Basket? What basket?

Silly me. When I purchased these Pottery Barn look alike baskets I accidentally got the invisible version.

Duh, Rachelle.

So for the sake of my sanity and so everyone could lose every little reason for not putting their gloves, mittens, shoes, hats, keys, mail, school to dos, in the right spot. Tags are the answer, and by tags I mean totally free and easy tags. I had a vision in my head and wasn't sure how to make it work. I knew I wanted mini chalkboards. But HOW? It hit me as I was making my key art.

I spray painted glass, can I spray paint cardboard? Yes, yes you can. I started by cutting small rectangle tags.

If I were Martha Stewart I'd make sure they were all the same size. But, guess what I'm not and they aren't. I'm okay with that- you should be too. The cardboard soaked up the paint like a sponge so I did a few coats.

Once it dried overnight (can't be too careful) I rubbed chalk all over them, this helps so that your words don't "stick" or so I hear.

If you're going to use thicker cardboard like I did here make sure you use the smoother side for your writing. With this particular kind it had slight ridges on one side. See?

The other side was much less noticeable, if you want to avoid this completely you could use a thin piece, something like a cereal box. :) I used what I had on hand, and it worked out pretty well.

So-- I could have stopped there and been blissfully happy with them, but I had to add a little warmth to them. Using some more left over burlap, I cut rectangles slightly bigger than the "chalkboards" and hot glued them together.

Oh, no no no it doesn't stop there! A little jute to string it on and it's perfect. I pushed a pen through the fabric to make a little hole for the twine to fit through. Easy peasy!

I love them!

Mr. P loves them because they were free.

Sometimes you just have to look around and the missing puzzle piece to finish a project is right in front of you! What free things can you come up with to spice up your life!?

Don't forget this Thursday at 10, Feature Yourself Friday party! Link up whatever post you feels features how FABULOUS you are. We all want to see what amazing projects you've got going on!

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