Jars & Canisters

So one week ago today I was dealing with the big question of whether or not to buy canisters. 

The day before I totally had my eye set on some cute canisters at Target. But they didn't have enough on the store shelf, so I resisted purchasing any there. Then I came home and even so much as loaded these puppies into my Amazon shopping cart. . . 

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along with a few chalkboard labels. . .

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I wanted so badly to duplicate the look of these fun canisters on Dina's baking cart.

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But I just couldn't see shelling out that money right now. It was going to be at least $60 to buy what I wanted. So I cancelled the order and went back to the daily grind of changing diapers and sweeping floors.

Then, later that day, I was working in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and clearing the countertops and I had an idea...why not use canning jars as canisters??? 

We already use them as our primary drinking glasses around these parts. We find them charming and whimsical. 

So I gathered up a few larger ones that were laying around the house and began filling them with goodies - tea bags, Cheerios, brown sugar, sugar and coffee. I figured, why not give it a try? I'm out absolutely nothing and if it doesn't work well, I can scrap the idea and buy my dream $60 worth of canisters and labels. . .

But, so far, I am LOVING our jars-turned-canisters. I'm finding it extremely handy to have these frequently used items out on the countertop, the display looks cute and the best part of the whole thing - it was FREE. :) Makes a nerd like me happy, at least.

I contemplated labeling them somehow, and I may still, but in all reality, it's pretty self-explanatory and I'm just not sure I like the idea of affixing a label to the jars and covering up the Ball, Kerr, Mason labels that are stamped in the glass.

Of course, the day after I did it, I found this image on Pinterest from an etsy shop.

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So I guess I'm not the first one to think of something like this. :)

What do you use canning jars for? Anything besides real life canning? I've been using them a lot lately to organize. In fact, I'll probably be posting again sometime soon with more glass jar storage ideas.