Celebrate The Occasion Challenge #15 -- Retirement Fund Bank (donations welcome)...

It's Tuesday!!  You know what THAT means, don't ya???  It's TIME to Celebrate The Occasion!!  This week the theme is "Retirement"...  However you would like to celebrate a retirement, we want to see your creativity!!  Whether you create a card, layout or project, be sure to post your creation by Sunday, May 29th at 11:59pm (EST)!!  To see the rest of what my incredible Design Team Sisters created for inspiration, please CLICK HERE and visit CTO...  I can't wait to see what YOU create too!! :)

For my project, I decided to do a little recycling and reusing to create this fun and functional bank!!  I thought it would make the PERFECT addition for a Retirement Party too  -- Especially with a little tag reminding guests to donate (that's also why I'm also featuring it over at Decorate To Celebrate -- a challenge blog all about Party Decorations and Supplies!!).  :)  The-Girl-Child likes her pickles in BULK, so this jar is rather large, but I liked the smaller opening (made it tough to pull the pickles out easily, but it's perfect reconditioned as a bank!!).

I started by removing all of the labels with Goo Gone.  The factory info and expiration date were ink stamped onto the jar, but a touch of nail polish remover erased all residue and left the jar as good as new. :)  I cut two strips of 4x8 decorative cardstock and used Modge Podge to adhere the strips to the jar.  I've reused jars like this in the past (click here to see the Halloween jar I made last year) and I've found that adhering the paper strip with Modge Podge creates a much better base for adding embellishments -- plus the wrapping doesn't pop off -- which is extremely inconvenient if you're using it as a gift and it does this IN the gift bag just before the recipient pulls a plain jar out...  How embarrassing! :)

The pickle jar lid REALLY smelled like pickles so I wasn't too keen on using it for this project...  Besides, I really wanted to put a slit in the top for the money 'donations' so a solid jar lid just wasn't gonna work for me!!  So I created a paper lid...  I could bore you with the details of how I made my paper lid or I could just move on to the next step...  Of course, if you'd like to know how to create a paper lid, please do not hesitate to ask!!  I make a lot of these lids (as most jar lids do tend to smell like whatever was in the jar no matter what AND these paper lids really come in handy for all sorts of tasks!!)...

My flowers were cut using the Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridge (remember that one you got with your Expression???).  I cut a series of flowers ranging in size from 3/4" to 2 1/4" (at 1/4" increments), inked the edges, curled the edges with my bone folder, and layered them for different effects...  Keep in mind that every flower is exactly the same, just cut in another size/color and curled out or under depending on the look I was going for...  If you haven't tried creating any of these layered flowers yet, I hope you'll try some...  I often cut lots of extras so that I have quick and easy embellishments on hand to add to a card or tag. :)

My tags were distressed with ink and curled with my bone folder...  The letters are stickers -- I collected a stack of alphabet stickers before I got my Cricut...  Now my stack of alphabet stickers has been collecting dust!!  So I'm on a mission to use my stickers whenever I have the chance :)

As always, your comments and questions are welcomed and appreciated...  I'd love for you to join this week's challenge at Celebrate The Occasion...  So hop on over there and enter YOUR project (plus you get a chance to win an AWESOME Cricut Cartridge!!).

Thanks so much for joining me today...