Quick Christmas Craft: Fabric Covered Jar Lid

Believe it or not, Christmas is fast approaching.  Gasp!  Christmas?  Already?  You must be joking!

For realz.  No joke.  I can't believe it either.  But it has come to that time of year again, when some people are starting to get all fancied up for Christmas, and then others...are not.  Because they are wailing in disbelief.  That's what I am doing, in the innermost parts of my brain, but not out loud, or even in my thoughts, really.  I simply haven't been thinking about it too much.  Those times I have thought about it, it blows my mind almost out my ears.  Not quite, but almost.

I heard Christmas music on the radio the other day, for the first time this season.  I was in complete denial.  I am of the opinion that Christmas music SHOULD NOT be played on the radio before Thanksgiving, and actually, not until after Thanksgiving.  Well, that was two days before Thanksgiving!  Uh, not cool, mahn.

My sister has been calling me a scrooge because I don't like Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but the fact is, in our house, we've always been against Christmas music before Thanksgiving!  For realz, why do you need it that early anyway?  I don't get it.  Can't we just get one holiday over with before going on to the next?  Talk about a problem with going-on-to-the-next-thing-before-finishing-the-first-thing syndrome!  (It's gots to be a thing, but I don't know the fancy name for it.  I have it bad.)  Just so you know, I am not a scrooge, but everything in it's own time, right?

Anywho, the point eeyis, Christmas is quickly coming upon us, whether or not we like it (I do love Christmas, but WOWWIE WOO, this year went by fast!).  If you're like me, you'll wait until the last possible minute to get your gifts all ready, because you are a major procrastinator, or, you love Christmas and gift giving so much that you'll get your stuff done right away, except the problem is, you don't know ezackly what to give people, so you'll sit there, waiting to dig in, but you just don't know what to dig in to!

Well, I just may have a solution to both of those problemos.  Enter, fabric covered jar lids!  Not just the lids by themselves, obvs.  A jar with a pretty lid can be a great gift.  Fill it up with hot chocolate mix, or cinnamon sticks (just thought of that off the top of my head!), or simply give empty as a pretty storage jar! These are so easy and fun and quick, that you could make a bunch to give together.  I recommend using either a variety of jars with matching fabric, or a variety of fabric with matching jars.

I am doing a new thing now, which is called, "naming the supplies in list form."  I've never done that.  Not sure why.  But it's probably a good habit to pick up.  Don't hold me accountable to do it every single time though.

Supplees
Jar lid and jar to go under it (I used a salsa jar/lid)
Pretty fabric (not too thick, but thick enough to hide any pattern that might be on the lid)
Sticker Maker
Black sharpie
Scissors
Ribbon (optional)

The idea for this project stemmed from the fact that I have a whole drawer full of fabric.  Okay, not completely full to the brim (I store stuff other than fabric in it), but you know, basically full.  Observe.

The firstest time I did this was with the below jar.  I like the way that it turned out.  I was looking for a way to use some of my fabric, plus make that candle (that's what it is, in case you couldn't tell) look more attractive.  It's my opinion that that green wax is hid'jus.  I was quite happy that I had fabric that matched.  Then I did decide, "Well why not blog on it?  For realz, Maggie!"

Get 'Er Done
First thing is to select your jar/lid of course.  I suppose anything will work; just don't use canning lids.  Make sure to wash the lid before working with it.  This may seem way too obvious, but apparently not to me, because I was thinking at first I would only rinse out the lid.  However, I didn't want it to forever smell like salsa...so I done warshed it.  Even if it doesn't smell like whatever it was used for before, you should still wash it, since it may not be a good idea to wash it after it's covered with fabric.  The jar is not as important to wash now, but when you do wash it before gifting away, make sure to get the sticky stuff from the label off.  I got it off with very hot water and lots of scrubbing.

After selecting which jar and lid you'll use, you'll need to pick a pretty fabric.  If you're using this as a Christmas gift, maybe something red or green.  I didn't purposely use a Christmas-y green for mine, but how convenient that I did!

You don't need much fabric.  Only enough to have at least 3/4 inch around the lid on all sides (depending on how tall the lid is).  Trace around (on the wrong side) with a sharpie or other writing utensil, and then cut out.  Fun fact for your brain: In the picture below, I traced where I thought, at the time, was the right distance from the edge of the lid, but it was in fact, too close.  So I didn't actually cut on that line I'm drawing in the picture.  It's just for show.  Don't do it that close.  Basically, the distance should be about 2-1/2 to 3 times the width of the jar lid.

Now here's something myself hadn't considered: not everyone has access to a sticker maker.  What will we do now?  I suppose the best thing would be to "paint" glue onto the fabric circle with a paintbrush...  I'm a bad blogger for not thinking of a good alternative aren't I?  If you come up with something better than painting with glue, let me know in the comments!  Now that we are past that...I'll just ignorantly assume that everyone does have a sticker maker and move on.  :]  Carefully insert fabric into sticker maker, and turn knob until it starts to come out the other end.  At that point, it might stick to the "teeth," so you'll have to pry it off, which could be (only) slightly difficult, since the sticker maker manages to make things quite sticky.  You can do eet!

Now is the actual tricky part, assuming you do indeed have a sticker maker.  You have to get the fabric off the wax paper stuff that it's stuck onto at this point.  This can be very difficult, so try not to let much of your fingers touch the stickiness.  Because you can never again free them!  Never!*  It can also be difficult because the sticky stuff doesn't take a liking to fabric (what does it have against fabric?), so it tends to come off easily, so you have to kind of keep pulling the fabric up and and putting it back down over and over again until the stickiness stays on the fabric.  It really is not that hard once you get the hang of it.  Do it all around until you're able to pull up the whole piece, and then gently lay the whole piece down on your working surface, sticky side up!

*Just kidding.

After that, it's all truly fun, quick, and easy!  Gently lay the lid down in the center.  Don't worry if it's not exactly in the middle, just make sure there's enough room all around to wrap around the edge, and then inside.  Which is the next step!  Start by sticking the fabric up on the edge on two opposite sides (east and west), and then do it again on another two opposite sides (north and south).  Do that until it's stuck on the sides in eight or more spots.  Then stick down the fabric on the inside in two opposite spots, and eventually all around, in the same fashion as you stuck it up on the edge.  Or, you could go clockwise around in this part.  Whatever you do, make sure you stick the fabric down in every spot in a way so that there's stickiness in every spot, so it'll actually stick there.  (Did that make sense?  Heehee, try saying that ten times fast.)  The lid should still be able to screw onto the jar.

And you're done!  If you want to make it look even more fashionable, tie a pretty ribbon around the neck of the jar, and gift away to someone special!

This was before tying on a pretty ribbon.  The lid reminds me of a beret!

Pretty ribbon to the rescue!

I love the way the glass looks in this picture.

Somehow, I managed to make this incredibly easy activity look long and complicated by my abundance of words.  Hopefully you can still see how this is a quick and easy activity!

What would you fill the jar with?  How could you personalize this?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the day we remember all we are are thankful for and eats foodz galore.

Oh wait, did I say all we are thankful for?  Yes, I did!  Hmm, maybe I should rephrase that.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the day we remember a lot of nice things we are thankful for, and eat foodz galore.

Why don't we remember all we are thankful for, I wonder?  I wish I knew.  Perhaps it's that we have so much, and lose sight of the fact that it's not us who got us to that point.  Maybe that's it, maybe it's not.  Whatever the case, I believe we fail to remember all we are thankful for, even on this day where we remember much more than on other days of the year.

Today, I watched a video that Lauren from The Thinking Closet put in a subscriber email, and I can't help but share it with all of you peoples!  Lauren said in her email that she laughed out loud.  I was not expecting to laugh out loud myself, but guess what.  I did laugh out loud!

For realz, this video just makes you want to laugh.  It's so funny, and at the same time, gives you a new perspective on how and why you can and should be thankful.  It makes you think outside the box.  I love the part where he says sadness is good because it reminds you of what you care about!  Ha!  Amen, brothah!

So now, my itty bitty task for you, my dear reader, is to watch this wonderful video, and then tell me about something you are thankful for, other than, friends... family... food.  Because let's face it, even though those things are wonderful, and yes, you ought to be thankful for them, they are just so stereotypical, and well, boring.  I want you to tell me something think-outside-the-boxish that you are thankful for (feel free to comment on the actual YouTube video also.  I don't want to take any comments away from him.).  I hope this video will open your eyes to things you didn't even realize you were thankful for!

Of course, since I'm asking you to tell me something think-outside-the-boxish that you are thankful for, I have to tell you something think-outside-the-boxish that I am thankful for too, right?  Okay, I am thankful for...empty egg cartons to step on!  (Seriously, step all over that thing.  Especially if it's cardboard.  It is a joy-producing activity.)

This is something else I am very thankful for.  :)

So tell me, me what think-outside-the-boxish sort of thing are YOU thankful for?

Simple Lacey Beautifulness

Finally, another craft post!  I don't know that I enjoy writing them more than other types, but I like to get back into the groove of normality.  My last two posts (here and here) haven't been crafty (in the least!), and it makes me uncomfortable to publish two posts in a row that are not crafty.  I seriously dislike inconsistency.

All the way back in August, I mentioned doing a blog post on this card soon, because I used the same punch on that card as I'm using for this card, although how I used it differs from how I will use it here.  Although it is now too late to be called soon.

Here is the card when I first made it for my friend.  I love to have the words "love you" on cards.  However, since this card is mostly white and looks sort of lacy, I thought it would also work fantastically as a wedding thank you card!  The only thing you would have to change is which words you use.  All the words I used are from Tim Holtz Celebration Words Script dies, which are super fun.

For this post, I'm making two cards.  One with the words, "love you," and another with the words, "thank you."  Before you get any ideas though, I should tell you, I did not use the thank you card as a wedding thank you.  Just so you know...

I realized after cutting the paper for the new pair of cards, that I did them a different size than the original (above) card.  I decided to just go with it.  You choose which you like better (personally, I like the first better).  The first card was 4-1/2 by 4-1/4 inches, so there wasn't any un-punched space around the edges.  The second was 5 by 4-1/4 inches.  Of course, that's after they're folded, so you would cut the paper to 8-1/2 (two times 4-1/4) by 4-1/2 or 5 inches, and then fold it in half with those expert skillz you possess.  The overlay paper (as I will call it) should be the size of the card when it's folded.

The pictures basically tell you how to make this card, so my words will be kept at a minimum, but I shall add some in there when the going gets tough.  Such as...this below picture is simply of the cards and overlay paper before getting all fancied up.

Position the overlay paper on the bottom part of the punch.  This part may be a little tricky, only because you have to get it in the center as much as possible, without any exact way to do it.  Hopefully you're not super perfectionist-y like a certain someone called me.  It's really not that hard to do though.

This picture actually has no purpose.  I just like how it looks!

Make sure you hold the paper firmly when you put the top of the punch down, or else the paper could move.  The magnets are pretty strong.  (Okay, so maybe I'm adding in more words than I anticipated.)

Here you can see how the guides can help you punch multiple times without just guessing where to put the paper, and then horribly messing up.  I mean...not that you would do that...haha, of course you wouldn't...  But I would!  So guides are quite helpful.

All punched up and perdy!  In the original, there was no space on the top or bottom, and I really think it looked better.

Since there is extra space in the second version though, there's more space to put glue down, which is good.  SECURRITY, SECURRITY!  (...I suppose only some of you will get that...)

It's not completely necessary, but it's much easier to color in the words if you use a brush tip sharpie instead just a regular thick sharpie.  Haha, or you could simply die cut out of actual colored paper.  That's an option too.

Hope y'all enjoyed this tutorial!

The Song Tag (I'm Doing a Tag Post?)

Y'all, the wait has gone on too.  Long.  Aah!  People!  It's been, what, almost a month?  No, more!  More than a month - since I last posted!  Aah!  No!  Not cool Maggie!

So the thing is, I'm actually a high school student...  Which means I have homework on a regular basis...  But that's totally not an excuse.  I have been perty busy, but I could have used my time way better.  That being the case, I really was not able to have posted from October 23 to November 1 because I was gone all that time doing awesome possum things!  But I got back a week and a half ago.  *Shakes head in dismay*

What I really wanted to do was end my way-too-long absence with a crafty post, since that's what I mainly write about anyway, and my last post was not crafty.  But, as providence would have it, it's taking me longer than I'd like to get this post I'm currently working on to get finished, so, I have finally decided to just buckle down and publish this post that I have been waiting to publish because I wanted to do a crafty post first.

As I said, I've been waiting to publish this, but it has been complete for days.  So all of the answers are not completely current.  Okay, only the first.  All the others are still very true.

I shall now commence with the festivities.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I've never done a tag post before, so this should be fun!  Enjoy!

I was tagged by Anna in her own song tag post to do this song tag (she tagged people by what their favorite colors are, and one of the choices was purple, which is my favoritest.  She probably didn't even know she was tagging me.), and I knew as soon as I read the questions what my answers would be if I was the one answering, and I love music, so guess what, I'm doing it!  I'm sorry that it is, yet again, a non-crafty post.

1.  First song that comes to your mind
Thrift Shop, because I just listened to a (clean) cover of it.  I wouldn't recommend listening to the original, since it apparently has a lot of language.

2.  A song that always makes you happy
Ahh...so many.  Saving Amy by Brantley Gilbert is one of the toppest on the list.

3.  A song you hate
Basically anything by Luke Bryan, such as Drinkin' Beer and Wastin' Bullets.

4.  Favorite romantic song
Skin (Sarabeth) by Rascal Flatts is probably the answer.  Heh, coincidentally it's also a sad song.  I can't get away from em!  You Had Me From Hello by Kenney Chesney is also high up there on the list.

5.  Favorite sad song
As I just hinted, and as most of y'all already know, I looove sad songs, so my favoritest song ever is a sad song, but I'll say a different song for this question, since I 'll tell you my favoritest song later.  Saving Amy would have been a good answer for this also, but I don't want to repeat any songs, so that y'all have more good music to go check out!  So, for this question I'll say...It's Getting Better All The Time by Brooks and Dunn.  It's beautiful.

6.  A song that brings back memories
Ooh, ooh!  I know this one!  I Wonder by Kellie Pickler.  That song has very good memories associated with it, namely when I done sung it live at BWSC, and it got "rave reviews."  JK, people were just really nice and said some really nice things afterwards that still to this day make me warm and fuzzy inside.  :)

7.  A song that you have been playing on repeat
Hum, well, I don't usually play songs on repeat, for fear I'll get tired of them, but occasionally I'll play songs over and over so that I can memorize them.  The song that comes to mind is City by Sara Bareilles.

8.  Favorite song by your favorite artist
I do have a favorite song, but I don't have a favorite artist.  And, again, I won't tell you my favorite song yet, so I'll answer this question with I Can't Go There by Kenney Chesney, who would be one of my favorite artists if his new songs were as good as his old.  Alas, they are not.  But oh my, how I love his old stuff.

9.  Weirdest song you like 
Hmm, this is a hard one.  Do I like any weird songs?  HA!  Surely I do!  Okay, let's go with the Bellybutton Song by VeggieTales!

10.  All time favorite song
IT HAS COME TIME TO DIVULGE MY FAVORITE SONG!  Ha, like y'all don't already know by now.  I mean, I say it on a regular basis, and I recently published my About page, in which I toldy'all what my favorite song is.  At least twice, in fact!  But anywhays, my favoritest song is (drum roll, please) I Wish You'd Stay by Brad Paisley.  SWOONSWOON.  By the way, if not for that beginning part, it probably wouldn't be my favorite song, even though the rest is wonderfully beautiful too.

Oh me oh my.  These songs.  I love them.  Now on to the tagging!  I tag Anna at Girl With the Binder, Rebecca at Unusually Anneish, and Yovela, Yovica, and Yovincia at Three Crazy People.

And by the way (sort of just to tie in the picture at the top), if you hear piano at the beginning of a song, it could be a sign that it's a very good song.  If you listen to the songs I linked to in this post, you might notice all of them start with piano, or at least have piano in them.

P.S.  Do forgive me for how terribly long I took to post again.  I shall try with all my heart to win back your precious favor.  So long for now though, peeps!