Thursday 19 June 2014

Pinspiration.

I love pinterest.

For a hoarder like me it means I can collect as many
ideas, patterns and pictures as I like without have shelves full
of folders and box files cluttering up the place,
although of course I do still have a few.

Well this week I had to clean up some jars to be used
as garden night lights at a wedding.
 It's a job I hate as it usually takes ages to get rid of
that sticky residue left by the labels.

So on to Pinterest to look at some of the weird and
wonderful home cleaning ideas that are on there and 
see if there is an easier solution.






Of course there was, how did I doubt it. 

The solution turned out to be mixing 
equal amounts of bi-carbonate of soda and vegetable oil,
Paint it onto the jar, make a cup of tea and catch up
on some blogs.

10-15 minutes later wipe the jar with kitchen roll
and pop in the dishwasher.

Voila
 beautiful shiny jars
which is wonderful as I have quite a few to do over the next
few weeks.



One of the other things I love doing is browsing charity shops.
This week I found this wicker basket which I 
knew would be the perfect size to put herbs in on my kitchen windowsill
but felt it was a bit dark for what I wanted.




So out came the left over white emulsion paint from the garage
and a couple of coats of paint later it looked much better.


While it was drying I remembered something else I
had seen on Pinterest and as the paint was out
I thought I would give it a go.


These two baskets have been used as waste paper baskets
and needed a bit of a lift.
Put the paint in an old washing up bowl and dip
the basket in the paint.  Then you sit there for ages in the sunshine
holding the basket and 
letting the excess paint drip back into the bowl. 


Then just leave them to dry.



Parsley, basil and coriander fit nicely
in their new container



With my lovely ceramic plant labels.


And
It might be back in the same position but it looks
a lot nicer I think.
So thank you Pinterest for the inspiration.


And to finish

 some flowers from the garden




Gillx

5 comments:

  1. What fun to actually use the ideas from Pinterest! I am making note of the label cleaning method...I am a jar-keeper, too! The baskets look wonderful with a bit of fresh paint and your garden flowers are gorgeous!

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  2. Fantastic! I love your baskets - what a clever idea! Their new look suits them. You could use white spirit to get the icky stuff off the jars. Popping them into the dishwasher will also get rid of the smell. I also use it to get grease marks or foodstains off the front of my t-shirts, when I invariably miss my mouth whilst eating, though you would wonder how that could be at all possible!!

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  3. Was there life before Pinterest? ;-) Thanks for the jar cleaning tip, definitely going to use that one, and well done those baskets look fab.
    Happy weekend,
    xx

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  4. Oh that sounds like a great idea, although I don't have a dishwasher (other than my hubby). I have used oil before, The other thing I have done is fill the bottle with very hot water,and this seems to "melt" the glue and the label just peels off. You are my swap partner, so I am off to try and learn more about you, and see the kind of things you like. Funnily enough we have the same name.....Gill

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  5. So happy to have discovered your lovely blog via the 'Around the World' blog hop!! Love, love your charity shop acquisitions and thank you for the great tips via pinterest!! How cool does your basket look on your kitchen window sill sitting there in the sun and those ceramic labels are perfect!!

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