Re-Using an Old Standby

Do you remember when baby food came in glass jars?  I think every dad that I knew growing up had the old stand by nuts and bolts storage unit in his workshop that was made by nailing the jar lids to a piece of wood and the jars hung below when screwed into their lids. 

I think you can still find the little glass jars, but now there are also these cool little plastic (bph free) containers.  With my little grand daughter eating baby food, I now have a source for these cute little containers...hmmm, what to do with them...

Of course they can be used to store nuts and bolts (see ThriftyFun blog), spices (see Simplify blog),  an array of office supplies, and personal care items,

...and even as Monarch butterfly rearing chambers (see the Monarch Watch blog).  (By the way, they are accepting donations of them if you have an abundance of the little containers.)

But of course for me, I'm going to find a use for them in the sewing room!  They stack very nicely and work great on a shelf in my studio holding different types of sewing machine bobbins.  I also have some filled with beads and pins...and I can attest to the fact that they are perfect filled with M&Ms next to my sewing machine :)

I had even added some "bling" to some, and made a pincushion top to give them as favors for my sewing retreat buddies (yes for the retreat that I missed while sick last weekend, so they'll have to get them later).  I just made a little pillow the size of the lid, and hot glued it on top.  (Spray paint the lid first so that you don't see the hot glue through the clear lid.) And decorate the sides with cute ribbon. 

If you don't know anyone with a baby, and you don't really want to eat baby food yourself ~ fear not, you can even buy these cute little containers already empty from TessCreates Etsy Shop, and 10% of the proceeds of the sale goes to charity.  I think you can find just about anything on the internet these days!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn