mission organization... spice jars.

It's finally starting to come together… We are nestled back in the states after our four year stay in Germany.  (Almost a year now, can you believe it!?)  & we found a beautiful place to call home.  Now to give everything a "home" inside it…  Enter mission organization.  Time to implement an idea that has been with me for awhile now.  And who doesn't like the idea of a neat & tidy pantry?

of course along with that, comes the very necessary… spice jars!! and voila!
when I open my drawer, they pretty much sing to me… 

these have been a long time in the making…
& of course I couldn't settle for just any spice jar- these french glass beauties are tall, for refilling less often- I was able to customize the size, shape, & even the lid!
you can find them here -buy in bulk & you can even save a few bucks.

I made my own labels, using these free printable templates 

just use photoshop, word, or the software of your choice (but make sure before you print them on the actual labels, you do a few test prints… an easy way to see if they line up, is to hold your test print & blank label sheet together up against a window so the light shines through).  Also- since I already have my graphic picked out, I chose plain white labels that measured a little bit smaller than my jar lid.

and these are the lids I chose (another little tip- mine came with a liner, which sticks to the spice jar -almost like a freshness seal- you can order lids without these liners if you prefer)

and once again, the finished product- I love them (& so does my hubby)!!

Last tip- make sure before applying the label, you screw your lids on tight!  Otherwise they don't line up as pretty…  Now go make your space organized, you'll want to cook from scratch more often!!  Have fun friends!

where some of my inspiration came from… including a few of the labels I used!

Unsophisticook :: The Pretty Blog :: Anthropologie

Lane Robbins :: Lane Robbins :: Style Lush

july photo challenge

Can't believe it's August already… Hope you're all enjoying the last bits of summer!  Here's a fun little photo challenge I did to get my creative juices flowing with the fabulous ladies of fPOE… all Instagram, all iPhone snapshots.

1:: green - 2:: fruit - 3:: stripes

4:: morning - 5:: landscape - 6:: purple - 7:: floral

8:: sweet - 9:: reflection - 10:: sky - 11:: favorite things

12:: 9pm - 13:: soft - 14:: circles - 15:: dark

16:: in the kitchen - 17:: on the road - 18:: heart - 19:: black&white

20:: critters - 21:: pastel - 22:: 11am - 23:: literary

24:: shadows - 25:: doors/windows - 26:: red - 27:: what I wore

28:: symbols - 29:: movie/tv/music - 30:: vintage - 31:: selfie

Surprisingly, this last one was my favorite… selfie included (so not good at those)!!  If I could swap the vinyl for my what I wore, it would be a great "pieces of me" summary… but then again, guess the whole challenge gives insight into the life of me & a few of my favorite things!