These are my spices. I mostly buy them in bulk at Rainbow (a local natural food co-op) and put them in these tins, which I bought online from this bulk supplier, and add sticky labels from My Own Labels.

You probably can’t see it very well in the photo, but the labels say “2008″ at the top and “skud@infotrope.net” below. I originally got them like that because I wanted to label my preserves (pickles, jam, chutney, etc) so that when I gave it to people they’d know who it came from and when it was made. Plus, it helps me too, because otherwise I lose track of what’s in my pantry and have a tendency to let things sit around for a disturbingly long time. Not so meaningful for the spice tins, of course, because although they do would go stale after a while, I do refill the tins, so the sticker is more of a “first use” date than a “last refill” date.

2009’s not been a great year for me wrt preserving so I never got around to getting new labels, but since I’m down to just a handful of ‘08 ones left, I should get some new ones soon for 2010.

The coaster is just a simple crocheted square. I made it big enough that I can rest my teapot on it if I want — about 15cm square. The curtain tie-backs are just 8 stitches wide, with stocking stitch in alternating 2-row stripes. The natural curl of the stocking stitch makes them rope-like.

There’s nothing very special about these, but they’re cute and colourful and I rather like them.