Joon Appetit ~ Red Pepper Jam Tutorial

Lovely Red Pepper Jam ~ a True Treat

It's That Time of Year for Beautiful Red Peppers

Red Pepper Jam is so easy and rewarding.
Here we go...
Chop: 4-6 red peppers.
We used 4 here because ours were quite large.
Scout, who I would like to credit with and thank for all of the photography for this post, hand chopped these peppers. You can use your food processor or mini chopper, of course. We just don't have either at this time.

Sprinkle on & stir in 1 TBSP. salt
Let sit at least 3 hours.
More is fine, too.

Drain well.
We line our strainer with a piece of cheesecloth.
It is not necessary if your strainer has finer holes.

You can see the value of this step.

In a heavy, medium saucepan PLACE:
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar

ADD & STIR IN: your chopped, drained peppers

Heat to boiling.
Reduce heat.
Simmer on a low simmer, uncovered, for about one hour.

{Scout just wanted to include this photo.
She likes it. She thinks it's fun.
That covered pan in this shot is another pan.}

Ladle your jam into recycled jelly jars if you like.

{The kind that make you smile.}
You can store it in any refrigerator container.
It lasts for a LONG time.
I have no idea how long.
Ours is always gone in days.

Isn't it pretty?

This Jam makes a fabulous gift.
We always include a package of
Kraft Cream Cheese & a roll of Ritz Crackers.

Pure Heaven on a plate.


Please come back and let me know how your jam
brightened your day.

Until next time...

ox
joon

And Thanks Again to Scout for her photography and help.

A Little Bit Different Style Upcycled Tee Carry~All Tote

This is my first upcycled T shirt Carry~All. I made it for a wonderful friend as a surprise gift. I can't wait until she receives it. It's all ready for the postman. :) But first...

I started by adding a liner {wrong sides together} because the T shirt was quite thin. Oh, yes, I should say here that it was beyond the clothing life stage. The liner is also a former blouse. If you know me even the teeniest little bit, you know they came from thrift stores. This is {at least} their third life.

I wanted this bag to have my own signature style, which I call
Thread Tramp Art ~ with heart :). Here you can see the pinked edges being basted before the next step ~ simply turning them under & leaving them raw.

Just for kicks, I turned one edge the opposite way. I added marbled fabric strips to the straps for 3 reasons: style, durability & added length. A handy key clip extension piece is attached along one seam. It flops inside or out at will!

Inside design is as much fun as outside. The little gecko is from my boys' favorite pair of shorts. They date back to 1980 -ish. Still going strong.

I sewed up the side and bottom. Added the straps and here is the finished creation. As my lovely friend, Pearl, says: TADA!

I love it and I hope my friend will too. Maybe I will make another one. Well, what would you do if your mother asked you? :) {Seuss quotes, anyone?}

Love Our Earth & Things Can Be Pretty! by golly!

Today I have a joonbeam blog first. I always make my own envelopes and packages when I can. The other day I was cutting a grocery sack so I could use the body. Normally, I cut down one side first and slice all the way to the base, discarding the bottom. Maybe it was my tired brain ~ I had seven packages to prepare that day! - or maybe it was celestial intervention, but, for whatever mysterious reason, I cut across the fold first instead. Then I looked down and, by golly, I said to myself, that is an instant large envelope! So I grabbed the camera and, by golly, I had brainstorm #5,067,876,439,274,183,201. My first blog tutorial. Woo Hoo!

Here you see the cut across the sack. Next, the item placed inside the envelope. I wrap things in wax paper, bubble wrap or glad wrap to protect my paper items from potential moisture.

Then, I place the collage (just my style. Not necessary, of course!) and address right over the folded closed opening. Viola! Instant sturdy envelope for your larger items and you saved money, energy, time, trees, the environment, the world! From now on, I will be using all size brown bags for this purpose! I mean you have instant four sealed sides. How great is this? Can you tell I am excited?

Here are the tools of my trade. I adoringly use Yes! Paste for all of my paper projects. And I reuse all kinds of paper and envelopes. Do you see my return address? That is a remnant of the postage kiosk stamp. It comes out of the self service machine as a sticker. And I found that I can make two self sticking return address labels with the leftover! I am hard core saving woman, but why not? It's easier and more efficient, too.

Here is the back of the envelope. That Pottery Barn catalog theme came in so handy!

This tutorial is dedicated to Mister Rogers. Just when I thought I couldn't love him more, we saw an episode where he was demonstrating how he and you can reuse envelopes by simply slicing carefully along the lines and turning it inside out. A little tape, glue or paste and... New envelope! Thanks for reading my post. I love everyone and everything ~ Let's all love our earth a little extra in celebration of today, the first day of spring! Try something new. Use something old. You'll feel great. Really. You will. Habits...the more good ones you curate, the less room in your life for the bad ones. It's a win, win, win situation.