Cookie Jar

Supplies:

Large Pickle Jar- clean of all labels

Stencils of Puppy and Paw (dollar tree)

White Paint

Black Paint

Chalkboard Paint or a chalkboard label sticker (martha stewart makes these)

Sponge and paintbrushes

Tape- household is fine

Spray-on clear topcoat

Directions:

Tape around the jar where you want the label to be, top and bottom. Try and make the line as even as possible and connect smoothly where it began. 

Remove the lid and set aside if you haven't already.

Sponge the white paint between the tape lines on the jar (at least 2 coats). Sponge the white paint all over the outside of the lid also. Rinse the sponge and wait for the paint to dry.

Center your pawprint stencil in the middle of the jar lid and gently sponge black paint over it. Remove the stencil.

Using a round brush or the butt end of a paintbrush, paint dots all over the lid around the pawprint. 

Tape the dog stencil to the back of your jar, careful to avoid anywhere you have painted. Sponge black paint over the shape and remove the stencil. Allow all paint to dry.

Spray clear coat over everything and allow to set.

Either use your sticker now, on the opposite side of the jar from the dog stencil, or use a pencil to draw the shape of your chalkboard onto the front of the jar. 

If you used the sticker, you are finished, but if not, paint chalkboard paint within the lines. Do at least two coats with a brush. Then, go over with the sponge for a more uniform writing surface. Allow to dry, erase or paint over pencil marks, and fill with dog treats. Voila! 

Some other finished jars:

Redneck Summer #2: Pool time on a budget

This year our redneck waterpark has grown! For around 30$, we've added on to last year's purchases to have a pretty nice setup. The large pool was 16$ at Walmart. Noodles, buckets and other toys all came from the Dollar Tree, and the tarp was about 10$ at Walmart. The smaller pool, the umbrella, chairs, plastic table and sprinkler are leftovers from last year. Collectively, those probably cost around 30-40$ at Walmart. 

Setup:

Stake down the tarp at all four corners to make it more secure. This also makes a great splash pad in a pinch! For 10$, how can you go wrong?

I put the baby pool on the tarp very close to the large pool so that my little one wouldn't feel like I was far away if she was too afraid to go in the larger pool. 

I set up chairs and an umbrella nearby in case the water was a no-go altogether. 

Completed "waterpark"

Enjoying the sun!

Our Lifeguard

Asleep on the job. I don't feel very safe.

Just splashing around

Our system for keeping the pool clean: step in the baby pool first before hopping into the larger pool. So far so good with very little grass ending up in the water! This only works because she only wants to be in the big pool now. I wouldn't use it this way if she was going to be spending any time sitting in her own pool. (Also great for cleaning dirty toys)