What We Made: Jar Shelf

A long, long time ago, I saw this on Pinterest:

source

When I went back to find it, I realized I never pinned it, so I had to find it again.  Don't you hate when that happens?

Anyway, I've been collecting jars to hold things in my crafty work room.  Not Mason jars- Stonewall Kitchen Black Bean Salsa jars.  On just about every occasion, the hubs is gifted a jar or two of this yummy but pricey salsa, and the jars are a great size for small storage, so I've kept them and had put various things in a few.  But, they were on top of the work table and that takes up space, so when I saw this photo, I knew I wanted to do something similar.

Enter the hubs.  Have I told you how brilliant and wonderful he is?  I told him my idea, but since I didn't have the photo, I had to explain it to him.  "It's a wooden backer with the jars held on to it by metal clamps.  Can I get those at Home Depot?"  Something along those lines.  So on one of our various trips to HD I looked for said clamps.  Not those in the picture but something I had apparently made up entirely in my head because we could not find them.  We did find those hose clamps like in the photo, but hubs was like, "You want to use hose clamps on something in your craft room?"  AKA don't use that crap.  Then he says, "You should get something like an old leather strap and strap the jars down tight so they don't slide."  "Why, yes, honey, that would be great, but where will I find an old leather strap that doesn't cost a fortune?"

*Light bulb goes on.*

Savers!  Let's go to Savers and look at the belts!!!!!

Have I mentioned that I love Savers?  These were both soft, lovely leather belts.  Perfect for my project.  (We got something else fun too, but that's for another day.)  So two belts, a box of black carpet tacks, and 6 salsa jars later:

Ok, so maybe there was a little more to it than that.  Some sanding, staining, lacquering, ribbon-holder-making, squealing, hugging, jumping up and down...you get the picture.

Isn't he amazing?  Isn't this the best shelf you ever saw?  Once I got the idea out and realized how much it would help to get the jars off the work table, I figured it would be great to get all the ribbon off of it, too, since it was all stacked up against the wall.  I proposed this idea to hubs (with a dowel in hand) and he made it.  I love how it looks- the belts and the carpet tacks were a great idea.  Old-fashioned style but not quite rustic.  It's so nice to have all that stuff off the tabletop.  I would post a tutorial for you, but I think you can figure out how it goes together.

Anyone been making something fun lately?  Chop up something you found at Savers?  Goaded your husband into a project?  Do tell!