sprucing up the office

I've been collecting jars for years. I'm typically not a hoarder of any sort- I just don't like clutter. But jars are such useful objects and I've given mine a second life as office organizers, holding everything from pens and paperclips to art supplies.

Last week I found a cool project on Martha Stewart.com to transform ordinary glassware into display pieces with enamel paint. Not quite willing to give up my clear glass collection, I decided first to experiment with a few pieces and see how that went.

I picked out a few jars that I thought would look good with enamel, washed them out and used rubbing alcohol to prepare the surface for paint. I selected 'Pacific Blue' for the first round and got to work, pouring the paint and swirling it around.

Here are the jars after the first coat. I later went back and added another coat. On one jar, I decided to try doing a layer in white, to make the inside white and the outside blue. That didn't work so well so I ended up covering it with another blue layer. But that left me enough white paint to do a 'milk' jar.

My new and improved jars! My next step is the honey jar (clear jar in the photo). It has a great texture that will look pretty cool. I can't decide if I should go white or blue...any suggestions?

For the project how-to, click here

Ps, this is a green project if you use a water based non-toxic acrylic enamel. I didn't know this when I started so my blue is a regular enamel, but the white is eco. Just an FYI.

*Note: the before and after jars are shown on swatches of Rubie Green textiles