate on a dime and eat delicious, healthy alternatives.  todays blog is nothing short of a little creativity and inspiration.  

red online is a neat website with loads to offer.  while doing my daily craft surfing i saw this neat idea and remembered i had a heap of postcards from when i went traveling through europe!  

step 1.

acquire postcards.    

step 2. 

tape post cards in whatever order around door frame   

step 3. 

take a step back and admire how amazing you are for choosing to remember and ACTUALLY DO this idea.  bc its pretty groovy ;)

         

this next idea i have seen done on many sites and to my boyfriends dismay i stared making and just FINDING places for them haha.

step 1.

use a whole roll of tp or paper towels.  

step 2.
smash and cut the left over cardboard roll in 1/2" slices 

step 3.
hot glue them in the center

options: I added paint on SOME of mine to add a little color in my life ;) ENJOY!

the wicker mans flight

today, june 21st marks the longest day (& shortest night); the summer solstice.  most people know when the summer solstice is here because google is awesome and tells us all we know.  here is it in a nutshell.  if i get something wrong, i am sure someone will tell me 

brief as possible

way back when, folks thought that it was a spiritual day.  herbs picked on this day were extra potent, fires were burnt in celebrations and it was good luck to bring some of that ash home after.  celebrations were had to welcome the coming year and let go of all that was being held onto, for whatever reasons.  ONE way that it was celebrated was to burn the wicker man.  write down anything that you want to get rid of, wrap it around a few flowers pinned to the wicker man (a symbol of the sun god, who died on this day) and toss it in the fire that you have already burning - and watch your troubles burn away.  

sounds like fun, right?  well, lets get rid of our troubles!

here is a pic so you can get the idea. mine looks
 a bit different, i just thought it seemed easier.

quick tutorial.  subject: wicker man

1.  grab a bundle of anything.  grass, straw, leaves.  tie around the middle with anything you have laying around ...that you dont mind burning.   i have string - or lets get fancy - TWINE  

2.  take the bottom part, split it and tie a bit of twine where each "foot" would be.  3.  take the top part, split it in 3.  the two on the side 

tie a bit of twine where the "hands" would be.  more so in the middle since you want the hands and head to look a little different - but thats just me.   4. take the middle top and tie at the very top to create a head.  

and there you go!your very own voodoo doll, I MEAN wicker man. 

 write away your troubles, tuck it in the wicker man,
toss it in the fire and enjoy!