Christmas is here.. and I'm almost ready

I'd like to start by apologizing it's been so long since I've posted anything. Life tends to get in the way. :) My sister, Krissy, got married over the weekend to my husband's best friend. Saturday that cold front moved into South Florida and it rained most of the day until 3:30. The weather cleared up just in time for the ceremony. YAY, perfect timing! :) Their wedding turned out absolutely beautiful. (Stay tuned for pictures and details.) Finally, I have time to write some new posts.

As many of you know, I have been making jam and other goodies all year. My jams and sauces are all labeled and ready for gifting. Some of my techniques and recipes come from the amazing advice of Marisa over at http://www.foodinjars.com/. On her facebook page, she reviewed a jam jar tutorial at http://localkitchenblog.com/2010/10/14/labels-a-tutorial/. This is the template I used for my jam labels. Check out the fruits of my labor--

Getting Crafty -- Part Duo

Mother's Day weekend was another long weekend of crafts. While the men did some gardening, the girls did some serious creating. We made another round of beauty products including: Chocolate Brownie Lip Gloss, Hemp & Lemongrass Soap, Clove Soap, Bath Bombs, Lemon-Sugar Hand Scrub and Eye Makeup Remover. The Eye Makeup Remover is awesome. I didn't realize how effective it would be. 

(12 completed projects)

We made some jams including: Kiwi-Lime Jam, Strawberry Spice Jam (my favorite), and Blackberry-Apple Jam. We made the Chai recipe from the Jam it, Pickle It, Cure it book. The Kiwi-Lime Jam is pretty while it is cooking.

The most amount of work was when we made Salsa Fiesta and Homemade Tomato Sauce. Oh Man, Oh Man, peeling 40 LBS!! of tomatoes was quite the chore. Not sure if we will do that again this year. However the Salsa and the sauce came out delicious. Check out the stack of tomatoes we peeled, seeded and chopped, & the rest of the pictures.

Getting Crafty (Part One)

Ok so that was quite the productive weekend. Jen (my gourmet & crafty sister in law) and I had planned on just making strawberry jam last weekend. Well 1 project turned into 14 projects. lol.. It was fun. Most of the recipes came from the following books: Ecobeauty, Organic Beauty, Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It, Well-Preserved, & Preserving the Harvest. Check out the picture below.

Drum-roll please... We made 3 kinds of strawberry jam: Strawberry Jalapeno, Strawberry Blackberry, and Strawberry Orange; 2 kinds of homemade ketchup (which is amazing); Baby food Dog Biscuits; Cranberry Vinegar; Chocolate Massage Bars; Brown Sugar Lip Exfoliator; Vanilla Sugar Body Scrub; Healing and Moisturizing Lip Balm; Oats and Honey Soap; and Beeswax Soap.