DIY Magnetic Mason Jar Spice Rack

I bought a case of these little 4 ounce jam jars because I fell in love with how cute they were. I was planning to save them for Jam-o-rama 2013, but in the ensuing lull between planting fruits and picking them and turning them into some of our fabulous jam, I found another project that captured my fancy - a magnetic spice rack.

I probably originally got the idea for this from Pinterest or from someone else's blog - I don't remember - but once the idea started percolating in my noodle, I decided that the jars would have a different destiny than originally planned.

Here's my step-by-step photo how-to for making your own DIY Magnetic Mason Jar Spice Rack:

Paint or label your jars to your liking. I used some chalkboard paint, because it was what I had handy.

Even though these are painted with chalkboard paint, I decided to label them with metallic-colored sharpie pens instead of chalk. Have you ever tried to write tiny with chalk? It either doesn't fit, isn't legible, or wears off every 10 seconds. No thanks.

In addition to your freshly labeled jars, you'll need a corresponding number of small, strong magnets, some super glue, and a piece of sheet metal that will fit your specs - this is 6x18".

Put a wee little drop of super glue in the middle of your lid. Carefully place your little magnet on the dot of glue. Be careful! The strong little magnets tried to jump right out of my hand onto the lid willy-nilly. And between the strength of the magnet and the super glue, there'd be no moving it from where it lands. Go slow.

Affix your sheet metal under a cabinet, on the inside of a cupboard door or wherever else it'd be handy to have your spices hanging. (I have not attached mine yet, I held it in it's eventual resting place just for this pic. I'm leaning towards using Liquid Nails or Gorilla Glue to attach the sheet metal to the bottom of the cabinet, but the hubs wants to use screws. I'm afraid they'll go through, into the cabinet itself. I'll update with whatever we end up using.)

And that's it! I paid $9 for the jars, $4 for the magnets, and $14 for the sheet metal (which I now realize that I could have sourced a LOT cheaper - d'oh!) for a total of $27 for this project. If you already happen to have some jars on hand that you'd like to use, you could cut the cost by 1/3. Have fun! :)