Christmas in July

Canning, canning, canning...Some of the items I am canning will be Christmas presents.  But let's not forget that summer is a great time to start making other Christmas gifts. I am starting work on my gifts as well as back-to-school items and items for my Etsy store.  One is actually a wedding present for my son-in-law's sister.  I will definitely post pictures. I am so excited about it.
What are you making this summer?

Berry-Fig Preserves

This year I made my Strawberry-Fig Preserves a little different. They are awesome.

6 cups cleaned, stemmed, quartered figs

4 cups sugar

2 (3oz.) packs of strawberry gelatin

*Cover the figs with 1 cup of sugar and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

*Mix figs with remaining ingredients in large boiler.
*Put clean lids and jars in another pot with enough water to cover.  Turn off when it begins to boil. Leave jars and lids in water until ready to fill.

*Bring to a boil over heat just above medium. Mash and stir very frequently.

*Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer at least 10 minutes. Stirring frequently.

*Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Keep stirring...(this is a good time to get your jars out and ready to fill.

*Remove from boiling water and fill with preserves. Leave 1/4 in space at top.

*Wipe jar tops with a damp clothe and place lids. Finger tighten the lids.

*Place in canning pot. Cover with water. Water should be 1-2 inches above tops of jars.

*Bring to a boil and boil for 10-15 minutes. (4 oz. jars 10, 8 oz. jars 13, pints 15)

*Put jars in a draft free area and let sit overnight.

*Check for seal (lid should not give when pressed in the middle). Place any unsealed jars in fridge. Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place.

These are also delicious with raspberry gelatin. Tomorrow I am trying a mixed berry. I will let you know how that tastes.





Painted Countertops

Our kitchen was remodeled in the late seventies/early eighties. The cabinets were custom built. If someone has the refrigerator open you can’t get from one end of the house to the other. The wallpaper was horrible and the counters were yellow. When we moved in we painted the walls a pale blue. It covered the wall paper and toned down the counters. We plan to remodel the kitchen. But I could not stand the counters anymore. I searched Pinterest for paint ideas. I combined several. I used Polycryclic to seal it because mine is temporary. Envirotex will give you a more permanent finish.

I started the job with more of brown color in mind. My husband thought I was doing the finish that was more black. So I had to put more layers on to achieve a finish more like he wanted. I recommend looking at samples of counters at the home improvement store. After painting the base coat, I suggest working in a small section until you get the look you desire. It is a lot easier to start over with a small section than the whole counter.
I cleaned the counters with hot soapy water. I sprayed them with a grease cutting kitchen spray and wiped them down. I repeated this step several times. Finally, I used a paint prep spray. This required gloves, goggles, and an apron. Use wide paint masking tape around the edges. I did not because I planned to paint the walls when finished. I used Press’n Seal to cover the paint tray. Foam plates worked well for the “sponging” stages, especially the blended colors. I stored the rollers and sponge brushes in a zipper bag in the freezer because there were several days between the first section of counter and the next.

The first layer was a primer. Then, I mixed the primer with a tan paint for two layers.

 I used acrylic paints for the layered colors.

“Sponging” comes next. Make sure you overlap colors, go over the edges in some places, and go all of the way to the edge. I used wadded up plastic bags for the first few layers. I used medium grey followed by medium tan.

 

This is when my husband came home and asked when I was putting all of the black on it. So I started looking at another sample. Pale lavender grey came next. I used cheap paint brushes (like the ones in children's water colors) to pounce light grey, dark grey, light cream, and light pinkish grey.

I used several sea sponges in the next layers to get different textures. Turn your hand between pounces. This will provide more variety. I started mixing the dark grey and black. I used different shades for several layers. I used straight black for the last sea sponge layer.

I used an old toothbrush to splatter some black and then pewter. Although this does not show up in my pictures, it does make a difference in person.

I used three layers of Polycryclic. Don’t make the same mistake I did. A foam brush is okay but a foam roller puts bubbles in the finish. It made a neat texture but I would have preferred the smoother finish I got in the small places where I used a foam brush. I waited three days to put items back on the counters.

The rectangle in the middle is the sample from Lowes.

Whoville Clover

I saw these on Pinterest and thought they would be great for my students to make during Dr. Seuss week.
I hot-glued the fuzzy balls (the clover) to the pencils. I let them use white school glue to glue Whoville (tiny white fuzzy ball) onto the clover. We watched Horton Hears a Who during lunch.

Reusable Wipes

I have tried the make your own disinfecting wipes using paper towels. I used my favorite antibacterial cleaner and water. Loved them.
Now I am thinking about using reusable wipes. My husband just replaced all of his undershirts so I have lots of fabric. I am getting 8 - 10 wipes out of each shirt. I will post pics as soon as I find a pretty way to store the used ones.

Craft room

I will post pictures of my craft room as I make progress. I will do this in stages.
It is also the guest bedroom. I hate that I have to change the twin bed out for a full. My daughter got married so they need more room when they come to visit. This is going to take up more room. Oh,well.

Kid's travel bag items

These are the finished puppets and crayon rolls

Crayon roll pattern is from http://www.skiptomylou.org/

with a modification to the tie. I used elastic instead of ribbon.

Travel Bag for kids

One of my students is moving away. :( The family is hitting the road straight from school. They have four kids. I want to make a bag of activities for the kids. I was thinking about crayon rolls and coloring books for the older kids. Maybe some hand puppets for the younger kids. I'll load pics soon.