Pantry Labels

My big challenge for the new year was making sense of the chaos that had become my kitchen pantry. Thankfully, that project is complete! (You can read more about the pantry project here and here.) Here is the pantry with it's new look.

The final touch to the reorganization were these labels. I had planned on doing something on my computer. Nothing fancy....just a fun font with the word "Flour" or "Sugar" typed out the paper. White background. Rather boring. But while searching for pantry organization inspiriation on Pinterest, I came across some free labels to download via sissyprint.blogspot.com.

I absolutely loved what sissyprint had to offer. It just didn't provide the exact labels I needed. But after a little bit of work, I was able to come up with these!

The pantry labels were available in several different color options. I chose gray (though I think it almost looks a bit brown, which I love!). Page two of the download had two blank labels at the bottom. After I downloaded page two, I took a screen shot of the blank labels. (On a mac, you hit the control - or apple - key, the shift key and the number four key all at the same time. This will give you a little icon at your curser. Use your mouse to click and drag to highlight the area. When you release the mouse, a photo will be taken of that area and the picture will be saved to your desktop.)

I then opened up pages (which is the Apple version of word). The screen shot (above) was dragged onto the blank sheet in pages. I was able to fit three sets of labels onto one sheet (for a total of six labels on the page). I then created a text box and wrote the appropriate pantry item name centered onto each label.

Typing and printing the labels went rather quickly. Cutting out each label, while a mindless activity, was a bit time consuming. After I was done cutting, I took them to the Staples and had them all laminated for less than $5 total (bargain!). I assumed the labels would last longer if they were laminated, so I was happy to put in the little bit of effort and money to have it done.

Of course, while I was at Staples, I did see some darling labels from Martha Stewart. So if you aren't feeling like taking the time to make your own pantry labels, buzz over to Staples and check these out!

After the labels were laminated, I then re-cut around them. With the supplies below, I started attaching labels to containers in the pantry!

I used double sided sticky tape to attach labels to the plastic canisters.

For the baskets, I punched holes in the sides and threaded jute twine through the label and then through the basket. The twine was tied in a knot on the inside of each basket.