queen putteress

i wish i could explain the pull kitchen projects have for me.
(i wish i could follow through on ingesting all that i make!)

since the beginning of the year i have already made: preserved lemons, limoncello, grenadine, apple vodka, vanilla extract, blood orange vodka, bacon vodka, lentil sprouts, yogurt and kombucha.

in this last week i've had the urge to make ginger lime pickles, blood orange marmalade, more preserved lemons, mustard and homemade deodorant.

i'm such a nut.
oh, that reminds me. i also want to make "larabars"...with nuts.

i wonder which three projects i'll tackle this weekend.

present packaging

this is the second year i've done a homemade christmas.
this year i decided to use magazine clippings as jar toppers.
(and in some instances fabric scraps from my napkin endeavor.)

all my favorite scraps right here

i found it great fun. to play with the textures, colors and scenery cut down to a small scale. it added a bit of playfulness and in most instances the paper toppers would come off with the screw top. it was inexpensive and entertained me. truly, i do this for pleasure...

magazine clippings

using green cardstock and an every day printer, i made up simple labels.
i cut them out and tied them with rainbow twine i bought at the craft store.

this year on each label i tried to include ideas for the treat. a cheese it might taste good with, a style of meal—roasted meats, stir-fry. the concept came up while doing my white elephant gift and i think its a good one. i truly hope that people use what i gave them and it will make me sad to hear they did not.

like a mother hen i would almost rather they give them back.
but let's not digress into negativity.

i enjoyed how colorful my workstation became as i made progress.

and with most of it behind me, i can snuggle in and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

homemade christmas

i've been a flurry of homemade gift activity.

i think part of it is that i fret that a jar, or two, of something handmade won't please my family. i think my friends will appreciate it, but my family—well i've known them since the age of rampant materialistic gift-giving so i haven't quite gotten it out of my mind that that is what they want.

so thursday night i put on some music and whipped up some:

• homemade peanut butter doggy treats for my fur-loving friends
• homemade playdough for my neice and nephew
• lavender-vanilla simple syrup

this weekend i'll have a few more items i want to make, as well as coming up with recipes and labels for the items i am giving away. i have a busy weekend of holiday social parties so i am not sure how i will fit it all in. its hard to want to do two such different activities at the same time.

if i had thought ahead of time, i would have kept track of everything i've spent. but given that i have enough items to gift dozens (yes, multiple!) of friends and family, i think i am still ahead of the game.