DIY Life

I love strawberries, both as a food and as a motif.

Recently, two separate summery strawberry stitching projects were posted over at WhipUp within a couple of days of each other: a pattern and tutorial for felt strawberries from Mr. Monkeysuit, and a felt jam-jar topper with a strawberry applique by Amy at Lucykate Crafts.

Even though they aren't by the same person, they seem like a perfect pair to me! You'll find further suggestions for this adorable project, including links to supplies, after the break.

More than once something has gone down the garbage disposal that shouldn't have. The scary thing is that people stick their hand down after that item without thinking, and that could end up with disastrous results. Unless you want to be one hand or body part less I suggest following these simple instructions.

First off, please make totally sure that the power to the garbage disposal is off. Sometimes people forget that the disposal is still on when they try to remove the cause of the jam, resulting in some serious bodily harm. You can try to remove the jam from above (inside the sink) by pressing the end of a short broomstick against one of the impellers and then jab in the other direction. After a few tries in each direction, the jam should come loose. Remove the debris with a long handled tongs or a long nose pliers.

This week I learned how to do something I have been wanting to do for nearly 12 years, I learned how to make jam. It was a spur of the moment thing, I was at a friend's house who mentioned she needed to get rid of the thousands of apricots from her front. She asked me to take them, saying I could make jam with them. I told her I didn't know how but wished I did. At this point she said, "Come on, get in the kitchen. It's high time you learned!" We spent the next two hours cleaning the fruits, cooking them and putting the sweet goo into jars. Full details after the jump.