A Little Spice

I love getting online to find recipes for mixes and seasonings that can be bought in the store, but can be made at home for pennies on the dollar.  My problem: I needed a way to store these mixes, and plain canning jars were a little too boring.  So I decided to spice it up a little and see what I could come up with.  The Little Red Scrapbook kit from March was the perfect fit.

My new Favorite is mod podge, who knew all the things you could do with it! 

I put my label together first.

Then mod podged the area of the jar that the tag would be going on.  I did notice that the label seemed to fit better if I gently bent, but did not crease, the label length wise before placing it on the jar.  Once it was on the jar, I mod podged over the top of it.

I took a canning lid, mod podged (I did mention I liked mod podge didn't I?) the top of the lid and laid material on the top of the lid.

Once the mod podge dried I cut around the lid, leave a little bt of material on the edge so it would fit tighter in the canning ring.

And here is the final project, complete with seasoning.

A look of my seasonsing jars lined up.  A lot more spice than unlabeled jars!

Supplies Used:

Bell canning jars, lids, and rings

Mod Podge

Plaid Material

Paper: Bella Road "For the Record"

Colorbox Chalk Fluid Ink, Dark Brown

I'm pretty excited with how these turned out.  I just have to smile every time I see them. 

Make it Monday #12

I have played along with several challenges, but have never actually posted any of my completed projects.  My friend Kristii says sometimes you just have to jump in and do it. So here's to another first!  Paper Trey Ink does a Make it Monday challenge that I love to play along with.  This weeks challenge was to utilize a drawn frame.  How I love, love this look!  You can watch the video and read all about the challenge here: PTI Make it Monday #12. 

Here is my take on the challenge:



Supplies Used:
Paper Trey Little Bitty Bird stamps and die cut
Tim Holtz Stained Walnut Distress Ink
Stampin' Up Marina Mist
Stampin' Up Baja Breeze

Thanks for looking!

Melinda

Good bye cold weather, hello cruise!

Eventually I hope to get Tyler posting on this new blog of ours.  For now, I'll content myself with my first blog ever.  When I've read blogs, they always seem so effertless, it must be "practice makes perfect."  So without further ado, here's my first attempt.

Tyler and I just got home from a week long vacation.  We decided to shake off the blues (and I do mean blue from cold -17 F) of winter February 26 and high tail it to Miami, Florida for a couple of days in the sun.  From there we set sail on a Carnival Cruise to Key West, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico.  Nothing picks up the mood like one glorious week of soaking up the sun. 

Miami was warm, there really is no other way to describe it when you live in a land of snow and ice.  It was 75-80 degrees the entire time we were there.  We walked the board walk, sat by the pool, swam in the ocean, and discovered jelly fish.  Neither Tyler nor I had ever seen a jelly fish, so when we saw one floating on top of the water, we were sure it was just a plastic bag.  I was rather freaked out at the thought and shortly after Tyler spotted this "floating bag" we got out of the water.  As we were walking back to the beach, what did we see....a whole bunch of washed out jelly fish.  They really are quite pretty, although the Portgese Man of Wars supposedly pack a nasty sting.  Thankfully we didn't find that out first hand!

Yep, this is the ship we sailed on, the Carnival Imagination, a party barge, complete with a pool, water slide, club, auditorium for Las Vegas Style shows, several buffets, and of course, bars.  I wasn't too sure what to expect, would we be bored, would the food be any good, how did entertainment work, etc.  To my surprise, the food was great, we didn't have time to be bored, and a list of things to do on the ship was given to us everynight...complete with towel animals and little mint chocolates I might add. 

Our first port of call was Key West, Florida.  We went on a boat tour and saw dolphins, went kayaking through a mangrove island, and went snorkeling.  I took to snorkeling like a fish to water.  Tyler....well let's just say I may be snorkeling alone next time.  When we were done with our excursion it was time to get back on the boat.  I think I like Key West, but I guess I'll have to visit again to get a feel for the town.

Cozumel, Mexico was our second and final port of call.  We took a motorcycle tour, VIP style.  There was room for up to 6 couples, but it was just Tyler and Melinda.  It was pretty fantabulous.  We saw a light house, crocodiles, mayan ruins, a beautiful sand beach, and an authentic looking restaurant, where we ate. 

The last day on the ship was a "fun day at sea."  One of the highlights was learning to make towel animals with Steve and Missy, new friends we made on the cruise.  I don't think Tyler would have gone to this class if Steve hadn't gone.  One of the first animals we learned to make was a puppy dog, mine turned out looking more like a bulldog....hopefully that's not representative of personallities.

So there you have the end of my first blog.  Maybe a little longer than a first blog needs to be, and maybe no one out on the world wide web will even be interested, but...it's a start.