These are my spice jars. I love them because I can see through them, they all match, and look very nice sitting in my cabinet. I bought the jars at World Market a few years ago and my label maker and I had a date one afternoon printing out labels to put on them. I love my label maker!
The labels have worked very well, but weren't as aesthetically pleasing as I imagined they could look if I spent a little time at the drawing board.
I went to work designing a simple label for the lids. I thought it would be best to print on 8.5 x 11 labels, then punch them out, but I found round stickers by Avery and thought I'd give that a whirl. How convenient to just peel off the sticker and put it on my jar lid! I'll be doggoned if I can ever get my designs to line up properly though! It would be way too much to ask!
Plan B (which was really Plan A): print on 8.5 x 11 labels, then punch with my Marvy punches. Initially, all I could find was a package of 100 sheets for $40. I only needed to print on three sheets so that seemed such a huge waste!
Plan C: Print on 2 inch by 4 inch labels and only buy a package of 25 for about $7.
Plan C worked. But then … I decided to extend the project to include a Jar Label as well as a Lid Label. Plan C labels could've worked for my personal use, but I knew it would be much simpler to share with you if I found the 8.5 x11 labels. I went back to the office supply store and thankfully, they had the smaller package of 8.5 x 11 labels so I finally ended up with Plan B, which is really what I wanted to start with.
Are you still with me?
Hello out there?
I punched the Lid Labels out with the 1.25-inch punch and the Jar Labels with the 2-inch scalloped rectangle punch.
If you decide to make some of these, be sure your printer prints with smudge proof ink. I tested my labels by dotting one with water and it didn't run. However, if you have a fear of the ink getting messed up in your cooking forays, you could easily go over the labels with ModPodge or some other waterproofing substance.
I'm including a zip file with printables of the lid labels and the jar labels. I've also included a .psd file of each in case you know how to use Photoshop, have spices that I didn't include, and you want to add them. There are blank circles and rectangles, too, in case you just want to hand write. I used the Castellar font at 22 points when possible, but sized down the names that wouldn't fit at 22. (I think Castellar is a font that comes on most computers, but feel free to use whatever font you want!)
PS … does anyone need any labels? I have tons of round ones. I have plenty of 2 x 4 ones. And I am even willing to share my 8.5 x 11 ones!
EDIT: 9/17/2010 AM ... Sadly, World Market doesn't carry these exact jars any more so I went on a hunt for similar jars at a comparable price. Here's what I found ... There are plenty of wholesale places that sell them, but you'd be able to do jars for the entire neighborhood with the number of jars you'd have to order! There are some jars at Crate & Barrel that would work with the round labels. They are squatty and sit on one side so the rectangle labels wouldn't work. They also have some that look like a darling old-fashioned dairy bottle. These are both more than the $.99 I spent on my jars, but I found some similar at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $.99 ... the only difference is that they have white lids rather than stainless. (Full disclosure: I haven't measured those lids, but they look close in size.)
2nd EDIT: 9/17/2010 PM A comment was just posted from Natalie in California that her World Market carries the jars! She said, "Here are the numbers on the bottom of my jars: 2100 3509 or P.O# 200386291."
Hope that helps you get started on the project! Thanks everyone for posting your $.02! It helps us all.
