After spending almost a decade in the event decorating industry I have repetatively heard "I can do that". Instead of being dismissed by creative minded people, I want to show you how I do "that" so you can be sucessful in recreating that inspiration image. I just might have a few tricks that you haven't seen yet!
Depending on the space you’re looking to decorate for spring and Easter, you might find that you want a little sparkle in a small place. Maybe it’s a window ledge, a office desk corner, a mantel piece, or just a side table. This is something quick that you can put together and adds as much or little color as you like. The best part is that with the exception of glue drying time, you can have this project done in under an hour!
Materials Needed:
Clear Glass Salad Plate
Clear Glass Cylinder Container (with lid)
Glitter (color of choice)
Glitter Glue (complementary color)
Elmer’s Glue
Paint Brush
Paper and Wire Decor Eggs
Tall Candles (colors of choice)
Fairy Lights (optional)
Polycyclic or Clear Acrylic Spray Paint (optional)
Vinyl Decals/Stickers (optional)
Silk Flowers (optional)
Everything you see here I sourced at my local dollar store, with the exception of my Elmer’s glue and polycyclic. Hello mom of young children here! I found that I’m least likely to cry with accidents when I buy things from the dollar store. And accidents happen.
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Let’s Make It
Jar Stand
This one is a multifunctional component. I’m showing you how this holds a decor item, the paper and wire eggs. Instead of the eggs, you can use the plate for treats. Or you can set the plate aside and use the jar as a plate holder for part of your Easter Brunch.
Inside the glass jar paint in your glue in the bottom portion of the jar. I used a yellow glitter glue to complement the green glitter. When using glitter glue, it’s important to pat the glue on your project and not paint it on. This type of glue does not have the holding power that Elmer’s glue has. I chose to stop the glue a little over halfway up the jar and stroke upwards to create a grass like effect. If you want to use Elmer’s glue you’ll have a little better control over the glue and a quicker dry time. Just make sure to add a little secondary color of glitter into your original glitter choice. This will give dimension to your color and keep it from becoming flat looking.
Dump a good portion of glitter into the bottom of your jar and swirl it around on top of the glue. For the sides of the jar, I turned and tilted the glitter from the bottom of the jar down toward the mouth. I also hit the sides as I turned the jar, so that with it came to knock out all the excess glitter, there was very little that came out.
Allow to thoroughly dry.
You may find that you need a dry loose bristle brush to brush out some stray glitterthat likes to stick to the clear glass.
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Egg/Treat Plate
In order to keep this plate safe for treats, make sure to apply the glitter to the underside of the plate. This makes the face hand washable.
Apply a thin layer of Elmer’s glue to the area of the plate that you want to add the glitter. For me, I love the silver coloring of my jar’s lid and want that to shine up through the bottom of the plate. So I only applied glue to the lip of the plate.
Sprinkle glitter over the wet glue. The more thorough you are on the shaking off of excess glitter makes the final step easier to apply without lifting the glitter.
Once the Elmer’s glue is dry, seal in the glitter with polyclinicsealant or clear acrylic spray. This is an important step if you want to make sure that you won’t leave glitter trails when handling the plate. If you choose to use polycyclic, you want to tap the sealant on instead of brushing. Brushing actually ends up stripping glitter off of the glass. If you tap it on, the only glitter that comes off is whatever is loose to start with. If you’re like me and want to minimize the amount of glitter loss, clear acrylic spray is perfect. There is no loss. Plus the acrylic spray has the additional bonus of retaining the sparkle of the glitter more.
Allow to thoroughly dry.
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Assemble the Accessories
For my display I chose to go with the multi colored paper and wire eggs and different pastel colors of tall candles. This is where even more personalization can happen. If you have rattan balls, you can use those here and keep with white candles to keep a clean minimalistic look. (In this instance a white frosted paint or white glitter might be your choice of decorating the jar and plate.)
For the candles, if you choose to go the color route, you can mute the colors by frosting the outside of the glass.
Or perhaps you have ribbon from other decor you already have up. You can hot glue a band of that ribbon around the candle.
For this set, I’m going to apply vinyl decals onto the glass. Also I’ll apply a decal on the jar.
Coming back to the jar, you might choose to further decorate the inside. Perhaps you want to add battery powered tea or short pillar lights. Maybe you love fairy lights. (For this one I would recommend hot gluing the switch the bottom side of the lid. This allows you to turn on the light just by lifting the lid and not having to fish for the switch on the bottom of the jar.) You could be a flower person. You could arrange your favorite silk flowers inside. Combined with fairy lights could be very dreamy looking. I think I’m going to have to find where I stashed my silk butterflies. The wing span is about 6″ and I could arrange 1 or 2 butterflies on the inside and have a little whimsy on the inside of my jar.
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Put It All Together
Even with all the different ways of personalizing this project, it’s all going to take on a different life depending on how you will set this up. Will you use a colorful table runner? Or maybe you’ll display this set with absolutely no further modification. I can totally see the white frost, rattan balls, white candles set on a reclaimed wood side table.
This year I’m working in concert with others in a garden. (I am so excited for this!) If you’re as busy as I am, you can imagine how quickly things slip through the cracks.
After hitting my local dollar store, I found some pieces that are going to make an inexpensive tool that doubles as home decor, all the while keeping tabs on what’s been done.
With these I decided to make a magnetic board where anyone tending the garden can quickly mark what they did.
I know the galvanized finish tends to overtake everything. So with the galvanized frame and banner, everything gets lost real quick. Not to mention that the frame was a really bad fake wood. To dress all this up a bit and minimize the galvanized look, I painted the frame and banner black.
I forgot to take a picture of the banner painted in flat black chalk paint (the same paint as the frame). It looked too minimalistic for my taste, so I took the transfer tape (which I used to apply the vinyl text) and put it straight onto the paint. Some places lifted the paint quite easily. But to get the distressed look, I scratched the tape
The magnets needed a little something extra. There are so many things that could be done. I have children and they’re helping with this garden and they’ll also be marking what we do when we work, so I went into kid zone and painted the magnets with acrylic paint and did all the colors.
If you want to keep minimalistic, pick your favorite color.
Love things that sparkle, glue on gem stones or use glitter.
What about texture? Glue on fuzzy pom poms, baby pine cones, large seeds or nuts… literally whatever catches your imagination. Maybe you have a farm and want to use small farm yard figures and animals. (I wish I had these in my craft room!!!)
Something that is great about using the galvanized banner is that the extra magnets can be kept on the banner so you can add stickers, personalization, more tasks, or a note section in the blank space on the bottom.
And then while typing I decided to go a different direction.
I pulled these out! Last year I made carrots out of my corn cobs. And I brought out the wooden beads from my drawer (which I also got from my local dollar store).
With the beads I removed them all from the string they came on and noted how they tied off the end bead to keep them all on the string. This “knot” that they used was how I spaced the beads further apart on the string.
Once I made those changes, the colorful “polka dots” needed to change. The gold and green glitter styrofoam balls simplified the overwhelming colors.
Even with the new modifications hanging, I’m not satisfied with the final color scheme. And sometimes that happens when you’re creating. You start building from the image you see in your head and make a change here or there and an earlier idea you loved just doesn’t work anymore.
The black isn’t working anymore. I loved the idea to begin with because it was a nice basic color that goes with where I was going to hang this. But it’s just not working anymore.
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First thing first, I need to lighten up the banner. So I’ll be distressing it heavily so that the majority of the galvanized metal will show through. With the addition of the carrots, which obviously take the spotlight, I can bring out a lot more of that metal and the metal is not going to overtake and make everything else hide.
But before I do that, I need to decide what I’m going to do with the frame and that’s going to take a few days of looking at it to see where I want to go. At the moment, I’m leaning toward the idea of painting on white striped and creating a plaid hand painted design on it. If I go that route, I might keep the banner predominately black still and incorporate that same design element into parts of the banner.
Stay tuned to see what I finally decide!
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And I’m going to leave you here in this moment just because sometimes the right thing is to take a step away from a project and let it tumble around in your brain. You don’t always have to have the answer right away. And you don’t always have to have things done in an hour.
Perhaps it’s convenient to have an idea presented to you in a finished state.
But I’m going to leave you here with your own thoughts. Because I know someone has that inner voice screaming, “You need to ____!”
Go ahead and leave that comment below.
Or better yet, use that idea to make your own magnetic board for your daily tasks, your children’s chore board, a classroom helper sign, your regular “Honey Do” list, or that board that I didn’t mention but you just got the idea for.
And when you’re finished, send me a picture so that I can see what you came up with.
Lately I’ve been very interested in the Boho style of event designing. A lot of event designers and coordinators tend to gravitate toward the fantasy of rich and fancy feeling decor. There is nothing wrong with that. I gravitate toward that. There’s just something about pretty sparkly things grabbing our attention.
Even when I worked for a decorating company, there was this huge gravitation toward bringing the Boho brides nearer to the glittery and sparkly end of design. I know why there is that nudging toward that direction. But I’m not going to speak ill of other businesses. I just want to take this moment to see and recognize those brides, and other event organizers and celebrants, who want to stay more toward the end of the spectrum of the simplistic and natural look.
This post is for you!
What I want to focus on today are a couple of floral options that are different than what might be proposed to you when you talk with a florist; succulents and preserved wild or garden flowers.
I don’t know if you’ve taken the moment to look at all different colors available in succulents. They are definitely a wide spectrum that diverges from the cactuses and green succulents that your mind naturally gravitates toward.
The best part about succulents, especially if you’re DIY as much as you can for your wedding, is that you can get these in advance and arrange your centerpieces weeks in advance. This is true, even in the middle of winter!
The one thing that you want to pay attention to is the little amount of care that you need to give them. But these are not going to wither or die on you when you look at them funny. They just need to be kept in soil designed for succulents and give them a little water every now and then.
Tip1: Succulents loved being watered from below. So when watering them, place their dish (with drain holes) in a dish of water and give them a few hours to drink as much as they want. They have enough water when you see that the soil on top has been touched by water, not dry to touch.
Tip 2: If you see the petals start to have a wrinkled appearance, they are underwater. Make sure you soak them in a dish of water. It may take a little time. But once the succulents have gotten enough hydration they will look plump again and not wrinkled.
The only other thing that you have to pay attention to is how much light they get. Here in the Pacific Northwest, succulents are not about to get too much sunlight. They can be burnt by full sun, depending on your region. But in the couple weeks that you have them before your event, this is not likely going to be an issue.
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One issue that you might have is when you’re succulent undergoes what looks like a growth spurt.
This example is definitely an exaggeration of what you will see because I’ve had this succulent for well over a year. It started to bolt like this a couple of months after I received it. What happened here is that the window sill (eastward facing) did not receive enough light. So the plant grew to reach more sunlight.
Your succulents will stay small when they have enough light. So if you see this, or you notice that there is some growth that is starting, then you want to find your succelent(s) a sunnier location.
If you catch the growth quick enough, you can trim off the growth, and return your succulent back to the smaller size.
Take a length of dental floss, wrap it around where you want to trim and pull it tight. You can use scissors, but it will apply pressure from two points to cut. If you use thread or floss, you can apply even pressure around the plant. Also if have a cluster flower of a succulent, you can fit the floss in between the petals and top the succulent without damaging the rest of the plant.
The clipping you can then put in a new container with soil and it will propagate for you.
I put the topped succulent in this cup with water with another topped clipping that I’m waiting on soil for. It’s okay to put into water, but you want to get clippings into soil as soon as possible.
If you are saving money by propagating your own succulents from bought succulents, make sure that you give yourself enough time to let new buds grow. It doesn’t happen overnight. If you don’t have enough time, your succulents will look bald and not so happy.
Here is another What-Not-To-Do
This succulent was originally small like the first picture of succulents I showed you in this section. This one also grew to reach for more light. I should have trimmed this when it first started to grow. Had I done that, it would have remained small and cute. Instead, it changed its shape and spread. But what you can learn from this is what it will look like at the spot where you clip back the top your succulent. There is a small bud that you see on the top right. That grew in about two weeks after trimming. On the bottom left you see another bud grow in where I snapped off some of the larger leaves to practice propagation techniques that I’ve seen on FB reels.
If you are interested in looking to propagate succulents for your event, make sure you give yourself enough time to do so. You will want a couple of months to do this DIY. Talk with some local greenhouses with growers who have experience with succulents. Also there are FB groups dedicated to succulents. Join a group or two and learn from those who are succulent whisperers. There is a wealth of good viable information there.
I readily admit that I am not an expert. And there is a world of information available. Just do not take your advice from clips and reels on FB, Tick Tock, or anywhere else. I tried propagating leaves in a plastic bag, through a slit in paper to suspend over water, and directly in water. None of these have worked for me and I am most certainly a novice at propagating succulents. If you’re a novice, I suspect that these reel methods are not going to lead you to success either. (With the leaves, I tried about a dozen and not a single one grew. This is reason why I have little reason to believe these techniques work. Not working the numbers paid off. If I get a success rate of 1 out of 10 attempts, I call it a viable option.)
One other walking away point I want to draw your attention to, is take notice of the terra cotta pot decorations on my pots. These were painted on with acrylic paint and have stayed on the pots over a year later. So it will not flake off anything else. And this is an excellent way of incorporating your event colors. You can create endless possibilities with your design. Whether you go with feather like swirls, dots to simulate lace, stripes, or even using a stencil from any store’s craft department. You can certainly dress up your terra cotta to fit the look you are going for.
I’ve lost count of how many events that I decorated for where I would take home flowers after an event because there was no second life for the floral arrangements after a wedding.
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVED those events because I had pretty flowers to take home and enjoy for a week or two. That is definitely an occupation perk that I’ve enjoyed.
However, at the same time, it has always saddened me a little because I have always wanted people to have more bang for their buck when they are spending good money on a wedding or other event.
So here is where we join two very important passions of mine!
I breathe creativity and decorating. But I also love working in my garden and learning all the old skills of creating home supplements, natural cleaners, and especially new ways of putting food on my table.
The very day that I learned about making a Chive Blossom Vinaigretteis the very same day that I made it.
This is Day One of my Vinaigrette:
My Four year old and I did this together for the very first time and as soon as I saw how this jar looked I immediately thought, “How Beautiful!”
And this was the first, on many ideas that I had:
You can go with sentiments or go all the way with the couple’s monogram, name and wedding date, or even line art that goes with your over all Boho decor.
What I absolutely LOVE about this inspiration is that it’s simple but has so much LIFE after the wedding or event.
For example, this Chive Blossom Vinaigrette will become a salad dressing, meat marinade, or other meal flavor provider in as little as 3 weeks. The total cost for this is just your jar, the chive blossoms, and food vinegar. When you’re looking for cost saving centerpieces, you seriously can’t beat this for bang for your buck!
To do this idea, you will definitely have this be your day of preparation, so have a few hands on deck. You will want to clip your edible flowers, rinse them, and place them in the jars before adding the vinegar.
The reason why I say do this on the day of is because of the process needed to properly turn this into a proper dressing or marinade. It is shelf stable during the whole process, but it needs to be kept in a dark cool place for the 3 weeks of processing. You could also use the jars at the end of the three weeks, when the vinegar takes on a fuchsia/purple appearance. But you want to try to limit the heat and light exposure no matter if you do it at the beginning or end of processing.
Tip 1: This needs to be shaken once a day for the entirety of the three weeks. So you will have a cleaner look at the beginning of the process. At the end of the process, you will have some floating pieces from the flowers. That just naturally happens with daily agitation.
Tip 2: At the end of the 3 weeks, you will need to filter this vinaigrette through a cheese cloth to remove all debris (and rebottle) before you use this as a dressing/marinade.
Maybe puple is not the color that goes well with your Boho design. Here is a list of some other edible flowers that can be used in making your own version of a different vinaigrette. Or you can just put the blossoms of these flowers or others into a jar filled with water.
Nasturtiums
Pansies
Violets
Hostas
Borage
Calendula
French Marigolds
Chrysanthemums
Carnations
Hollyhocks
Sunflowers
Cornflowers
Gladioli
Honeysuckle
Dianthus
Antirrhinum
Tulips
Roses
Lavender
Pea Flowers
Broad Bean Flowers
Onion/Chive Flowers
Brassica Flower Heads
Pak Choi Flowers
Squash Flowers
Dandelions
Daisies
Chamomile Flowers
Red & White Clover Flowers
Chickweed Flowers
WARNING: Make sure that you only use flowers that have NOT had pesticides or herbicides used on them. Whatever has been applied to flowers will enter your body if you eat them or any extract that you make from them.
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Flowers as herbs and seasoning have different flavors that they impart. Some have a peppery note to them. The chives that I grow are a garlic chive, so it imparts a garlic flavor without having to fuss with cloves of garlic. I’ve also started working with Lemon Balm (a member of the mint family) which imparts a lemon flavor. So I could have added tiny Lemon Balm leaves in with the chive blossoms. Which now that I think about it, I’m definitely going to add that to my vinaigrette as soon as I post this!
Another thing to keep in mind is that for thousands of years edible flowers and plant leaves have been used for natural medicine. For example, Lemon Balm is great for combating the viruses behind the common cold. So you can give your body the things it needs to keep healthy while adding flavor to your food.
If making a vinaigrette is not something you will use after the wedding (or other event), consider looking into making your own chemical free cleaner. For example, you can still use this mason jar idea and make a kitchen cleaner with lemon or orange slices and peels.
If you’re not looking for a natural cleaner, than even using berries and mint, basil or other leaves in water, is a great of washing your produce before you eat it while borrowing it for a few hours for your event.
There is one more option for Fall and Winter Events when most of the edible flowers are not in season. You can make Pine Syrup or Spruce Tip Syrup. I found this type of syrup interesting because I have spruce widely available around where I live and real Maple Syrup is a luxury on my family’s budget. This can be a pretty centerpiece as well because you use the new growth tips on a spruce tree or pine cones for the Pine Syrup. I’m sure that you can imagine the possibilities for all your holiday parties with this one!
Decorating the Mason Jars
The simplicity of these jars is beautiful all on their own. But maybe you want to dress them up a touch. What can you do to add a little panache?
Paint the jar ring (White, Gold, or other event color)
Apply glitter to the jar ring (after finished spray with a clear coat of paint to keep from leaving a glitter trail)
Use squares of pattern, texture, or fancy cloth on top (held in place by screwing the ring down onto the jar over the fabric)
Decorate the jar itself
Use the jar as a base for a taper candle (with candle holder) to raise the level of the candle above other centerpiece elements
Put your table number on top of the jar
I hope you’re just as excited about these ideas as I am. These are definitely something fresh for existing wedding and party themes. Be free to experiment with using some of your food preparation and preserving techniques the next time you are decorating for your next event!
Files Used In This Project
As a special treat I have a surprise for you! Visit my store and check out Love. Be sure to hang around and see what else is new. Every Monday at least one new SVG is added!
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What are your feelings about sharing a garage/shop with someone?
I find it frustrating! I have my office/craft space organized with containers that are labeled with its contents. So even if I have containers down I know exactly what’s in it at a glance. And it’s super easy to put away and clean up.
The garage… I so wish, with every wish available I could send my family away for the weekend to organize it and find an official home for everything. And you can guess it. My problem is that my husband has a way he wants it and our two ways of organizing a work space for repairs, large projects, and keeping our hand tools are two very different ways of thinking. The funny part is that more times than not, it’s my husband who’s coming to me to find a specific tool. And yes, I keep my own stash of hammer, screw drivers, and allen wrenches that I zealously guard like my fabric scissors. If you touch them, you better put them back where they belong, LOL.
And if you’ve built anything for any length of time, you know how hard it is to find screws, nails, and washers specific for your project. God Bless my Husband, but he has that garage that we’ve all seen our grandfather’s have: screws in a coffee can, nails in jars… they may have a home but you have to dig for the style and size of hardware that you’re hunting for.
So for my husband’s birthday this year, I had my boys help me build my husband a caddy to separate all those pieces of hardware into an easy to access place that you can quickly grab without feeling like you’re sorting through that bag of unmatched socks. And Bonus for my bragging rights, is that I sourced everything for this caddy from our garage.
This caddy is perfect for a garage, craft room (of all types), office, or anywhere you need to space save and easily access anything. While you’ll see I labeled these specific for garage hardware, you can take this idea and run with it for crafting. Instead of nails, label it buttons. For a Teacher’s classroom, instead of tacks, label for push pins. Change bolts to paper clips. You can completely cater this project to anyone and their passion!
The box that I used is a wooden box (about 12″ by 8″) that’s very similar to a cigar box with sliding lid. The lid was missing and one of the long sides was about to fall off. So I just removed the lid and nailed it to the top of the box.
One reason why I wanted to reshape the box was to have a little hidey shelf, in case my husband wanted it. You know the little objects you want to put in a safe place, but usually any counter space is a place prime for losing the thing you want to put in a safe place. So here’s a safe place. This box was rough, because it wasn’t meant to be decorative. I sanded the box on all sided before staining it. Yes, it maintained the rough look and feel. But I also fully appreciate the rustic aesthetic.
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While the stain dried, I cleaned out my fridge from all the jars of pickled items. I’m not a pickle eater. Nor am I a fan of pickled vegetables. BUT my husband loves them. And my fridge door is where I sourced this collection of empty jars for this project. (I was not about ready to take from my canning jars, although I’ve seen people use canning jars for their hardware holders.)
After the jars were washed and I found which ones were similar in size, I placed them on the underside of this caddy. The smallest jars I put on the shelf. And I went back and forth if I wanted the row of two or the row of three jars to be in front. I chose to put the set of three in the center just for symmetry. Plus, I knew the screws were going to go in the larger jars. And other than the nails, these are the most sought after hardware in my house. So I put those in the front to make it the most convenient to grab.
While the jars dried, from their scrubbing, I set the kiddos up for painting the caddy. They got a bit distracted and wanted to play instead of use tools, but they dropped everything to paint for their dad. And since my husband loves their art, I sacrificed my want to keep the wood stain, which was my favorite part. But I kept the underside stained so a piece of me was still there.
I’m showing you this step, because you can make your caddy however you favor it. You can keep it clean and upscale. Or you can make it very family orientated. There’s no wrong way to make this caddy.
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During this drying time, I cut out my labels with my cutting machine and assembled the layers ahead of time. That way when I was ready to apply theses labels, everything was lined up and ready for a simple peel and stick on the jars.
When the jars and the acrylic paint dried, I grabbed my drill, nuts, bolts, and jars. The first thing I did was drill a hole in the center of the lids. (If you are opting to use canning jars, make sure the lids you choose to use have already been used to preserve your food. That way you still have good canning lids ready to use in the future.)
After you are finished drilling, place your jars on the caddy in the exact places you want them. This pre-spacing is very important, especially when you have rows of jars next to each other like I have on the center and right side. I didn’t want the row to go over the edge, for esthetic reasons. If you have all your jars the same size and they second row comes over the edge, it’s okay. You may want to consider painting the jar lids to keep a uniform look. But the placement is also important because you will find that your jar lids are a smaller diameter than your jar sides. So by pre-spacing your lids, you will make sure you can screw your jars into your lids and not have an issue with the box sides or the shelf.
While you hold your lid in place, drill a hole through your caddy. When you hold is completed, you thread the bolt through the caddy and the lid and secure it with the nut. Hand tightening the nut and bolt will not be enough. You will want to tighten them with a wrench. This is most important if your bolts are short and if you want to be able to (un)screw your jar without holding onto the lid.
TROUBLE SHOOTING: If you find it difficult to keep your lid in the correct place for drilling, without moving, here are a couple of ideas you can use to assist in keeping your lids in place. Before drilling, use masking tape to tape your lid down to the caddy. Another option is to use a hot glue gun and place a circle of glue around the center of the lid. Be careful not to glue the center. You don’t want to drill through glue.
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Once your jar lids are all secure, you’re ready to label!
To get labels to stick with the most success, clean your jar with a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol. This will remove any oils, dust, soap, or anything else that could cause your vinyl to not secure cleanly to the jar.
It is crafter’s choice how you want to add the labels. You can place your jars on a work surface and apply them off the caddy. Or you can apply the labels while on the caddy. I chose to have all the jars attached to the caddy because the only jars that were a perfect match were the three that put in the center row. They were from the same company of pickled vegetables. All my other jars were different sizes, but very similar in measurements. However, if I applied my labels off caddy and centered them on the jars, then none of my labels would have lined up. However, with my jars on caddy, I could get the labels to line up near perfectly and give the illusion that all my jars are matching. The exceptions of course are my small jars in the back (washers and nuts). But those are tiny jars hidden in the back and completely understandable why nuts would be larger than washers.
However, if you’re the personality type that is bothered by things not absolutely, perfectly matching, then please ignore my chaos here. Work to your strengths and show us the beauty of our symmetry and perfectly lined labels. I love watching your work. But if you’re the type that can’t get things to line up perfectly, know that there are ways of lining things up even when your jars are millimeters off in their heights.
Mounting the Hardware Caddy
I’m sorry I do not have a picture of this for you today. We’re in the process of reorganizing our garage and we’re not sure yet if we’re wall mounting or rack mounting this caddy. I will update this post when we get that project finished, so you can see how you might choose to mount your caddy.
The one thing that you need to be aware of is how gravity is going to work when you have the jars filled with their hardware.
Remember, I organized my jars so that my heaviest and largest jars are on one side. If I install with screw jars forward, all the weight and pull are going to be forward. So I will need to compensate. If I install the screw jars in the back, toward a wall, there will be very little compensated needed because the center of gravity will be near the wall and negligible.
For wall mounting, I would want to have my screw jars forward and screw the back side of the box into the wall, with a screw in each corner of that board. Preferably I would want to screw the caddy into a stud, because that will carry the weight beautifully. If it’s impossible, hit at least one stud (which I would center the caddy on and put in an additional set of two screws, in additional to the corner screws). If all I have available is drywall, I will definitely put in wall anchors and drill the screws into those. That way the weight of the hardware will not weaken the dry wall and pull out of the wall under too much weight.
If we choose to go with mounting the caddy on our rack, I will do that using conduit bracket mounts. I will use at least three brackets on the screw jars side. That way, the weight of the screws will pull straight down. there will also be a bracket or two on the back just for stability purposes for when the screw jars are removed, and the center of gravity changes.
Another option for rack mounting is to use a block of wood. The caddy (jars removed for installation) I would put on the bottom side of the wire shelf, with the block of wood on the top of the shelf. Then drilling a screw through the open space of the shelf into the block of wood. This option is not the one I would personally go with, because it doesn’t work with how we use our shelves in the garage. But I did want to mention it because the caddy can be screwed into an existing shelf that you might have.
While there are many ways of installing a caddy like this, I want to put out one more idea. If none of the above work for your situation, you can add wall mounts to the back of your caddy. There are all sorts of alligator grip picture hanging mounts that you can use. With a trip to your local hardware store, you can find picture mounts that can hold portraits up to 50 pounds. That is over kill for this project, but I want to mention that this is another option that could work for you.
Please send in pictures or let me know who make this for. As I mentioned, this example of a hardware caddy I made for my husband for his birthday. But this is perfect for a Father’s Day gift, Graduation gift, something for a teacher, crafter, or even just as another option for home organization.
The one thing that I love about budget and DIY weddings is that the couples, and their families, look for ways of reusing items after the wedding instead of using disposable items. And this is one thing that everyone can agree on, whether you’re a diehard Earth Day person, living Green, being Frugal, or just getting more bang for your buck.
I’m going to focus on one wedding item that tends to be wasteful or even a financial drain…wedding favors.
There are so many cute ideas out there. I really get it.
Some of them are practical. Like the paper fans on those hot summer outdoor weddings.
But if we’re being honest, how many of those items are really used by your guests after the wedding?
The problem that I see is that all those monogrammed, personalized items really don’t see a life outside of the wedding. The true exceptions are for the family and guests who are truly sentimental.
My husband is one of those sentimental people. I kid you not, he’s the one who collects the paper fans after the wedding and brings them home. His feelings are hurt if the one of the boys plays too rough with one and rips it. And 5 years later I just see a blue fan, but he remembers who wedding it was from and at least five new people he met, and a funny story or two from the reception.
So I want to challenge you to find a way to make your wedding favor do double duty. Or even triple duty!
One idea I have for you are little candles that you can purchase at craft fairs and support a local vendor.
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Use #1 Wedding Favor
Instead of personalizing these with your names, initials and wedding date, try finding phrases or words that represent your love for each other. Funny phrases work if you’re a funny or prank making couple. When you take away the obvious personalization and go with personalization that your guests can identify with, you automatically guarantee that your guests are going to want to take your favors home.
Use #2 Year Round Gifting
For example, if you’re keeping with the romantic or Boho themes, this floral wreath is absolutly perfect! It adds to your wedding decor, but it’s absolutely something that people will love to decorate their homes with when they leave our reception. Worse case scenario, you take a few home and they are still an appropriate gift to give for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, an add on trinket to another couple or bride, the possibilities are endless.
This decal is 2″ tall. Some of the details were eliminated to due to size. The rose buds you see here are about 3mm tall.
Use #3 Centerpiece Decorations
If you’re thinking about using tea light candles on your reception tables anyway, these are perfect because one purchase price for a favor is fully utilizable for your centerpiece. And if you design it just right, you can combine it with other candles. For example, here’s the same candle with gold mercury glassware.
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Use #4 After the Candle is Gone
People love cute little things. Even more than that, they love cute little things that they can easily see using when the contents are gone.
This little jar is perfect for adding:
A new tea light
Coins
Q-tips
Toothpicks
Sink side jewelry holder
Small office supply holder (ex. tacks)
Tooth Fairy jar
Spice holder
And any crafty person can find a million uses for this size of a jar on a craft project
I think I bought several of these scented candles from a Christmas Craft Fair vendor for about $5 each. Yes, there are most certainly wedding favors out there that you can find cheaper per unit. BUT my big question is…
Which favor is going to be memorable for your guests? Pull double or triple duty for your decor? Will be used long after your wedding?
Another bonus to purchasing an item like this from a local vendor is that they are likely to work you a deal if you buy something in bulk from them. It’s something to talk to them about. But even at $5, it really is a great deal.
But the absolutely best thing about this favor is that it will absolutely not end up in the trash as soon as you leave for your honeymoon!
File Used Today, Love Wreath, will go live on Monday! There will also be other variations available. So be sure to check them out in my shop.
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