Canning for the Southern Girl

Here is one of my latest projects....Apple Butter. Do you find that people inspire you? I know I do. A lady in my craft group does canning. I saw her beautiful prepared fruits which brought back memories of all the jams, jellies, and sauces I used to put up this time of year in Connecticut.Here in Georgia it is still in the high 80's and 90's and too hot to can. But I got this brilliant idea to make Apple Butter in my crock pot. That way I wouldn't heat up the house cooking. But, then I had the dilemma of how I was going to process the filled jars in a water bath without the cooking heat again being in the house. Well, my dh who loves my homemade jams and jellies brought out the turkey fryer which my canning pot fit on and set it up outside in our barbecue grilling area...problem solved. It worked beautifully. I will be making pumpkin butter soon!!! lol If there is a will there is a way. I used my stamping in this project by stamping an apple and writing what is in the jars. On the back I wrote, "From the Kitchen of", just in case I give these to friends. You can't see in the picture, but I did put some sparkles around the apple and it looks really sweet.So, on some of my stamp scouting trips, I will be looking for some fruit stamps that I can use in this way. I can't wait to start the pumpkin butter, because the apple butter made the house smell scrumptious. If you would like to have the recipe for this apple butter, please leave me a comment here and I will email it to you. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Carol

Project Tuesday Treat Boxes

Today's project was something I saw on Project Tuesday. I needed a little something more for the gifts I am giving at the ladies birthday luncheon tomorrow for my craft club. We have two celebrating a birthday in August. Above you see these boxes I made with the directions found here on Project Tuesday. I kind of tweeked my boxes to match the projects that I already had made so that they would match my projects that I already had done. Tomorrow I intend to fill these with candy and put them in their gift bag. I did put acrylic windows in my boxes. The pink gift box matches a set I posted on my blog here last Tuesday for Digital Two for Tuesday. That little girl is a free vintage digital design.
This is a picture of one of the gift sets I am giving one of the ladies. It is a 3 x 3 box of gift cards, a tea bag holder, a candy holder box, the gift bag and a tag. I have a feeling they may be wanting me to teach a class after seeing this....what do you think? lol

Hope every one is having a "Terrific Tuesday"!! I'll be back with another project again soon.

Carol

Digital Two for Tuesday Guest Designer Projects

Greetings and welcome to my Digital Two for Tuesday's Guest Designer Submissions. I am just so beside myself with excitement. It has been a dream to be a Guest or Team member and here I am. So many thanks go to Cora for helping me make my dream come true. I had the best time creating these projects. Cora has just wonderful vintage images and she has two up every Tuesday on her blog for you to try. I wanted to show what can be done with digital images. They are so versatile. You can resize them to fit any project you wish to create. I wanted this to look like it came from an old magazine or book, so after I printed my images, I colored them with pencils, blended with baby oil. Then I sponged Rangers Distressing Ink in Tea dye all over the whole paper than heavily misted with water. I misted well, so that I had to let the paper dry overnight, then I ironed on the wrong side in the morning to flatten it out. I really like how it came out.

The above picture shows a gift collection put together with the fishing boy image. The box to the left is something I picked up at the dollar store a while back and I altered it. I was thinking how little boys always have pockets full of stuff....like marbles, rocks, coins, gum, baseball cards, plus you never know what other stuff...and they need a place to put them for safe keeping. It was pretty easy to do. I just measured all the sides and cut my paper to fit. To the right is a box of 3 x 3 note cards. You can find the tutorial for that here. I shrunk the image down small enought to fit on these. The gift bag is just a kraft bag that I altered along with the shipping tag that is tied on the handle. On the back side is a To: and From: stamped area for your sentiment. On the image on the box, I used liquid embossing in Antique Glass finish.
Here is a close up of the 3 x 3 cards with envelopes. I used my square nesties to cut the squares and used foam squares to pop these for dimension. I used stickles around the edges for some qlitz. I also lined the envelopes to match. The green ribbon is from the dollar bin at Michael's. The flowers are prima and I punched the centers with a Marvey punch from scraps of the green I used and attached together with brads. The leaves and branches are Martha Stewart punches. I also used the tea dye distress ink around the edges of the cards.


Here we have a girl gift set. When I looked at this pretty little girl for the first time I thought for sure I was looking at Shirley Temple!!! The left item with the "Smile" sentiment is a tea bag holder. It holds two tea bags. You can find the tutorial here. The purse to the left holds 3 x 3 gift cards as well. The middle gift is two bottles of bath and body that I created a belly band for and I tied another altered To, From tag on one of the bottles.As you can see in this picture, I used Velcro for the closure o the purse. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch. The flourish is from sizzix. Again I used my Marvey flower punch for the center on the prima flowers and a brad to attach altogether. The pearl brad for the purse clasps comes from Michael's. I need to look up where I got this template for the purse. I will be back later today with the link.

I would like to invite you to Cora's Digital Two for Tuesday's blog to participate in the challenge. If you would like to recreate any of these projects and require help, please do not hesitate to let me know. I would be happy to assist you. I can't wait to see what you come up with. Be sure to leave a comment on Cora's Blog and post you card or projects.

Matching Craft Items-CC230 Challenge

First, I will talk about this card I made to go with an afghan I finished today. This was made for today's color challenge at splitcoast stampers. The colors were Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Certainly Celery, Cameo Coral, Whisper White. I used my cuddlebug argyle embossing folder for the background and distressed with memento ink. The rose is an Anita stamp and I used my nestibilities dies. Very quick and easy. The Happy Birthday frame is from JoAnn's.
This afghan was started in February when I got really sick with Bronchitis and I was almost finished and just didn't feel like working on it. I usually have a closet that I keep my homemade afghans in so that I can bring or give one to someone I know who is sick. Sometimes, I donate them to a charity for fund raising as well. My closet has been empty. So I am so happy to have finished this. What got me started was I joined a craft club last night and I have been working on this for 3 days to finish it. I am so excited because my next project is going to be a "Thimbleberries" Sugar Pumpkin wall quilt. We had a choice of a table runner or a wall quilt. I love thimbleberries and the fall fabric colors. I have my fabric all picked out from my stash except I need to get some browns. I plan on maybe picking them up tomorrow. How fun to combine these two crafts. I will be sharing more of my duo crafts in the future. Pattern is from "A Year of Afghans 2000" and is called Rosey Wrap on page 68.

Thanks for stopping by and checking what I have been up to. It sure is appreciated and please leave me a comment so I know what you think.

Have a great evening.
Carol

Altered Christmas Ornament

Only a few more days left for "Christmas in July". I had to get another project in!!! There is a story to this ornament. Every year I was invited to decorated a tree at the Festival of Trees in downtown St. Marys to represent the bank I worked for. Well, since I have been laid off, I guess I won't be doing it this year. I bought a bunch of these at JoAnn's at their after Christmas sale dirt cheap because each year the tree was a different theme. So, I was fiddling around today and came up with this.

I traced the ornament on old cardstock to get my pattern. I used the Spellbinders Snowflake die, the Martha Stewart branch punch, ribbon, mini jingle bells and a gold brad. I distressed the edges of the paper and inked around the wood.

I'll be back digging in that bag from JoAnn's to see what else I have tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and I really really appreciate your comments. They inspire me to keep going. Thanks so much!

Need your vote-Teapot Teabag Holder

Hey everyone. Here is the second teapot teabag holder thingie I have done. Now, I need for you to let me know which one you like. Just leave a comment here. This one, with the way it opens all as one piece on top of the teapot, or the previous one that had the card area in the back that I posted June 18 found here. There are pros and cons to both. I noticed this one will not stand on its own. But you could still hang it on a tree for an ornament.

After I get your input. I will post the templates and attempt a tutorial....my first one (so please bear with me).....get it "bear" with me. I told ya I was crazy about bears. lol

I just noticed that on the left of this picture way in the foreground, you can see my bird condo that was the inspiration for yesterday's card. It has been fixed and is back up for my renters to return. I provide 3 squares, two baths, free living quarters, and lots of trees...all for exchange for the extreme pleasure of bird calls and songs.

Have a great Saturday.

Teapot Teabag Holder Card

Good afternoon everyone. Here in Georgia we woke up to what the weather forecaster's said was 50-60 mile an hour winds, thunder, and pouring rain. Some places were suppose to get hail, but we didn't. I looked out the window at 6:30 a.m. and I can attest to the winds. Holy moley the trees were swaying. This afternoon though it is up in the high 90's.

Today's card/teabag holder was inspired by the "Project Tuesday" challenge. The challenge is to make a teabag holder using these teabag holder directions from SCS. Well, I have never made one of these, but I have always admired and loved them. I wanted to take it a step further though. I had seen someone make a 3 x 3 post-it holder similar to this. So I did a little creative tinkering yesterday and came up with this.
This is the back of the tea pot. I created a card area to write a sentiment to the recipient. I am still tinkering with this design. I want to try putting the card with the tea bag area instead of the back.
This is a picture where you untie the bow and open the flap and the tea bag is in the pocket. This is where I am thinking of putting the card. I am going to try it tonight. Please forgive me if you see to many of these at my blog the next couple day. lol I would really like your opinion concerning the card area.

I am sending this one off to Connecticut to my beloved Mother tomorrow. I want to keep her spirits up. She has had a rough year health wise. She loves receiving things I made. She is going to flip over this one. I was just thinking how pretty this would be for Christmas tree ornaments. And speaking of which, I need to change out my tree in my foyer to my patriotic decorations. Think I will do that this weekend. I'll post a picture of my tree too!

Carol

Daisy Chain Afghan

After being so excited about my blog, I have not posted since my first post. I am feeling terrible and not able to do much right now as far as crafts are concerned. Some kind of cold/bronchitis thing going on. I just wanted to share one of the prettiest afghans I ever made. It is called Daisy Chain and is done in blue, white, and yellow. It's such a cheerful combination. Also pictured here is Boyds Bear Denise N Daisydew which was issued in spring of 2003. I love that set and have it out in my dining room in the spring. She is holding a sign that has the "He loves me, He loves me not" poem that I found at my local gift store. Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things soon and bring some new crafts to share!