Monday, February 22, 2010

Basket? What basket?

Silly me. When I purchased these Pottery Barn look alike baskets I accidentally got the invisible version.

Duh, Rachelle.


So for the sake of my sanity and so everyone could lose every little reason for not putting their gloves, mittens, shoes, hats, keys, mail, school to dos, in the right spot. Tags are the answer, and by tags I mean totally free and easy tags. I had a vision in my head and wasn't sure how to make it work. I knew I wanted mini chalkboards. But HOW? It hit me as I was making my key art.



I spray painted glass, can I spray paint cardboard? Yes, yes you can. I started by cutting small rectangle tags.



If I were Martha Stewart I'd make sure they were all the same size. But, guess what I'm not and they aren't. I'm okay with that- you should be too. The cardboard soaked up the paint like a sponge so I did a few coats.



Once it dried overnight (can't be too careful) I rubbed chalk all over them, this helps so that your words don't "stick" or so I hear.



If you're going to use thicker cardboard like I did here make sure you use the smoother side for your writing. With this particular kind it had slight ridges on one side. See?



The other side was much less noticeable, if you want to avoid this completely you could use a thin piece, something like a cereal box. :) I used what I had on hand, and it worked out pretty well.


So-- I could have stopped there and been blissfully happy with them, but I had to add a little warmth to them. Using some more left over burlap, I cut rectangles slightly bigger than the "chalkboards" and hot glued them together.



Oh, no no no it doesn't stop there! A little jute to string it on and it's perfect. I pushed a pen through the fabric to make a little hole for the twine to fit through. Easy peasy!



I love them!

Mr. P loves them because they were free.




Sometimes you just have to look around and the missing puzzle piece to finish a project is right in front of you! What free things can you come up with to spice up your life!?


Don't forget this Thursday at 10, Feature Yourself Friday party! Link up whatever post you feels features how FABULOUS you are. We all want to see what amazing projects you've got going on!




Linking to
The Girl Creative


DIY Day @ ASPTL




The DIY Show Off










37 comments:

Mama Thompson said...

CUTE!!! let me know how those signs work out for items actually making it IN the baskets:)

Frugal Home Designs said...

That is so great, inexpensive and useful. The best combo.

1 Funky Woman said...

Love them! I sure hope they get some good use out of them. But I enjoy looking at them anyway! I sure wish I had a mudroom like yours, I am so jealous!

maura said...

Great idea Rachelle! I love the tags. It is a great idea to use the chalkboard paint, now you can change them like the weather. I also love to label things. My husband used to work for a company that made label makers so I have one ready at all times.

Unknown said...

Freaking adorable! I just love seeing your mudroom come together. Those baskets with the chalk tags, just complete it!

Jenn

**** April **** said...

What a genius idea!!! And they're cute too!

Lovely Little Nest said...

This is a FABULOUS idea. I've seen lots of chalkboard projects lately and have been wondering if all you can spraypaint is glass or wood. Now, I know the possibilities are endless! Thanks for the great tutorial :)

Anny said...

I really like this, they look great!!!

Mandi @ Sweetly Home said...

I love that you used what you had on hand. My kinda project! And here's what I really love...that they hang rather than being tied so that they are horizontal. Love that.

3LittleByrds said...

What a good idea. I love it. I'll have to remember this one.

Jennifer Juniper said...

Aha! I knew you'd have something super cute and brilliant :) Love it!

Unknown said...

Sooooo cute! Great idea!

Nancy

Wendy said...

Cute Cute Cute! I attached some pictures on a few of my baskets ~ one of each kiddo so they know where their stuff goes and what basket they need to clean out ~ we need to work on that cleaning out bit though... HA!

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

They look GREAT!!!! :) Love that you improvised and used what you had. :)

Cara@HomespunKitchen said...

LOVE them! I just did almost the same thing in our entryway closet, check it out!!

Unknown said...

Now this is a great idea! Your pictures look great too.

XOXO

Kate said...

Simple. Creative. Adorable!

Anonymous said...

This is a fabulous idea! I've got some baskets that I can't wait to try it on. :)

So Sunny Day said...

oh wow! how creative. i really like these :)

~ Emily N. from "too Blessed to Stress"

The Decorating Diaries said...

Cute! I use old picnic baskets for storage and have been looking for a tag idea. Thanks.

Janet

Marianne said...

Lovely labels, they really ad a little extra to the baskets.

Paula@SweetPea said...

Very Cute! Your tags really jaz up your baskets and will make it much easier for your family to know where to put their things.

Jess said...

As soon as I saw the title, I knew your kids weren't using the baskets. LOL Love the tags. But them burlap and black is a great combo.

Anonymous said...

Very cute! I've always wanted to try this. Thanks for sharing how you did it.

Mandy said...

Adorable! I love them - what a great solution. The textured side is super cute, too - though I'm sure it's harder to write on...
Anyway, great job!

Heather said...

Those are simply too cute! I'm sure putting things away now will be easy. I love that you used what you had on hand.

Unknown said...

I love the tags and the baskets. I will be using that idea eventually as I redo my mudroom.
Soooo cute.
Thank for sharing.
Brooke

Richella Parham said...

Rachelle. Please. This is absolutely WONDERFUL.

So cute, so practical. And free? My goodness, girl. You're brilliant.

Angie Holden said...

Loving those -- love the price MORE!!

Unknown said...

Those are adorable! I love it!!! I need to start doing stuff like that. We could use some order in our house!

I just added your Friday party button to my blog. So excited you are doing it.:)

Brittney said...

Oooo you are so amazingly creative! :) I LOVE that idea!

Lost In Tarnation said...

Great Idea! Redoing our entryway is on the list and I'll have to remember that!

Lisa said...

Wow you are seriously crafty! I am impressed and inspired by your last couple of posts (framed keys) and chalkboard tags for the baskets... thanks Rachelle!

Christi said...

You made your own tiny chalkboards - how smart! I've wanted some for a while now, but didn't want to spend the money. Thanks for the inspiration!

Dawn said...

Love them! So cute and so easy! I'm definately gonna have to try these!

Gail said...

Very cute tags, they turned out great. Way to go.

Vanessa said...

These are great! I have some little round tags that are cork on one side and I was thinking of putting chalkboard paint on the other side. After seeing how cute yours are, maybe I'll get mine done!

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