MTME Sneak Peek Day 1 - Jam Packed

Edit: Please see bottom of post for my Apple Butter "recipe".

Hello! Happy 3-day weekend! Today is the first day of sneak peeks for the June My Time Made Easy © release! Lauren, Katie and I are peeking the Jam Packed © template and Well Preserved © stamp set. Dawn and Geny are showing off at least one new stamp set, so be sure to visit them to see their fabulous card creations!

I was really excited to see this new template and coordinating stamp set! I started canning a few years ago, and I am hooked! Whenever you can anything, you do it in bulk (at least I do).. which means a great gift opportunity! What is better than a homemade gift? How about a homemade gift with handmade gift packaging...?! This is exactly what I did. Sabrina's last day of school was Thursday, so the timing of this worked out really well for me.

I had both of my Crockpots going nearly all last weekend.. the end result... homemade apple butter.. YUM!! Friday night I peeled and cut up apples, then I cooked them down overnight to make applesauce. On Saturday night I added a little sugar and some spices to it and let it cook overnight and most of Sunday. By the afternoon, I had homemade apple butter and the house smelled wonderful!

My first gift set uses the Jam Packed © template as provided - complete box and lid. I made sure to use a sturdy cardstock for the box since it will hold a half pint glass jar of apple butter. I cut out the template in Couture Oat cardstock using my Cricut Expression and the SCAL software. I decorated the box using some fun new digi papers by Sara Williams. This release you will see a ton of fun papers from her.. This cute row of apples paper is part of the Preserve-It Apples & Pears collection. This is just one of a few different patterns and there are other fruits as well. I especially love the apple designs because it not only fits with the apple butter, but for all teacher-themed gifts as well! You can get a better look at it below:

For the top of the box and the tag, I used the Well Preserved © stamp set. It is loaded with images, words and sentiments (59 in all!). For the top, I used the Well Preserved © cut file for the jar on the top of the lid then I stamped the jar, colored it and stamped the words "Apple Butter". The tag is an Avery manila shipping tag which I stamped the rows of apples and the words "Handmade just for you". Below is a close-up of the jar. The circle and sentiment (that reads "For Someone Sweet") is also from Well Preserved ©.  For the label on the front of the jar, I stamped the label directly onto an Avery shipping label and cut it out since it just fit from top to bottom (if you have a sheet of labels, you could use the Well Preserved © cut file to minimize time spent hand cutting). I stamped some apples, colored them, and also stamped "Homemade Apple Butter".

I thought I'd show you the inside of the box with the jar inside as well. The template cuts a perfect circle to fit a Ball jelly jar (though you could change the size/shape of the opening to suit whatever you want to package). Notice the sides/back of the box are a little taller to make sure the entire jar lid fits inside!

I needed 9 gifts for Sabrina's teachers and para aides, and for them I just didn't have enough time to duplicate the project above. I made a simplified version by omitting the lid and made the box portion only. I trimmed the back and sides so they would be flush with the top opening. I used the same apple paper that I used in the project above as well as another of Sara's papers from the Preserve-It Apples & Pears collection.

To simply top these jars off, I used the circle cut out from the template (the opening where the jar fits). I used the Well Preserved cut file to die cut my jars out of Oat cardstock, then I stamped the jar, the gingham topper and the words Apple Butter. I popped these on top of the jars with foam tape. I also decorated the corners of the box top with stamps from the same Well Preserved © set. Here's the view from above:

Thanks so much for stopping by! The rest of the team will have peeks for two more days, and we will all be back with more on release day - June 1!

I've had a few people ask me to share my recipe for the Apple Butter. I didn't exactly follow a recipe, but I did use this site for reference: Making Apple Butter. I started with 20 lbs of apples (mix of Fuji, Gala, and Pink Lady), peeled, cored and cut into bite sized pieces and added to my Crockpots. I added about a cup of water to both (mine are 6 qt sized pots). I did not add anything else. I let these cook overnight on low. By morning I had unsweetened applesauce. After these cooled, I used my immersion blender to remove any lumps and make it smooth. The next night, I filled both Crockpots (to within 1 inch of the top) and added 1 c sugar and some spices (sorry - I don't measure!) -- lots of cinnamon, some allspice and a touch of ground cloves (I'm not big on cloves, so I went easy on this). I cooked this overnight (with the lid slightly askew so that steam could release) on low. The mixture cooked down and became thicker. Next I added the remaining applesauce to both pots and cooked for a few more hours to let the flavors mix. You could add more sugar if you want it sweeter, but I would taste it first. Apples have a natural sweetness, so the amount of sugar you add is a personal preference. Most of the recipes I found add up to 4 cups of sugar to a pot and to me that was just too much. I added the warm apple butter to hot sterilized jelly jars and processed according to the link above. Hope that helps!

Supplies ~
Stamps: Well Preserved © (MTME)
Paper: Oat, Santa's Beard (Couture), Vanilla Cream (CTMH), Row of Apples, Row of Apple Jars by Sara Williams (MTME)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Fired Brick Distress Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Jam Packed © template, Nested Apples, Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Markers (Copic), Swiss Dots embossing folder (Provo Craft), Twine (May Arts), Twill, Ribbon, Foam tape, Thread, Sewing machine.

Made with Love

Good afternoon! I hope you're all having a great week so far! When I first saw Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #34, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I made some grape jelly that I plan on giving as gifts, and I wanted to make a simple card to go along with it. This sketch was perfect for what I wanted. I kept my card fairly simple so that I could easily produce a few more to go along with the jelly. I used the Papertrey set, Fruitful.

I tilted the jar so that you could see the top of it. I wrapped a piece of natural twill around the jar screw band, then I wrapped some twine on top of that a few times and finished it with a simple bow.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies ~

Stamps: Fruitful, Vintage Picnic Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)

Cardstock: Kraft, Vintage Cream, Lavender Moon (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Wisteria (Basic Grey)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMagic Wheat (Tsukineko); Plum Pudding, New Leaf (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Circle, Scalloped Circle and Labels Nine Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Scallop border punch (EK Success), Twill, Twine, Foam tape, Thread, Sewing machine.

Canning on Photo Friday

Happy Friday! Unfortunately, I don't have a card to show you today. Sabrina came home from school early yesterday, and today she is home with a sinus infection. So, no stamping time for me! I thought I would share my photo of the day. I know she doesn't look sick in the photo, but all morning she's been coughing and hacking away -- the rest of the time she's riding her car around or singing in front of the mirror. On the days when she doesn't have a fever or appear to be too sick, I'm always on the fence about letting her go to school, but today I decided to keep her home as she is still pretty congested. Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon. I see a nap for her this afternoon, though that might be wishful thinking on my part...


Lately I've been in a canning/preserving mood. I recently got some new stamps that would be perfect to add onto a little Mason jar as a gift tag. Last week I made dill pickles for the first time. I still have 7 more weeks until I can try them, so I'll have to wait and see how they turned out... at least they look good enough to eat... :) This morning I made grape jelly -- at least I won't have to wait as long to try it. Wish me luck that it sets up the first time. I hear lids popping {meaning the jars are sealed}, so that's a good sign.


Tomorrow I'm helping Stacy with her first Breast Cancer Scrapbook Event. There will be make and takes, handcrafted items for sale and snacks ~ all to help raise $$ for a great cause. If you live in the Phoenix area, please stop by and say hello! The fun takes place on Saturday, August 29th between 12-4 at Celebrations Church {8726 W. Olive Ave., Peoria, AZ}.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Canning Part II

After my first canning adventure went pretty well, I decided to make tomato juice. I got the directions again from my SIL, Mary (aka The Canning Expert). Unfortunately, tomatoes don't exactly grow that well here (that I know of), so I headed to Sprouts Farmers Market and bought 24 lbs. of CA hothouse tomatoes earlier this week. These tomatoes would ordinarily be almost guaranteed to be sweet and juicy, except for the fact that they were picked too early and likely put in cold storage before making it over the state line. Still, I figured that I would ripen them and at least give it a try.

I had originally planned on making the tomato juice today, but yesterday I happened to pass by the tomatoes (which were in cardboard boxes on my dining table). Some had actually ripened too much (ewww), and I had to toss a few out. So, at noon yesterday, I started blanching tomatoes. The actual process was not difficult, though it took me awhile to crank them through the food mill. Three and a half hours later, I went from 2 pots of cut up tomatoes (top) to these 5 1/2 quarts of bright red tomato juice... mmm... I can't wait to try it out!

Dilly Beans

Last night I made dilly beans for the first time. It was also my first time canning. Thanks to my SIL, Mary, I'm hooked on her dilly beans. They are so yummy -- like dill pickles, except green beans instead of pickles. It took me awhile to find all of the supplies I needed, but I finally did and this is the result. I had about 6 lbs. of green beans and couldn't quite fit them all in the jars (as you can see from the space on the bottom of the jars, I didn't fill them as much as I could have). Next time I will do better. And, Mary -- I am happy to say that all of the jars are sealed as of this morning. Yea! Thanks for the coaching, sis!

And, here's the newest dilly bean eater in the family! This is one of Mary's jars that I opened a couple of weeks ago. Sabrina decided that she wanted to try them and now she's hooked!