Jams And Syrups And Fudge, Oh My!

Assorted Jams

Not only did I spend a lot of time in front of the TV knitting this holiday season, I also spent a lot of time cooking in the kitchen! Thankfully, sitting and knitting was the perfect respite from all that standing and cooking!

I made pear and vanilla bean jams; pear cranberry cardamom jams, apple butter; lavender, rose, apple, jalapeño, ginger and mint flavored simple syrups; chai, mint, floral, and fruity tea blends; chocolate walnut fudge, toffee, chocolate truffles, a spicy nut mix; and chai spice, floral, orange clove, and allspice fir needle scented candles.

I know… I sound insane… perhaps I am, but I had a blast doing it all and surprisingly none of it was terribly hard or time consuming! All of my recipes and instructions were found on Pinterest and then I tweaked a few things to make them my own.Continue Reading

Great Expectations!

Christmas Gifts Handmade By Katie

Soooooo… Christmas is officially over and though I didn’t accomplish everything that I had hoped to in the handmade gift department, I did accomplish a lot and I’m pretty happy with how it all turned out.

I’m not gonna lie, I stressed myself out completely trying to finish everything at the 11th hour and breathed a huge sigh of relief when it was all over and done with! But hey, what’s Christmas without a little self induced, set my expectations way too high, kind of stress?! Despite the mad rush to get everything on my list done, I had a lot of fun with these gifts. I loved the creativity of making everything by hand and was incredibly proud of each finished project, flaws and all!

I wasn’t able to do five different crates as I had hoped (again the high expectation thing can be a bit of an issue for me!), but I did do the ones I was most excited about. The tea lovers crate, the mixologist crate, and the chocolate lovers crate. The rest of the crate ideas I can save for birthday gifts, hostess gifts, or even just an I’m thinking of you gift!

My next post will include all the recipes, patterns and shortcuts I used to create my gift crates, so if any of you are feeling inspired you can get cooking and crafting!Continue Reading