home is where the heart is: Make Your Own Vinyl Chalkboard Labels for Pantry Jars

I love the chalkboard trend! I used chalkboards as part of my wedding decor two years ago and now I use it in a few different places in my home. One of the ways I use chalkboards is labels on my pantry jars.

DIY Chalkboard Labels homeiswheretheheartis8410.blogspot.com

I made these labels myself using my Silhouette and chalkboard vinyl. It was my first vinyl project and I was pretty nervous to do it. That's the reason I procrastinated on doing it for so long. But finally, one night I buckled down, watched some video tutorials and decided to go for it.

It was so easy! I kicked myself for not doing it earlier. Ah well, at least it's done now. For anyone else who's not yet ventured to make their first vinyl project yet, I decided to give a step-by-step picture tutorial to help you have the confidence to see how easy it really is and do it yourself.

My jars are the Korken glass jars from Ikea. I love the look of the big metal clasps and that they have seals. I bought some in all three sizes. They are such a good deal! The small jars are $2.49, medium jars are $3.49 and the larges ones are $4.49! For my own pantry, I purchased 4 small, 4 medium, and 7 large.

My vinyl and transfer paper is from Expressions Vinyl. When I got my Silhouette for Christmas, my mom also gave me a bunch of different colored vinyl. I need to make something else now that I've conquered my how do I do this? vinyl fear.

Depending on the width of your vinyl, you may need to adjust the rollers on your Silhouette (the white plastic cylinders around the silver bar in the front) The sticker on the inside of the lid gives directions for how to move them. Also, you want to make sure you select "Load Media" instead of "Load Cutting Mat' which is the default. (and then when you are done with this project and make another one, make sure it's switched back to "Load Cutting Mat" so you don't cut into the edge of your mat and then only get half of your design on the paper--ya learned that the hard way, sigh)

I searched in the Silhouette Online Store for a label design I liked. I chose this Artisan Label Set of three different labels. Once I downloaded the design, I un-grouped so I could work with just the one I wanted. I tweaked the proportions to fit my jars better. Before I cut anything on vinyl, I used some scrap cardstock and cut the three sizes to see how they would fit on my jars. I did a little bit of adjusting, cut again with cardstock to double check and then saved my new design of the three labels sized perfectly for my jars.

If you are interested in re-sizing that particular label to fit on the Korken Jars, here are the dimensions I used:
Small-- 2.25"W x 1.286"H
Medium--3.5"W x 2"H
Large--4.125"W x 2.357"H

Even once I had used the cardstock first, I still wasn't ready to cut all of the vinyl labels at once. I cut just one of each size first. I actually went through the whole process with the small label before taking any pictures to make sure I could focus and get it right. I put them as close to the top edge and each other as I could to save vinyl. Here they are all cut out still on the vinyl backing paper.

I peeled the unused vinyl back just enough and stuck my ruler under it so I could have some room to work without it sticking and getting in the way.

Cut some transfer paper that will completely cover the vinyl shape. Again, I didn't want to waste and go too big, but you need to cover past all the edges.

Then you peel the transfer paper away from its backing.

Stick it right on top of your vinyl shape. Since I put my two shapes so close together, I started inbetween to gain as much edge as I could without sticking to the second shape. Then I just slid my hand across to smooth it down on the entire label.

All covered! You can see through the transfer paper and make sure you've covered all edges.

Then use your scraper and go from the middle outwards in all directions to make sure the transfer paper gets a good adhesion to the vinyl at all edges.

Carefully peel back one corner of the transfer paper. Go slowly to make sure the vinyl is coming with it. If your vinyl is not coming up, push the transfer paper back down and do some more pressing, rubbing, and scraping.

Now your entire piece is on the transfer paper and ready to go.

Make sure your jar is clean and fully dried. I had washed and dried all mine way ahead of time. You will need your scraper again too.

If you want, you can measure and get all precise about where to put it on the jar. Honestly, I just eye-balled it.

Because of the roundness of the jars, I thought it was easiest to stick the label down in the middle and then press out in all directions to stick the rest.

After pressing and rubbing it down with my fingers, I used the scraper to go over it again. This gets out any air bubbles and really gets the edges to stick.

Having clear glass jars was helpful, because I looked from the other side sometimes to check for air bubbles or making sure it was straight. I also used this to help make sure all the jars had the label in (mostly) the same place. Once the first jar was done, I would put another jar of the same size almost touching it while holding my label on the transfer paper in between the two jars. Then I looked through the back of the new jar to see if where I was holding the label lined up with the already-finished jar. I adjusted as needed and then touched the middle of the label to the new jar just enough so it stuck in the right place but then I spun it around and worked with my fingers to really stick it down well.

After you've rubbed and scraped, then it's time to take the transfer paper off. This is pretty much the opposite of when you adhere the label to the transfer paper in the first place in that when you pull back the corner you don't want the vinyl to come with it this time. Choose one corner of the paper and gently peel back making sure the vinyl is sticking to the jar all along the way.

And there you have it! Wasn't that easy? And it looks so wonderful!

Remember to prime the chalkboard first by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk all over the chalkboard and then erasing. This step is important unless you want the first thing you ever draw/write to always remain there.

Yes, I know I don't have very cute handwriting, but at least I now have chalkboard labels on my pantry jars!

My first three completed! The small jar was the hardest to do and some of my labels have air bubbles and creases that will not go away but I'm okay with it. It's only noticeable to me because I made them, well and I guess you now since I told you. You do have to take some extra time really finding the right spot with the little jars though because they have a very small area of flatness from top to bottom.