Jelly Recipe Page

Spoonflower is getting ready to have their annual free swatch day on August 18th. Every year, they do this to help raise money for Heifer.org, they will mail you a swatch of fabric, but if you'd like to make a donation, the money goes the charity. 

The swatch I'm getting this year is this design, and after I get the swatch and approve it, the fabric will be for sale at Spoonflower.

Since I decided I really liked the layout, I made a printable recipe page using it. I hope you enjoy this.

Click on the image for the larger version. The dots are spaced approximately 1/3 of an inch apart for the lines. 

Lots more printable jelly things and recipes pages on Don't Eat the Paste.

Jelly and Jam Printable Labels

Printable Recipe Pages

Ready Player One

I'll do a real entry later, but I wanted to point out the brand new book Ready, Player One this morning.

The author, Ernest Cline is a favorite in my household for his poetry. It's intelligent, funny and full of pop culture references that make it very accessible even for my poetry hating husband. I bought his cd years ago and it's a favorite. You can find samples of it on his website.Click the second link under the game cartridge. So when I saw Ready Player One listed on Good Reads a few months ago I left this comment.
"Really looking forward to this one, so is my husband. So very envious of the people who got to read it first."
Ernest Cline saw my comment, and wrote me, offering me a ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of the book. I read it in one sitting, then gave it to my husband to read. 
I loved it. If you grew up in the 80s or have 80s nostalgia love and like science fiction, you'll probably love it too. Michael laughed out loud at several points and found the story just as satisfying as I did.
The future is grim and escape is a virtual world that's very 80s retro. 


This is what I wrote on GoodReads.



I'm just thrilled. If you've read or listened to Ernest Cline's poetry, you come to expect a certain kind of intelligent humor and hopeful cynicism. 
His first novel has that, a future world that's believable and based in current events, and rich with pop culture references to the 80s. Wade is clumsy, flawed and easy to identify with if you've always felt like a misfit. 
The future he lives in isn't a utopia. It's a natural extension of what's happening now. The poor people are poorer, there is very little in the way of fossil fuels left, and people are escaping into an online world that was designed by someone with a deep love for that decade.
It's about friendship and good versus evil with a bit of a love story thrown in. 
It's a lot of fun, and a book that I really recommend to anyone who was a teenager in the 80s or who has a nostalgic love for that time.
   
If you like science fiction and ever used an Amiga, tried to get to the hidden level on PacMan and know who Stringfellow Hawk is... you'll love this book. The future is grim, and escapism is 1980s popular culture. 

I don't want to spoil the book. All that information is included in the blurb.  I do want to recommend it though. It's already a best seller with movie talks happening, and just out today. 

Amazon.com affiliate links provide income to me personally, which I spend on my book addiction.

Raspberry Jelly Labels

 I like using Avery Sticker Project Paper (Amazon.com affiliate link) for labels because I can do custom layouts. For people who prefer other methods, you can download the labels individually and use them in your word processing or graphics software to make your own label sets. Click on the images for the larger versions. 

Other cute label designs in this series:
Rhubarb
Strawberry

A friend of mine who is also very into canning has been really wishing I'd make raspberry labels. So I started them this morning, but getting the face just right for the amount of cute I want was challenging. While I was posting in progress designs on Facebook, Lillian asked if I could make dark purple ones. I said "Sure, color changes are easy peasy." Then Jennifer (who originally asked for labels) made a joke about them. Then said "‎*giggles* Sorry, that was probably uncalled for, wasn't it *^^*;;;" which made me think of a bratty kid. Bratty kid! There was the answer to making the face cute enough. A raspberry giving a raspberry. Perfect.
So that's what I drew, then recolored it to make dark purple blackberry type raspberries for Lillian.

While we were canning jelly the other day (have I mentioned how much I love the Discover Canning small batch kit? You can read my review here) we couldn't find a ruler. Now, you have to understand, I have rulers. LOTS of rulers. Metal, plastic, great big T rulers and little 6 inch school supply kit rulers, but at that moment, we couldn't find any of them. Turnip Girl brought over the model I printed of the printable ruler to make sure it was exact. Well, a paper ruler won't work to measure head space in jars. So I had her grab her marshmallow stick and we measured on that and made a small notch at 1/4 inch. It worked very well.

The marshmallow sticks are our family's answer to the fact I won't let them roast marshmallows on coat hangers because of the coatings on them. We got a 3/8 inch oak dowel and sawed it in half. Then the kids sharpened them in a pencil sharpener and sanded them smooth. Their marshmallow sticks are their responsibility not to loose and to clean after roasting marshmallows. Every so often we saw off the ends, put the rest back our craft supplies for other projects, and start all over with a new dowel. The non-marshmallow end can be decorated with various things if you have kids who want to decorate them. Nothing loose or that dangles, but wrapping craft wire around one end with beads or coloring with permanent markers works.

Rose boxes

Boxes to match the rulers I posted yesterday. Click on the images for the full sized versions. Handy for paper clips and other little odds and ends! Print on card stock, cut, score, fold, glue together.