sunday afternoon

I much enjoyed my Sunday.  We slept in.  I made baked brie for breakfast/brunch that I didn't make on Christmas morning.  I got laundry done.  I canned black eyed peas, black beans, rattle snake peas, white beans and a mix for the chickens for extra protein.  All the while I listened to tunes. 

HERE's a post on canning dried beans and peas.  So easy to do if you've got the right equipment.

And HERE's my post on baked brie.  So delicious. 

Chicken Mix - kidney beans, white beans, black beans, barley and lentils.

Black eyed peas for New Year's day.  I even went ahead and added the smoked ham, salt and pepper.

Rattle snake peas that grew in our garden this year.

One of my favorite songs and bands that I listened to while I canned today.

As if they weren't already pretty!

While getting ready for my Jam Session photo shoot today, for the look book for the class in two weeks, I decided the jars of jam needed to be a little prettier.  This is the simplest thing to do when you want to give your accomplishments away to the most prestigious of friends.  Prestigious because they are worthy of your home canned products!  Always make sure you have more on hand for just these sort of people when they pop over.

Here's how to dress them up a bit, as if they weren't pretty already!

Skim through your scrap fabric and pick something pretty.  If you don't have scrap fabric you can easily, quickly and cheaply get remnants (scrap pieces) at any place that sells fabric.  They want to get rid of the scraps and for this ... you want them to... it's a win/win!

Using a round bowl, trace the circumference of the bowl onto the inside of the fabric with a pencil.

Cut out the circle with scissors (like you didn't know that!)  Use a rubber band to hold the fabric on the top of the jar of canned goodness.  Tie a piece of ribbon, rickrack, dental floss, or whatever you want to keep the material in place and look purdy.

You can even tie on a label of what the contents of your jar is if you want.  Which I did not do here.  Just thought I'd tell ya.

Canned beauty!