Simple DIY Spice Jar Labels For Your Kitchen

Do you have a lot of spices to keep organized? I do! I also love to have my spice cabinet looking pretty.

I’m here to help you with your herbs and spices organization needs. It’s a good feeling to have any space organized for a better flow and function. 

I’ve been working on cleaning out and organizing my hot mess spice drawer. Oh boy, did this project take awhile to finish! I’ve been busy at work, and we had lots of kids’ activities in January and February, so I didn’t get to work on this as often as I wanted.

I also had to repaint inside the cabinet drawer for a fresh and clean look. I’m glad to say, it’s finally completed and I’d love to share my spice drawer organization process in my kitchen. 

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We have a lot of spices and we store them in the cabinet drawer under our cooktop so they’re easily accessible while cooking. These drawers are huge and deep.

We buy our spices in bulk because we cook Nigerian dishes with a lot of spice. We also receive our spices in bulk from Nigeria. So, it’s important that I have good spice storage solutions to preserve them.

CLEAR + CLEAN + ELIMINATE

I began with decluttering, removing all the spice bottles and deep cleaning our spice cabinet; grouping together similar spices and tossing out all that had old expiration dates. I had been using this plastic shelf liner at the bottom of the drawer to prevent stains on our white cabinets; it’s heavy and durable. I took the shelf liner out for a wash and let it air dry before putting it back.

GLASS JARS

I identified all the spices I was keeping from our spice cabinets and in our pantry. I had our everyday spices in different types of containers, some in glass jars and some in their original packaging – I’m sure you totally understand! But I wanted all my spices to be stored in the same type of glass jars for a cohesive look.

I sourced glass jars with clear lids as I love using glass jars because they don’t easily get stained. They’re easy to clean and you can see the contents inside. I also needed the glass jars with a clear lid to be able to see our spices inside with labels on the lids. 

Finding the perfect glass jars took some time. I needed it to be large enough to store large quantities but also not so bulky that they take up tons of space in the drawer.

I’m glad to have found these glass jars and they were available in different sizes. These are durable and easy to use. They also include clear rubber gaskets for a tight seal that keeps spices fresh for a long time. 

SPICE DRAWER ORGANIZATION

I initially ordered different sizes of the glass jars to determine which sizes will accommodate a variety of spice quantities. Eventually decided on three different sizes: 32oz, 25oz and 7oz. I washed all the glass jars and allowed them to air dry. Then I transferred all my spices from their original containers into the glass jars.

DIY SPICE JAR LABELS

After all our spices had been transferred into the new glass jars, I needed to label them. I decided to design, print and cut the spice jar labels using Photoshop, a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine and clear sticker paper. You could also use a word processor for designing and then print on sticker paper and hand cut your labels.

Let me show you what I did! 

How to Make Pantry Labels or Spice Jar Labels

Print Design for Spice Jar Labels 

STEP 1

In Silhouette Studio, on the Design tab, I opened the Page Setup panel, selected Letter as my page size (8.5”x11”), selected my cutting mat size and selected the cut lines.

STEP 2

In the same window, I turned on the registration marks (style 1) in the Registration Marks tab on the far right.

STEP 3

I took a screenshot of only the selected work area including the registration marks, cut lines and print lines.

STEP 4

In Photoshop, I created a new letter size (8.5”x11”) document with a transparent background and pasted the screenshot, creating a new layer.

STEP 5

In a new layer, I replicated the registration marks and cut lines in Photoshop using the shape tool. At this point, you no longer need the screenshot. I hid the screenshot layer by deselecting the eye icon on the Properties window.

STEP 6

I saved the document as a .png file.

STEP 7

To begin designing, I selected the ellipse tool in Photoshop and started creating multiple circle shapes with a 2.5” diameter, taking into account the diameter of my spice canister lids. You could also create rectangular or square labels if you’re placing them on the front of your storage containers.

STEP 8

After I filled the area within the registration marks, I selected a font I liked (Maku), typed each spice name within the circles and aligned the text. I suggest using a bold font.

I selected a thin font at first and the text was too skinny to be seen on the labels. Can’t find a font you like on your computer? You can download new fonts for personal use from 1001fonts.com and dafont.com.

STEP 9

Once I was satisfied with how the spice names were aligned in the circles, I hid the circle shape layer. You should only see the spice names, registration marks, cut lines and a transparent background at this point.

STEP 10

I saved the document as a layered Photoshop file (.psd) so I could use it again in the future, and also as a .png.

I then printed my spice names from Photoshop on clear sticker paper.

STEP 11

Cut File for Spice Jar Labels

STEP 1

In Silhouette Studio, I opened the .png file I had saved. The registration marks on your design file should align with the registration marks on your work area in Silhouette Studio.

STEP 2

I added circular cut lines using the ellipse tool from the right sidebar and sent my design to be cut.

STEP 3

I placed one printed spice label sticker paper on the Silhouette cutting mat and clicked “SEND” to begin cutting. Repeat this step for all printed sticker sheets. 

STEP 4

I removed the sticker paper from the cutting mat and removed the cut labels individually.

STEP 5

I then placed the labels onto the glass jar lids. Make sure that the surface of the glass jars or pantry storage containers are clean before applying the labels.

And that’s it! Pretty straightforward, right? 

Remember, your spice jar labels can be designed in a Word document, printed out on clear sticker paper and cut out manually without a Silhouette machine. However to achieve a uniform cut, upload your print design as a .png file into your Silhouette Design Studio, draw in the cut lines and cut using a Silhouette machine.

Let me know what you think about my simple spice DIY spice jar labels. If you decide to organize your spice drawer or pantry and use my process to create your spice labels, tag me @simplicityfordesigns. I’d love to see it!

xo, Gbeke

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