Repurpose Glass Jars, To Vintage or Not

I love finding new uses for things that are usually  trashed.I have saved jars,plastic containers with lids  and boxes.The list goes on and on.i am not a pack rat by any means ,the things I save have a clear purpose in my mind.If they do not get used at some point I do trash them.The net has been a source of great inspiration to me.I use it like a library and feed my mind of new things everyday.

Now that being said lets move on to what I have always wanted to do.... make my own vintage looking jars without paying an arm and leg for them.

I can still see my Grandmother Cason's cook house with it's cement floor and long bench tables that we all sat around on family gatherings.She was a mother of 15 children and I forget how many grand and great grandchildren.  When I was growing up there was never a lack of playmates.The cook house was large  and hot in summer and cold in winter.I can remember looking inside the shelves   and finding coffee cups that had filters right inside the cup to strain the coffee grains(no coffeemaker just steep and strain) .

The depression coffee cups and the colored jars. Depression

 glass was given out free at many store even movie theaters.Some was included in food package like toys was in cereal and crackerjack boxes.This was to entice the buyer to purchase the product .After all during the Depression  times was hard and the poor people had no money to wast on pretty dinner ware.The pretty colors and etching on the depression ware gave them pretty dinner ware to use. If you would like to know more about the subject I have included some links.You might be surprised at the things you can learn about that time period just by looking at the products that were used .

Copyright © 2008 by National Depression Glass Association 

http://www.ndga.net/articles/whatisdg.php

Copyright© 2006 - 2012 - SuzieMax.com
http://www.suziemax.com/Depression-Glass.html

Hazel Marie Weatherman, copyright 1974.

http://www.mindspring.com/~reyne/dg.html  Now mason jars  were colored blue and a few other colors  because it was said that the darker the jar’s color is, the longer the food lasts. Today the jars are used not only for food but as a decorated accent for the home.Had we only known that the things from our past would be the treasures of our future we each could have carried a link to our family roots that could be shared with our children.

 Hazel Marie Weatherman, copyright 1974.

http://www.mindspring.com/~reyne/dg.html

 Now mason jars  were colored blue and a few other colors  because it was said that the darker the jar’s color is, the longer the food lasts. Today the jars are used not only for food but as a decorated accent for the home.Had we only known that the things from our past would be the treasures of our future we each could have carried a link to our family roots that could be shared with our children. 

Copyright © 2012  The Inglenook Decor. 

Now I will share the links I found on how to color your own jars below.Remember you don't have to limit yourself to mason jars.I save pickle ,mayo,fruit,and just about any other jar that catches my eye.

Lets begin exploring the diy  art of jar color !

 First thing to remember is that these methods are NOT intended for food use.If you want color jars for food use you will need to purchase color jars.

If you know of a way to color jars that are safe for food use ,please share with us .I always love learning something new.

1. HispanicallyEverAfter has a great tut for coloring jars .Nice pictures and clear directions.

http://hispanicallyeverafter.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/diy-color-tint-glass-jar/

2. Chicken in the Road is  another tut.In this one she goes in great detail of the failures and successes of dying the jars. I found this tut of great help in information .If you never look at another tut I would recommend  this one be on the must read.

She has a very nice imagery of the process and as a visual person this was right up my alley.

Do read the full post and not skip right to the tut.It has very good information .

http://chickensintheroad.com/house/crafts/coloring-mason-jars/

3. DIY: Tinted Mason Jars in Rainbow

By 

Liz Stanley

Another nice image  tut 

http://www.momtastic.com/diy/168908-diy-tinted-mason-jars-in-rainbow

4 Craftaholice Anonmos 

has a tut on creating permanent dyed jars basically the same as the others except she uses Crystal Gloss Enamels  to color the jars.

COPYRIGHT © 2012 CRAFTAHOLICS ANONYMOUS

5.Last but not least is creative little daisy blog site.Another great image tut .I love the little jars!So cute

.http://creativelittledaisy.typepad.com/creative_little_daisy/2010/06/have-you-priced-vintage-blue-canning-jars-lately-wanna-make-your-own-really-cheap-.html

there you have it.Several sites to get you started on creating those vintage jars at a fraction of the price.Even if it is not the actual ware from my childhood it still brings back those fond memories of my childhood that are long past.Families grow and move on,mothers ,daughters ,sons and farthers all have families of there own and if we don't hold to our past we lose a little bit of our future.So tell the stories and save that scrap of past to hand down to your children and most importantly make those memories .Sometimes memories are all we are left with,save the good and lose the bad.

Remember

Love What You Are Doing 

and 

Do What You Love!

Pinterest a Curious Cats best Friend

I found Pinterest a while back,not sure how I found it,weather I was told or just searched and it came up.Either way I soon realized that this was a great resource for my curious mind.Unlike search engine this allows you to see  pictures,and as we know I am a visual person.This has been a gold mine for me .

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Here you can find things a little easier because other people are pinning things to their board, this allows easy access to things I find interesting.This is not a search engine at all.It does not pull up all the web pages and such .

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What this does is allows you to find what interest your by allowing you to see and repin other's finds online.You can start your own board and make pins of your own.To me this allows me to save something I find interesting and allows me to 'save' it without having to bookmark the site.If you are like me I hate bookmarking because I am lazy and do not name the bookmark for what I was interested in .Therefore I can never find the site or image I booked marked it for in the first place.

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I also have a problem with saving things to my computer and then forget where I put them. Pinterest has allowed me a fast easy way to save all the sites that I want to re find fast and easy.All I have to do is go to my board look up the interested site and that's it.When I click on the image it takes me to that listing on my board and then I just click once more and it opens the website that image is on.That easy.I  love it !

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 If you want to find something like old looking tables and such ,you can type it in the search box on the top left of the pinterst  page and anything anyone has placed under the word old will come up for you to view.From there you have a vast resource of others that have already searched the web for the same things you have.You also get the added benefit of finding things that you might not have thought to look for.
You can add Pinterst to your blog allowing others to see what you find interesting.They have made it easy by  allowing you to create your own button to add to your site ,people can follow your boards to keep up with what you find as well as you can follow others so not to miss something someone out there that shares the same interest you have ......Millions of other people finding and sharing things for the love of exploring. 

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 What a great world wide web we have, a library right at your fingertips.Just waiting to bring what you most what right to your screen.Learning and exploring  can only get better from here!
Join all of us on (http://pinterest.com/ )Pinterest and start pinning today.You will be happy you did!

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Remember
Love What You are Doing
and
Do What You Love!

Homemade Caramel Recipe

caramel in a can

I have made caramel in the past.Stood over the stove and stirred for what seemed like hours.

It is a long ,hot,sticky mess  that taste heavenly. But rarely made because of the expense and long process, right?

Well imagine my excitement when I came upon this simple method on Pinterest.

I thought...no way is it that simple.

Yet it was. As I have been told this is not a new method,but I wanted to share this with you so if you never heard of it(like me") you can make some as well.

First this is a soft dipping caramel not hard.If you want hard there is only one way I know of to make it.....stand over the hot stove.but if you want to dip apples or anything else then this is the recipe for you.

First some things you will need

crock pot

any size can sweet condensed milk

water

Directions

place your sweet condense milk in the crock pot,fill it with water until it covers the can.Turn it on medium and place lid on top.

Now go sit down and relax.

8 hours later take the can out (careful it is very hot) and place it in the refridare 

can right from the fridg

Leave it in there until it is completely cold or overnight .

take it out and open it to see all that soft caramel .

Sweet caramel right in the can!

Place it in a container and that's it.

simple,sweet and no mess.

Remember all crock pots cook different so try to 

remember the time when you make 

it.Record how long it took on what setting  so you can 

get it  just the way you like it.

Also I like to leave mine in the container and place back

 in the fridge for about 2 

days.To me it seems to taste better and get

 smoother.Again this is to your taste.

Who knew a treat like this could be that simple.

Now go and make your family (or yourself) happy and 

make some caramel!

Remember

Have fun doing what you love

and

Love what you are doing!

SANTA CLAUSA & REINDEER FOOD TRUE STORIES

ORIGINAL PICTURE FROM SANTA
TO MY OLDEST
17 YEARS AGO

 

AS time goes by I find myself revisiting my
 child hood .Remembering all the times we got up on Christmas Eve to open presents. Yes eve due to the fact that my mother's farther was born on the 24^th of December. We celebrated Christmas on that day. We didn't have much and presents were only given by mom and dad to us. We had 2 or 3 presents each but we had a great time. My father's family was large (14 brothers and sisters and mom has 8) I never remember feeling as if we were missing anything. But sitting here today I do. We have become so materialistic that the season has been about what and how much we are going to get so last year I decided to start old fashion Christmas. I have skills that I can apply and the love I instill in each thing I do means more to me than anything I could buy. I feel the same way about receiving gifts (as you can tell from other post) things my family and friends give me that is special to each of their skills means more to me than anything they could buy. Most think that they have no skill or anything to offer. But saying you have a skill never limits itself to a craft or creating a masterpiece. Here is an example, my husband and girls do not hunt. I grew up with my brothers and farther hunting and raising pigs. We even had chickens and grew our own veggies .No we didn't live on a farm. We just had limited resources and as my parents family grew up poor they had the SKILL to do the things that would round out our lives. Point? I would love deer meat for a present as I do not get it often anymore, my mom makes fabulous cakes ,but I cannot for the life of me get one not to fall apart, my farther now works on a farm that his nephews owns, so they grow greens ,lemons broccoli and such, my brothers are good with their hands ,wood work and well as helping with heavy things at home( I have girls ) .Their wives hunt as well and I could go on and on with my nieces. Skills mean so much. Something someone can do that you cannot or something someone has that you need. That is what old fashion Christmas means to me. Beauty and necessity are gifts that can be as priceless as the Mona Lisa.

So maybe next year rethink how you look at Christmas. Yes kids still wan the new itouch and all the things that make them cool to their peers but it will be the memories of their Christmas with their family that will outlast the material things. The new expensive in thing will be old news but carving a walking stick, making a tree house ,making a small village, teaching them to make a cake will live in their hearts and minds forever. When they are retelling the stories from their past Christmas's the cake failure or the tilting tree house will be the story they share with their family forever. Not the IPod. You are what they will share.

So with season greetings and good cheer here are 2 stories from my own daughters past Christmas's that are warm and touching to my heart.


 
WHEN my oldest was young she was new to everyone and I mean new lol. The first child, first grandchild on both sides of the family .The first great grandchild and great great on my husband side child .She got a lot of attention and soaked it all up. When she was about 3 or almost 4 we had done all the mall Santa and all the who and what he is ( my children can ask my till I am 200 and I will always believe Santa is real ..So there) as most parents know mal Santa sometimes are a little rough and sometime scary to little kids. My daughter was like most but for her age she was a little on the smart side..No way was that Santa. So as the season grew closer and the weather was starting to cool down a little we received the greeted gift as a parent. Santa found my daughter.

We were at a local restaurant with her in a highchair .Waving her fries in one fisted hand and stuffing the other in her mouth with the other hand. Swinging her feet and all giggles and smiles when all of a sudden she stood up in the chair (frightening me to death) pointing her fisted hand of fries and screeched 'SANTA CLAUS!!!!!!!!!!'

After grabbing her and glancing across the room there was a man smiling and waving as he took his ticket to the cashier. My husband was laughing and talking to my daughter trying to get her to calm down as all the other customers smiled and enjoyed her happiness! She would have none of it .Santa was here and she was so happy to finally see the real one. He came to our table and said hi to her and she just has to hug him around the waist as he stood by her chair. I could tell he enjoyed the love he felt from her, his eyes had those smile crinkles as he laughed. My husband told him that he must get that everywhere he goes and Santa said yes he did, then reached for his wallet and pulled out a picture of himself and gave it to my daughter and told her it was hers to keep. She then (warming my heart) asked him why he was there and not at home making things with the elves .He just laughed and my husband said "Santa has to take a break too and eat". Santa told her he was heading home right then and after a little bit of chit chat he told her bye and she watched him as he went out to his car ( I think she was hoping to see his deer).She was so excited and could not wait to tell her grandparents about meeting the real Santa. She never asked him for anything and he never asked her what she wanted for Christmas. Material things didn't ruin the meeting between this magical moment between child and saint. It was a pure memory that I will treasure for the rest of my life.


 

 

 

 

REINDEER FOOD I SAVED FROM
THE NIGHT MY YOUNGEST TOLD ME THE
DEER WERE HUNGRY.
SAVED IN CLOSE FOR13 YRS

Now my youngest child was a leave me alone baby, preferring not to be held and cuddled (hard for me because she was the last child I would have) She had lots of needs (not actual, but she had some she made up) but when she felt something for someone else that had needs she was very focused on getting what they need. It didn't matter if they were magical or not. If they needed it she felt compelled to give it.

She was in pre k at our local school .And everything was hectic due to parties, shopping and cooking (I like to include all the people that had a hand in my girls education by making them divinity and she found "new "people she felt helped so my cooking list was long) sewing felt stocking for her older sister class and getting everything ready for their school parties and crafts was a all consuming mom job. On Christmas Eve we made cookies popped popcorn giggles and sewed some popcorn garland. Christmas music filling the house and her ever asking is it time for Santa Claus. We crafted gifts for the grandparents and she really gets into that .She loves giving presents almost as much as she loves getting them.

Late that night she got her bath .Put on her pj's and came with me and her older sister and a blanket to ride our area looking at the lights. The whole time worrying about when Santa would come and all the things most children worried about like how he will find her. But my daughter is a Q&A kind of girl. She wanted to know all there was about Santa, now that she was all grown up and had factual information from all the kids in school. So as we came home I answered all the questions and tried to answer the technical stuff as well. We got home and started laying out the cookies and milk .As we were placing the plate and glass down on the fireplace she looked up at me and said" what about the reindeer?"

I said "what do you mean?" She looked so cute worrying out the problem in her mind. "They pull Santa all night and never get anything to eat .They get hungry to. What are we going to give them?" I was at a loss and scrambled for something to give them. I told her that they could have cookies and she said 'mommy deer don't eat cookies they eat reindeer food.' I had never heard of that before and told her I didn't have any to give them not even a carrot. That's when she flipped her hand at me and said." That's ok I know how to make it. That's what they teach us at school.' Then pranced off to the kitchen where she taught me to make the deer food for them. She explained why glitter was in there, because everyone knows that they need that to see it on the ground .She explained all this with a roll of the eye and the entire patient I had just showed her in the car. We all took the bowl and walked out into the cold night and spread the food out for the poor hungry deer to eat while Santa snacked on his cookies. The next day she went out to look for the food and was happy to see that it was gone and to her the deer had at least one good meal that night before heading home. For her worrying about the lesser creature never meant what it means to us. She never thought about the deer as being beneath Santa but as an equal and deserving of being treated special just like everyone else. Knowing that she extended her heart to include others makes me treasure this memory. As they grow these are the things that will be treasured forever with love and pride. Giving me new hope as they grow into young woman that not only will they see to their own needs but will be aware of the needs of those around then. I remember telling her at that age that I never wanted her to grow up and to stay little forever .She told me she would stop growing right then and there. I asked her how she was going to do that.

"I will stop eating "was her answer. I will say she tried but food was too much to resist for her. She still tells me the same thing she always did .I would say,' I thought you were going to stop eating and never grow up" her reply "I tried but I get hungry and can't help it"

Those memories and little faces are all grown now into 2 beautiful 20 and 17 years old women waiting for their life to take them to another home and another person .But the stories are mine to retell and treasure always and forever.


 
This holiday season as you are with your family shares the stories young and old. Create those new memories and rejoice in the season.


 

 

 
HAPPY HOLIDAYS

AND
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS.