Distressed Jars.

My dad gave me some jars that he wasn’t going to use because he couldn’t find any lids to fit them.  I washed them in hot soapy water, let them air dry completely and then rubbed the outside of them down with rubbing alcohol to make sure they were 100% clean.

Then I wrote words on them in Sharpie. and traced over those words with school glue.

  If you look closely at the picture below you can see the black Sharpie marker showing through the glue that’s starting to dry clear. If your glue words are a little messy take a tooth pick and use the tip to push the glue around where you want it.

Let these dry overnight. If you move on to the next step before these are completely dry you can mess up the glue and ruin your words.

Now pick a color or two of acrylic paint. I chose white and vanilla ice cream because it’s a little darker than ivory. Make sure that your paint is new and NOT OLD. If you use old paint for this project the 2nd layer you need to put on will pull and gunk up the 1st layer of paint and it’ll be a compete mess!! Learn from my mistake and save yourself some time.

Use a smaller bristled brush and give each jar one coat of paint. Let this coat dry a few hours before moving on to the next coat.  The picture below was taken after the 2nd coat. Make sure you don’t get any drips or pools of paint around your letters.

After everything has been coated twice and dried completely grab some 100 grain sandpaper and rough up each jar however you like and as much or as little as you like.

I then sprayed 2 coats of acrylic sealer on each jar to seal in all my hard work and keep the jars from getting roughed up more. I choose matte because I didn’t want them to have a shine but you could use Satin if you prefer. I found this below at Wal-Mart for $4 and change.

Here are all the white ones I made. I thought  they needed a little something more so I tied some jute around the tops of them.

And here are all my vanilla ice cream ones.

My absolute favorite one I made has to be this one.

~Jess

Burlap Napkin Rings

I found yard upon yard upon yard of ivory braiding at a flea market for $3. That’s right all this goodness for $3.

After a quick wash in warm soapy water, a quick rinse off and an overnight air dry (all with the help of Evan Grace) the braiding was ready.  

I needed to cut more burlap first.  I cut 70 strips 5” x 1 1/2”

Not sure how to cut burlap, click on the link below

http://www.ellaclaireinspired.com/2012/05/washing-and-cutting-burlap.html

I didn’t cut any strips of braiding, instead I left it all in one long piece and slid my burlap strips under the foot as I sewed, leaving a small gap in between each piece. Sew the braiding down the middle of the burlap, slowly, it tends to slide a little.  I used ivory thread on top and filled my bobbin with a brown colored thread to match the burlap. 

All done.

Cut your pieces apart and stack them for the next step.

With right sides together sew the ends of your napkin rings together. I made another continuous chain for quicker work. 

Clip them apart and carefully turn them right sides out.

I used a tiny bit of super glue on the ends where the seam brings the ends together to keep the rings from fraying.

I got an unbelievable deal on some Ivory satin napkins at Tradesy.com. If you’ve never checked out that website you should!!! It’s like an online garage sale for everything and especially wedding items (even wedding dresses!!!) and clothes.

Anyway, after hours of folding these pretty napkins here’s how it all looks together.

Put these napkins with our wooden utensils and I think our reception just got instantly cuter!

 

~Jess