Two Years Later and DIY Kate Spade Inspired Salt and Pepper Shakers

Ummm...I'm back?!?! Well, was I ever really here?

I haven't posted in almost 2 years!! Don't worry, I have not STOPPED crafting, I just haven't been POSTING.  I guess life just got the better of me but I'm working on it now and looking forward to posting about all of the projects I have planned.

I have been wanting a set of cute salt and pepper shakers for FOREVER! I wanted a modern and glam yet cute and girly set. After doing a lot of searching, pinning and saving items to all of my various shopping carts, I landed on these beauts from Kate Spade.

Kate Spade NY Fairmount Park Striped & Dotted Porcelain Salt & Pepper Shaker Set

I couldn't find these on the Kate Spade website so I presume they are from a previous year's line. But, who are we kidding though? I love ALL THINGS KATE SPADE but I can't afford any of it. I decided to DIY a version instead. Now, before you scream at your screen that these look NOTHING like what I ended up with, let me walk you through the process.

I am slowly working on my interior decor and I have a long term vision in mind for my table setting. I want to infuse more colour in other parts of the table and surrounding decor, so I decided that I wanted simple white and copper shakers instead of the black and white as seen on the Kate Spade version.  I toyed with the idea of spray paint, but I ended up choosing Con-Tact paper instead. I'm hoping to do all my spray painting projects at once in the Spring but I wanted to get these done now since it's been on my to-do list for so long.

In short, the process is simple:

1. order supplies (Bronze Con-Tact paper here, Porcelain Salt & Pepper Shakers here)
2. cut paper into desired shapes 
3. stick the paper onto shakers

How did it work in reality? Scroll down to find out. Spoiler alert: it was SLOPPY.

supplies (scissors not shown)

cut strips of Con-Tact paper along the gridlines
(no measuring, yay!)

stick strips onto shaker
(I eyeballed, but feel free to measure and mark off if you want)

trim excess paper off 
(don't run the blade against your fingers like I did)

ta da! one down, one to go.

cut squares/diamonds by cutting along the gridlines

cut into triangles by cutting the squares/diamonds in half, diagonally
(not pictured)

stick paper onto the shaker in your desired pattern
(I eyeballed it, you can measure if it makes you feel better)

So...the reality of it was that I failed about 3 times before I finally figured out what to do. 

I tried horizontal stripes....that didn't work because the Con-Tact paper didn't lay flat. It's probably a combination of the shaker not being perfectly round and flat and me not laying the paper out perfectly. I settled for vertical stripes. 

I tried polka dots...that didn't work because the hole punch couldn't punch through the paper cleanly.  I tired sharpening the hole punch with foil...but it still didn't work. I gave up on this idea.

I tried a pattern of diamonds since the polka dots failed...that didn't work. It just didn't look great. It wasn't awful but I definitely did not love it. I decided to cut the diamonds in half, into triangles, and it worked!

I persevered and I ended up with a project that I LOVE and that I'm really proud of.

Bonus #1: the Con-Tact Paper peels off very easily if I pick at it so if I want to change it, I can do so with minimal effort. I love that I don't have to commit for the long term..the pressure of making a bad long term decision is haunting!

Bonus #2: this was an insanely inexpensive project. The plain S&P shakers cost $5.50 and I used a very minimal amount of Con-Tact paper, which I purchased to do a number of different projects anyways.

Thoughts?

Sarah