Frosted Mason Jars

I get a mini magazine from Lowe's called Lowe's Creative Ideas (you can subscribe here) and it is always full of things that I want to try.  I fold down the corners of the pages I like, then promptly forget about the projects, which is why I need to make some sort of ideas notebook for the things that I rip out of magazines and the like.  Anyway, there's been one idea that has just been lurking in the back of my mind and I finally had the occasion to use it and thought I would show all of you.  I give you: frosted mason jar votive holders.

What I love is the clean simplicity of Mason jars and the contrast of color with the frosted glass.  Lowe's suggests making these frosted jars for Mother's Day, but they really are perfect for any time and any decor.  Change the color and design according to holiday or decorating theme or whatever else you can think of.  I am not a huge candle user, so plan to use mine to hold candles and as vases holding flowers.  I think using small jars with people's names on them would be a fun, unique place card and take home for guests at a dinner party. You can find the original project from Lowe's here.

The project is pretty simple and you don't really need any special supplies.  Start with:

• clean, clear canning jar with band
• frosting spray
• spray paint
• painter's tape
• plastic grocery bag
• design template

The hardest part of the whole project is picking the design you want and transferring it to the jar.  The absolute easiest way is to cut out a design with a Cricut or Silhouette machine onto vinyl.  Alternatively, print a design on a piece of paper, cut it out to make a template, then trace onto painter's tape and cut out.

1.  Apply the design to a smooth side of your jar.  Make sure that all edges are pressed tightly to the jar.

2.  Apply three coats of frosting spray to the jar, coating thoroughly.  Frosting spray dries extremely quickly, so the time you need to wait before re-coating is minimal, probably 30 minutes.  It is better to do more thin coats than fewer thick coats, so aim to coat evenly and lightly.

3.  Once fully frosted, allow the jar to dry thoroughly.  I like to overestimate times when it comes to paint, so I let it dry for a whole day, but that might be overkill.

4.  Cut open a plastic grocery bag, creating a straight edge, and tape it in an even, straight line around the bottom of the jar, about one or two inches from the bottom.  Make sure the whole top of the jar is covered by the bag and then tuck the remaining ends up into the jar.

 

5.  Spray both the bottom of the jar and the band with spray paint, doing two light, even coats.  Let dry at least one day.

6.  Carefully peel tape and grocery bag off the jar, followed by the design.  If the band still feels a bit tacky, let it dry longer, but once it is dry, screw it onto the jar and you have yourself a fancy new candle holder.

There's a blog I read, Craftaholics Anonymous, that does a handmade gift exchange twice a year.  I participated for the first time in the last one that took place around the holidays and now am participating again in the summer-edition exchange.  The woman whose name I drew has red accents in her home and collects crowns because she is known as the Queen, so I thought these would be perfect for her.  Want to see what other people made or be involved with the next exchange?  Just click the logo button to be taken straight there.  As soon as I get whatever the person who drew me made, I'll be posting so you can see.

Like the crown for my exchange partner, what design or image would people associate with you?

Bake Your Own Bread: Focaccia

There is nothing in the world like the smell of baking bread.  And nothing like the taste of fresh bread that you've smelled baking.  I got a bread machine for Christmas my sophomore year of college and was so incredibly excited.  Rather than buy boxes of bread mix, I returned to my dorm room after Christmas break with canisters of flour and yeast and other necessities and proceeded to bake my little heart out.  It was a good quarter to be in school.

I bake my own bread from time to time because it is very enjoyable and so very satisfying.  The problem, though, comes with the fact that I LOVE bread and could just sit and eat a whole loaf of the fresh stuff and this is something I try to avoid.  There are times, though, that fresh bread is just what you need and so you make it.

  

A blog I have recently come across called girlichef (go read, it's fantastic!) has a feature called Bake Your Own Bread (BYOB) that I wanted to join up with, so it was time to bake some bread.  I also have been meaning to make some fancy grilled cheese (stay tuned for that), so I picked something that would be thin and crisp up nicely and be a little different than regular sandwich bread.  What I ultimately made was some foccacia that I adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe.  The dough is pretty sticky, so the dough does the second raise on the baking tray that is liberally oiled which results in the bottom being golden and crispy, almost fried.  Delicious.

You can click on the recipe to get a downloadable copy so you don't have to write it down.  I definitely recommend you try it--it's great for sandwiches and any leftovers can be made into superb croutons.  I also recommend that you go visit girlichef and the BYOB link up and see what other people baked up.

How about you, bread fanatic?  Or bread indifferent?

Linking up to:

          

It's Strawberry Time

Here in Northwestern Washington, we grow a lot of berries.  Every time June rolls around, U-pick signs and berry stands start to pop-up everywhere and getting a yen for strawberries is unavoidable.  I remember going with my mom and younger brother to pick strawberries for what seemed like hours at a time.  Also my mom was super picky and only let us pick the completely red ones.  So what did I do today?  I took my boys to pick strawberries.

I was informed at least sixteen times that we had been out there forever and that it was "really boring."  In addition, I spent about half of forever going over why you need to look at the berry before picking to make sure it is entirely red.  Let me just say, being a parent has really put a different, more accurate, spin on some of my childhood memories.

Breakfast for Dinner: Big Pancakes

In case you missed it, this is what I guest posted recently at A Glimpse Inside.  I wanted to do a recipe, something delicious and easy that is perfect for breakfast, and works pretty well for dinner, too. 

I'm not even going to ask if you ever have those nights when everyone was starving five minutes ago and you don't know what to cook for dinner.  I don't know anyone that doesn't apply to.  As much as I love to cook, I really don't plan ahead well, so this is something I face A LOT.  If you're tired of cold cereal or chicken nuggets being the answer to that question, read on, I'm here to help.

Even Easier DIY Cake Stands

I have a growing obsession with cake stands.  There is something so classy about putting food and other things on a decorative plate that is elevated above the table.  It seems that I'm not the only one interested in cake stands lately and they are popping up in every style, size, and color at a lot of different stores.  One thing that all the stands seem to have in common is the price range; it's hard to find a regular size stand of good quality for less than $30.

Instead of buying cake stands, you can pretty easily make your own.  There are a number of tutorials out there with instructions for doing just that.  It basically boils down to finding a candle holder and plate you like, then gluing them together.  So easy.  If you find your pieces at a thrift store, you end up with a cheap and easy cake stand that can be customized to exactly your tastes.  The fun, inexpensive melamine plates you can find at Target and Crate and Barrel are perfect for this project.

There is only one problem I have with this and it's not a problem with the project itself, it's a problem with me.  I start thinking about which plate and which candle holder and my mind comes to a screeching halt at the crossroads of indecision.  I just can't commit to something that there is some small possibility I might not like two months down the road.  So I spent a fair amount of time trying to come up with a way to use any plate with any candle holder.  I toyed with magnets and craft glue, I thought about using suction cups and finally went with a very favorite product of mine: 3M Command adhesive.  I LOVE this stuff and it is the answer to my noncommittalness (yeah, I know that's not a word).

So whether you want to have infinite cake stand choices or want to be able to take your cake stand apart and store it easier or you don't want to wait for the glue to dry or you just can't decide (like me), this is what you need to do to make your very own DIY cake stand.

 

1.  Get the following: candle holder (the wider the base, the better), plate, and Command adhesive strips.

2.  Cut one adhesive strip into three or four narrower strips.

3.  Peel off one side of the paper backing and put the adhesive strips on the edge of the TOP of the candle holder.

4.  Remove the other side of the paper backing, center over the bottom of the plate and press down for thirty seconds.

5.  And there you go, totally adhered and strong enough to hold the weight of this glass candle holder.

6.  When you're done, just pull the strip by the end, slowly, and it will release.

If you have never used Command adhesive before, you're going to want to get some.  I use it to hang pretty much everything (including the shower caddy in my slick-glass-tiled shower, crazy, right?) and no, this post is in no way sponsored by 3M.  I just really like it.  So there it is, a really easy cake stand that you can put together at the last minute and change up anytime you like.

Do you have any extra easy DIY secrets?

Starbucks City Mugs: Munich

I got this mug in the mail from a fellow collector in Germany and it is a new favorite.  I love the blue color and it's one of the older series of mugs, so more rare and that's always a bonus.  Munich (the city) always makes me think of the movie of the same name (have you seen it? did you like it?) with Eric Bana which makes me think of the Incredible Hulk movie he was in (have you seen it? did you like it?) that bombed which makes me think of the new Avengers movie (have you seen it? did you like it?) and how there's a scene in the beginning that takes place in Germany.  So we're back where we started.

That's all, I just wanted to show you my new mug.

Onions and Lies

I recently read this article on Slate about how a lot of recipe writers are, to put it nicely, misleading on the amount of time it takes to caramelize onions.  Have you ever noticed this?  I have kept this in the back of my mind and seen A LOT of examples of this as I've flipped through food magazines and cookbooks in the last month.  Almost no one says that it will take longer than thirty minutes to achieve sweet, golden onions and it definitely takes at least that long.  At least.

And why?  Are recipe writers afraid that people won't try the recipe if it will take a long time?  I guess so.  It's really too bad, though.  There's a big difference between slightly burned onions and caramelized onions and the recipe is not going to turn out the way the writer intended if cooks are taking shortcuts.  Then everyone loses.

Ten on Ten: June

I am linking up again with the photo challenge Ten on Ten from a bit of sunshine this month.  You might notice, though, that it's way past the 10th of June.  Actually, I got confused on dates and took the photos on June the 9th and then spaced and forgot to post.  Flaky, I know.  Not familiar with Ten on Ten?  The premise is this: on the tenth day of the month, take one picture an hour for ten consecutive hours.  Sounds pretty simple, right?  So here we go with my day . . .

8:00 AM  PBJ for breakfast, looks so much fancier when you cut it with a bread knife.

9:00 AM  My forest of heirloom tomato starts . . . ugh, constant watering is getting old.

10:00 AM  T-ball Round One: Camo's team, the Tigers.  Coached by Daddy.

11:00 AM  T-ball/Coach Pitch Round Two: E's team, also the Tigers.  Also coached by Daddy.

12:00 PM  Lunch from our new family obsession: Five Guys.

1:00 PM  The monthly visit to the Mister's grandmother.  She's 102.  Can you imagine all the things those hands have done over her lifetime?

3:00 PM  Birthday party for an awesome friend at a super fun park.

 

5:00 PM  Pre-dinner bike ride.

6:00 PM  Finally home and kicking off my shoes.  That's right, I'm a toe shoes wearer.

 7:00 PM  A little family movie time to wind down before bed.

It is so amazing what gets crammed into one day, no?  What was the highlight of your day?