Homemade Stove Top / Crock Pot Smell-Y Jars as a Holiday Gift!

Great Holiday Visiting Gift!

I used one small Mini Mason Jar, added fresh cut Rosemary from my garden to the bottom, then poured in about two tablespoons of Vanilla extract (I use the the extract from Mexico that is too strong to cook with).  Next I pick one fresh Meyer lemon off my tree and sliced it.  I placed the lemon on top of the Rosemary and vanilla.  I then topped it off with some more Rosemary & added water to fill the jar.  I have them in my refrigerator right now.  Now all I need is some ribbon to place around the jar and these will make great gifts to give to people when I go to their homes this holiday season!  I also make a similar Quart Mason Jar gift that is dry.  It contains Cinnamon sticks, Cloves and dried Orange peels.  I also place dried pine cones in it to fill the jar up, plus it gives a nice Christmas look! 

Instructions for Simmering:

Place all ingredients in a stove top pan, add a cup of water and simmer on the stove.  Never Under Any Circumstances leave a pot simmering on a stove unless you are in the kitchen to watch it!  I usually will get mine to a boiling point and then turn off the stove top, or I leave it on the back burner that vents the oven, so when I am cooking it heats it without me having to turn on the stove top!  I have used this particular amount for about 3 weeks of smelling until I had to throw it out.  I also add extra Rosemary once a week to kick it up a notch. You can also use a crock pot for simmering, again remember to fill it with water every hour or so!!  You can never be to careful...Please!!

Ingredients:

 Vanilla, Rosemary & Citrus Smell Jar

1 - Mini Mason Jar (or any Size you want)

3 - Sprigs of Rosemary

1 - Lemon ~ Sliced

2 - Tablespoons Vanilla Extract

Water as needed

Christmas Spice Smell Jar

1 - Quart Mason Jar

1 - Dried Orange Peel

6 - Dried Cinnamon Sticks

10 - Dried Clove Sticks

4 - Dried Pine Cones 

(I do not use the Pine Cones when simmering)

Water as needed

I found the ingredients for the Rosemary/Lemon/Vanilla off Pinterest of course, and the Christmas Spice ingredients are from my Mother, as her house always smells like this during the holiday season! 

Pendant Star Light

 Pendant Star Light

Mason Jar Chandelier

Side View of Chandelier 

Looking up at chandelier 

Mason Jar Chandelier

With all the different Mason Jar lights that you see on Pinterest here lately, I knew I could & would make one myself!  I saw this "Texas" star a couple of months ago, and I knew I wanted to make my first chandelier with it. I found the mason jars I wanted to use, and they are green reproductions of the 1858 mason jars & made of recycled glass! My next step was to set out on a journey to find the lighting.  I have a basic idea of how lightening works, but by gosh I did not realize all the  whatchamacallits & thingamajigs one might need to make a chandelier!  I got my drill out and with the exception of one slip (no injuries to myself, just the star) I made my very first chandelier!!!  I will be displaying it at a trade show this weekend, and I will be very interested to see if I can get a commission to do another one!  If I do....Will I be able to call myself an artist!  Do you call people who make chandeliers artists?   

Materials I used

1 - Texas Metal Star

5 - Quart Mason Jar

5 - Six foot of wire (I used clear)

5 - Brass 1/8" nipple

5 - 2" keyless socket 1/8" IP

5 - Crystal Clear bulbs "B" Type

5 - 1/8 Brass Hex Nut

1 - 13/32" Drill Bit 

1 - 1/8 Drill Bit

1 - 1/2" Hose clamp

1 - Can brown spray paint

1 - Wire stripper

1 - Phillips screw driver

1- Wrench

1 - Box Cutter

Drilled one large hole in the top of each mason jar lid and then four smaller holes in the lids for heat to escape. I attached the wire to the sockets.  I put the nipple through the lid hole and attached the socket, and then tightened the nipple to the lid with the hex nut.  I drilled a hole at the end of each star point and ran the wire through the hole. I spray painted the hose clamp brown to hided the chrome finish.  I used the hose clamp around all the wires, and this will allow me to lower or raise the mason jars, as well as hold all the wires together.  I will have an electrician come in and direct wire the light!  

I am an Artist!  

JES/JIS Pool Party 2012 - Photo Montage Video

JES/JIS Pool Party

Doubletree - Houston, Texas

August 2- 5, 2012

Dragon Alumni

Plants from my Garden

These are some of the plants I have in the Garden this year!

The flowers have been beautiful, the Vegetables were not so hot this year.  I got great Green Beans, & Red Potato's, however the Tomato's were horrible as were the Zucchini.   

Why you should spiral cut your Hot Dogs!

I thought this was a really neat, and all I can say is....

"Who knew!"

Let's BBQ! 

New Garden Feature

Found this old water pump for $20.00 the other day and I knew exactly where I wanted to put it.  I have my Grand Mothers old cast iron sink in the back yard with flowers and this pump was going to go perfectly with it.  I cut an old golf club head off  and stuck the club in the ground and placed the pipe from the water pump over the club to hold the pump up.  I came across a bag of plastic pearls and remembered seeing someone use marble as a water feature before so I knew I could do the same with the pearls. I just wrapped the pearls with a wire and hung the wire inside the neck of the pump.  I started with two, but added two more strands.  I showed my Mother the pictures and she said you should always use things in three's or five's...so I need to add one more strand, as I do not want the mess with the karma gods!  And yes the flower bad needs some serious work!

Voila!