Soon.....

My brain is done taking a vacation from the holidays......

I promise I have some stuff in the works and lots of ideas bouncing around in my head.

Quick Grape Jelly

Grape Jelly

This recipe is so easy its sad. I can usually do two batches in about an hour, give or take. It is from my bible--The Ball Blue Book. I never thought that I would love a canning/preserving book so much. It is very well used at my house.

Anyway,

Here is the recipe:

yields 6 half-pint jars

3 cups bottles grape juice, unsweetened

1 pkg. powdered pectin

4 1/2 cups sugar

1 stereo playing your favorite tunes

1 Diet Coke

I like to use Welch's grape juice. But make sure it is 100% juice.


Makes it much easier to pre-measure your sugar--so you are not spilling all over, while trying to quickly measure it and dump into the pan. Or maybe you are not a klutz like me!

I am not smart enough to be picky on pectin--this is what I used.

Combine grape juice and powdered pectin in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute*, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes** in a boiling-water canner.

* Really one 1 minute--no less, no more. Set your timer. This is important for set-up of your jelly.

**You have to adjust for your elevation. 10 minutes is for sea-level. I have to do 20 minutes. Refer to an altitude chart for proper processing times for your altitude.

Here is mine processing.......

Then when its done, pull the jars out--they are very hot--and set them on a towel to cool. Sit back, enjoy your Diet Coke and listen to the absolutely wonderful sound of the popping of the lids sealing.

I seriously love that popping sound--it makes me so happy for some reason. It is the sound of success!!!

My grape jelly!!!

Sunsets

I have been L.O.V.I.N.G. the sunsets lately. The other night I glanced out the kitchen window and saw this:

I just had to step out and take some pictures.

Sunsets are hard for me to capture. I am pretty happy with these!

Monogrammed Plates

Here is one of my projects. I found it here while I was blog hopping. I thought that it was a cute idea and wanted to give it a try. Click the link and it will give you a tutorial.

It was a fairly inexpensive project. I found the glass plates at Target for $2 each. My sister has since found me some plates at DI for .50. They are a little smaller, but in great condition.

I found my fabric and mod podge at Walmart. I bought 1 yard of fabric, which should do about 6 to 8 plates. I don't know yet. The fabric was $1.44.


The tutuorial on the link shows how easy it is.

The hardest thing for me was picking out the letter font. I did not freehand mine, I printed it off the computer, cut it out, then used that for a stencil on my scrapbook paper.

I also made another one, but I outlined the outside edge of my paper with a black sharpie--I thought that it made it look better--made the letter pop out more rather than blend.

Here is my finished project:

Let me know if you decide to make this, and what you think.

These are going to be used to deliver some Christmas cheer to my friends.

Bouncing

I promise that I have tons of ideas bouncing around in my head! It's actually quite scary. I have been rounding up several things that I need for several different projects.

If all goes well, I will be trying one tonight......

Pink Mountains

These were taken on Halloween, as we were driving home from Brenda's house in Saratoga.

I told Jared to stop, that I wanted to take pictures of the lake. So he pulled into the driveway/yard of a house that was for sale.

I am not very good at landscape and I need to play with metering, but I still think that they are beautiful pictures of Utah Lake and the Wasatch Mountains.

Shutter Speed

I decided to play around with my camera a little more. I haven't really adventured is adjusting the shutter speed. I wanted to capture some cool full moon pictures. I took all these photos between 9:15 and 10:00 pm last night. They have not been photoshopped--I do not have a program yet--these are straight from my camera.

This was taken on a "normal setting". It shows how dark it was while I was shooting.



This was taken with an ISO of 1600, shutter speed of 30 seconds, and at F10 (I think)

This next one, was a few minutes later, but at around F16. (sorry camera battery is charging right now, so I can't look at the setting I took these at)

I think the orange glow is from my street light, which is behind me, and it has an orange tint.

Then, I heard the sound of a train coming down the tracks. I hurried back, more towards the center of my cul-de-sac and took the picture. I didn't know that it was an AMTRACK train, or I would have set my shutter speed to around 15 or 20 seconds. AMTRACK trains are shorter and quicker than good old Union Pacific.

I still think that it turned out cool. I have no idea how I managed to capture to AMTRAK emblem and the #24.