Miscellaneous projects

Here are a few random projects I've done over the years!

A mosaic mirror

Candles- I made these from leftover candles that had burnt their wicks down but still had wax left. All I had to buy was the wick! (And cotton cord does the trick, you don't need anything fancy. I bought the cord at a local bead store.)

Christmas wreaths- These are made of paper plates with the center cut out, and bows stapled to the plates! (the sticky pad on the bows was not enough to keep them secure)

Yummy preserves! I love canning food, it's SO economical and so much fun! I've canned all sorts of jams- These here are peach, apple butter, plum, and sour cherry. The peaches and apples were locally picked, and the cherries were from our cherry tree! (the plums were from the grocery store, but if memory serves I'm pretty sure they were Colorado grown...) I've also canned soups, we've made turkey noodle and chicken noodle, beef stew, and a super yummy pasta sauce with tomatos and basil from our garden and sausage. Canning non-acidic foods (anything with meat, and pretty much anything that's not a jam) is a bit trickier, you have to use a pressure canner to get it hotter than you can just with a boiling water bath, but it's so worth it! They also make awesome Christmas prezzies!

Bath salt satchels- These were also Christmas gifts this year, and were so easy to make but so much fun! They are simply squares of muslin (cotton fabric) filled with epsom salts and either dried mint (from our garden) or dried rose petals (saved from various bouquets and such!), tied shut with ribbon! To use them you just put the whole thing in the tub and let the salt dissolve out. Next year I think I might try making essential oils of mint and lavender for them, so that the scent is a bit more potent than just the dried leaves (the leaves are very mild, and though they smell good, they don't scent the bathwater very much, so next time I'll try something a bit more scented).