Big/Little Gifts [part 1]

So at the campus organization I'm involved in, we have what's called "Adopt a freshmen"... but it always reminded me of the Greek "Big/Little" idea. An upperclassmen gets a freshmen and we become like a mentor to them and spend time getting to know them and really develop a friendship.

Being a senior this year, I really appreciate having the opportunity to connect to some of the freshmen this way because otherwise I honestly probably wouldn't. Not because I don't love the freshmen [actually I'm kinda jealous of them... they are just starting such an amazing experience] but simply just because senior year is CRAZY BUSY!

Anyways! When I found out who my little was [and yes i will refer to her as that!]... I was OVERJOYED! Honestly, she's the best. So because I was so excited, I wanted to make her gifts... [because if I was a little I would want gifts.. and who doesn't love gifts?!] 

So [PART one] of the gifts I made her was this crafty Chalkboard Mason Jar. She loves the color coral so I found the color closest to coral and went for it! I saw the idea for spray painting the mason jars on Pinterest and went from there. So it's super easy and honestly not that expensive!

Heres How:

1. clean out some old mason jars... [check with your parents or find some old ones... my parents just had some lying around the house.. I think most southern families do ;) ] 

2. Section off... using tape and newspaper the part that you don't want spray paint to get on. [ this is the part you will want the chalkboard paint on]

3. Spray paint... I used more than one coat and then I also used a matte spray paint finish over it to really get a clean look. The brand of spray paint I used was Krylon and you can find it at Michaels. [This is usually the time consuming step.. waiting for the paint to dry in between coats]

4. I let it sit over night and then painted [with chalkboard paint] two coats of the chalkboard. Let that sit for 24 hours.

5. To finish it off... I tied a ribbon in a bow with matching colors to not only her room color (yellow) but also with the coral. Also, I painted white dashes around the chalkboard part to really tie it all together. Perfection!

And there you go... rub some chalk on it and you're done!

You can use this for flowers, holding pens, holding makeup brushes or even just for decoration. :)

C'est la vie to all my crafty buddies!