COVID-19 is taking a toll on all of us. I was reading an article about shared trauma. We’re all going through it. I truly believe it too. I read something online which I am paraphrasing liberally that said we’re all operating at about 90% capacity. I’d expand on that to say some days that number is lower although occasionally we get closer to our pre-pandemic levels.
Fortunately, it will come to an end someday, hopefully soon. Maine recently updated their vaccination scheduled and my husband and I got our first shots last week. While it doesn’t mean the pandemic is over, it feels like progress and movement towards the end of this shared nightmare. When that happens I’ll be ready to jump back in to all the things I’ve been missing for the last year. It’s a long list.
I wanted a colorful visual representation of things to come to help me weather the monotony, constant anxiety and Groundhog Day drudgery of COVID-19.
I decided to make an inspiration jar filled with ideas on all the things I’ll be doing when life returns to normal.
I dug through my stash of mason jars. Yes, I do have a stash of them. I use them often. For this project, I brought out the paint. After priming the base with white, I started adding alternating vertical stripes in the color of the rainbow. I wasn’t looking for perfection here so was happy to free hand it. I could have pulled out the painters tape but where’s the fun in that?
That may have been a mistake. As the project progressed, it was clear that I wasn’t happy with how it was coming out. Trust me, it’s not my first craft project to go south so I know fairly quickly when something is not working. They don’t always translate from my head to the finished product. While I was hopeful I might still be able to salvage my less than magical rainbow, I started working on a different look using a new jar. Good thing I have that stash!
I found some decorative cloth tape and covered the top of the mason jar. While happy with that look, I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to do with the bottom of the jar. I started by picking a fun teal and after priming the jar covered it entirely in teal. A few attempts at adding some plastic cutouts resulted in an uneven finish on the paint and an even less appealing jar.
Fortunately, inspiration hit and I pulled out more decorative cloth tape. I had a variety of complementary tapes from my scrapbooking projects and I started layering those vertically along the outside edge leaving a hint of the teal at the top. I added tape around the top to cover the uneven edges of the vertical stripes.
I decided to add one more thing to the cover. I had a metal hair clip stored in a drawer that houses all those things I just can’t stand to throw away and think I’ll be able to reuse someday. Someday was now. The hair clip fit perfectly in the indented space where the mason jar cover pieces come together. I covered it in dimensional liquid to add a glass like look and let it dry.
Now I was feeling the vibe! I glued on some tiled letters to spell fun across the top and added a chipboard travel related accent below that to remind me that better days are ahead. After adding a rustic ribbon to the top, I put it with my collection of larger teal mason jars. It was the perfect spot.
I did try to salvage my rainbow jar. I added silver glitter in an attempt to make it more festive and sadly realized that I had destroyed one of my long held beliefs – that everything looks better in glitter. This jar did not look better.
Fortunately, I was loving my striped one so I was ready to finish things up.
I started compiling a list of all the things I want to do once COVID-19 is in the history books. I’ll continue to add stuff as I think of them but, for now, here’s a sampling of some of my wish list items for the future. While, I’ve been able to do some of them during COVID, it has been with more limitations. I’m looking forward to doing them in a more carefree way.
| Fun, Fun, Fun | And, more Fun |
|---|---|
| Go to a brewery | Go on a wine cruise |
| Have friends over for dinner | Host a cocktail party |
| Take a cooking class | Take a road trip |
| Go to Scotland | Meet a friend for lunch |
| Go to a concert | Go to a comedy show |
I friend told me that once COVID-19 is done, she is going to say yes to everything. I think that is the right attitude.
By the time the clouds lift and we return to some level of normal, I’ll not only be ready to say yes I’ll have a plan on all of the things that I want to say yes to.
Do you have any post pandemic adventures planned?
I’m participating in a Blogging A-Z Challenge for April 2021. I will be posting new content every day this month except most Sundays. Each post is associated with a letter of the alphabet, starting with A and ending with Z. My theme for the challenge is Craft Projects for my Home. To read more of my A to Z posts from this year, click HERE.
Weekends in Maine 
Great work on that jar and the ideas inside are terrific.
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I am hopeful I’ll get to start doing some of these activities soon!
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I loved the jar …. it’s so beautiful …I liked the plain teal phase too…. when things return to normal ( I have a confounded picture of normal in my brain now) I would probably want to go home to India to visit our families … we were not able to make our regular annual trip last year and never have we been away for so long and then have a get together of 4 or 5 families
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The travel restrictions have been so hard. That sounds like a wonderful post-COVID plan.
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Thank you for sharing your process Karen.
Although I’m not a crafter like you, I’ve been busy trying out new things in my garden this year and know the feeling when you can sense that the plans in your head are not translating too well in reality:) But, almost always–such detours birth beautiful surprises.
Your cloth tape jar looks gorgeous.
And that fun list is so uplifting–just reading it is cheering me up.
All the best for your second vaccine shot.
Yes, as you’ve said, this too shall pass–hopefully sooner than later.
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I agree that when things aren’t going the way you expected they often lead to beautiful surprises. Sometimes those are the best projects.
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How you are converting everyday mundane things into art is amazing Karen. I am here from AtoZ
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Thank you for visiting. My craft projects have been a great outlet especially during COVID.
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It’s a great idea to collect fun things to do, love it! And the teal jar is perfect to reflect this, great job.
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It’s fun to think of all the things we’ll be able to do again once we’re past this pandemic.
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These are fabulous, Karen! When my sister retired and moved out of her family home, I created a memory jar for her and her children, now grown, to fill with memories on little strips of paper. Then, at her new home, they opened it up and had a grand time reminiscing. https://mollyscanopy.com/
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What a wonderful gift idea. I bet they really enjoyed going through all those great memories.
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I’m so glad I found you…I’ve followed all the Maine people on the A-Z challenge in past years, but couldn’t find anyone this year. I knew you couldn’t ALL have stopped doing the challenge. This honestly makes me happy!
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I’m so glad you found my blog too! Are you from Maine?
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A few years ago I came across the concept of “Mom, I’m bored Jars”, and I adapted it to a Hockey Water Bottle, haha.
Strange times – these days we create “Once COVID is over Jars”, and we put in little notes that read simple and “normal” things (or so we thought) like having lunch with a friend. Which is on top of my list.
Yay for your first vaccination! How long till you get the second shot?
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I get it next week. It feels like progress.
It is so strange to have such basic things in my post-COVID jar. It is interesting what we miss most.
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I love the idea of a post-pandemic jar! I have so many plain jars in my cabinet, maybe I should spruce them up and give this a try.
– Allison (https://lightningflashx.blogspot.com/)
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It’s fun to think of all the possibilities once we get past this pandemic.
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I love this and like you I have a stash of jars and lots of things to cover them. This is a great idea and I really like the finished product. My jar would have very simple things to start with like going for coffee with my beloved somewhere other than our house.
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I learned during this challenge that I have an extensive stash of craft supplies. They have come in super handy especially when I change and pivot during a project.
Simple outings are often the best. Hope you are able to enjoy an outing for coffee in the near future.
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As we’re in this tunnel without knowing how far we still need to go before we’re out of it, I think it’s a great idea to put ideas down like you have! It makes it more concrete, instead of a nagging feeling of “wanting to do things” you have a concrete list, and I think that makes waiting a bit easier. Inspiring post, thank you!
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I love this description. It does feel like taking back more control during such uncertain times.
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Being retired I wasn’t doing all that much anyway and now I just do less out of the house and stick mostly to the routine I had prepandemic. I’m glad we never had this COViD stuff when I was still working and had kids at home.
Nice work with the Mason jars. I’ve got some old blue tinted jars in my cupboard that I’ve yet to find a use for. I doubt whether I’ll get as crafty as you with them and they’ll probably just stay in my cupboard.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
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I think children and young families have really had to deal with so much during COVID. I am so glad my girls were college aged adults when this hit. There were challenges of course, but for younger kids it has been brutal.
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