:Cough Chalkboard Cough: Kitchen Canisters

I must type fast before they take me away.
:Pushes soapbox (sprayed with a little chalkboard paint) towards the front of the blog stage.: 1 Score and 7 hours ago, I discovered a little something called chalkboard paint. Sure, I knew about it, but I didn't KNOW about it. Now...I know, and I'll never be the same. Never ever. The end.
The cool thing about my chalkboard spray paint is that it's never ending. It's true, it just never runs out...ever. I'm on about my 12th chalkboard project now (though I'm only blogging about my 5th project, and maybe someday I'll blog the rest, but probably not too many more b/c I want to keep some friends). With this spray paint though, I'm like Mary Poppins with her magical bag of tricks. Except I have a spray can, and I can't sing, or dance, or talk with a british accent, or fly kites successfully, and there isn't a whole lot of 'tricky' parts to these simple projects. I can nanny two kids that are not my own though, and I know a thing or two about sugar, so we are, like, practically twins. Oh, and I also have a boyfriend who sweeps chimneys. You haven't met him? Me neither. But, I know he's out there, and I can't wait to meet him because, boy, is my chimney dirty after this cold winter filled with fires.
On to my expertise on spoonfuls of sugar.
I had this pickle jar for months. I'm scared to throw anything away because I know the second the garbage truck pulls away I'll come across some blog with some cute idea for dust bunnies or something, and they'll be on their way to the dump, and you can't just invent dust bunnies over night. Back to my pickle jar (we will worry about those dust bunnies and their project, later)....it's been sitting on my counter for a scary long time. I was sitting with my spray paint can, wondering if I could get the local nail salon to maybe polish me up a chalkboard pedicure next time I go in, and then I thought....I have a perfectly good jar sitting right here just SCREAMING to be decorated. I also have a pantry full of half used flours and sugars...wheat, bread, cornmeal, powdered sugar, masa....and they want a home, a real home.
I have these (below) sitting on my counter in the galley the realitor told me was a kitchen. I love my little cracker jars, they are so convenient for day to day scooping....maybe another chalkboard project someday?

By the way, these little scoops in the picture have saved my sanity...I love them. I got them at Cost Plus World Market. They also double as the scoops I use with candy bars at parties. If I ever make a survival kit, it's one of the items I'm adding. If I get stranded on a desserted island, I'm gonna need them. I will!
Alas, there is no room at the inn for the rest of the flours/sugars to get a container and counter space, and I never got around to buying them their own cracker jars for my pantry shelves (8 years and counting).
I just needed a magic can of spray paint to motivate me.
I marked off my little square with painter's tape (and also discovered, the hard way, it's best to cover the rest of the jar's sides with newspaper to avoid dripping (though it scraps off pretty easily with the edge of my nail, if it does drip, it's annoying).

Just fyi, it only takes one coat of paint for these projects, it's insane. That can is magic. I'm going as the chalkboard fairy next Halloween. (I have a feeling I just got marked off everyone's guest list with that announcement. Rightfully so, I can see me now spray painting *your* toilet seat lid with a little chalkboard paint so I can leave messages.)
I then took the lid, and found an old can of red spray paint in my garage from a past project, which conveniently matches the direction my kitchen was going (red, black, and white) before I gave up on decorating the inside of my house 3 days after moving in, and took up underwater basketweaving instead....I sprayed the lid red, in case they are cleaning the pool or something, and I can't attend my class, and feel like taking up decorating again, right after I finish unpacking those boxes (or was it nine years ago I moved in?) I'll decorate the place, and the red will go with the rest of the things. This red spray took several coats, no magic in regular red spray paint, I guess. I imagine you could also use a fabric cover/mod podge process for the lid, but I decided this was probably the easiest to keep clean. I then took the pickle jar (filled with baking soda to get rid of 'that smell') cleaned, and refilled it with the closest thing at hand....powdered sugar....I buy this in bulk form, so it won't all fit in a counter container). I like the chalkboard front because you can write the date it expires (trust me, this won't be around long, but the other misc. flours live here awhile).
Now, I just need to go buy and eat about 5 more jars of pickles so this little fella gets some friends to hang out with in my pantry. ...oh and I need to come up with some recipes to make for wheat flour, cornmeal, masa, splenda, and, and, and....
Linking to:
Reinvented...because it says it's for items 'from trash to treasure' and that's half true for this project. ;o)