Jam Wedding Favours

I have been researching some ideas for a rustic wedding and I just have to share a gorgeous favour with you. Jam jar favours really bring home the theme of a rustic wedding.  Here are some images and a quick how to.

How to make Jam

Serve in recycled jars or purchase glass jars (125ml).  Add some gingham or hessian to the lid and tie together with a ribbon of your choice.  Attach a label thanking people for coming to your wedding, or have some fun and add sentences like “spread the love.” Remember to add your names and the date of your wedding.  You can use any fruit to make the jam below.  The recipe below will only make 10 cups, so if you have 100 guests, you can either enlist some family members or do it in stages.  The jam will be preserved in the jars.

Ingredients

• 1.4 kg peaches or indigenous fruit
• 3 teaspoons lemon juice
• 5 cups sugar

Directions

1.  Wash, peel, pit and chop peaches-you want 10 cups.
2.  Place all ingredients in a large glass bowl and let stand for 1 hour.
3.  Transfer to a large stainless or enamel pot.
4.  Bring to a full boil.
5.  Boil for 25 minutes to reach the jelly point-stir often and then constantly as the mixture nears the jell point.
6.  Remove and skim off foam.
7. Place jars in the oven, until they are hot.
8.  Ladle the jam into clean hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.
9.  Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
10. Decorate the lid and add the labels when the jar has cooled.
11. Your jam is ready to be presented on the tables at your wedding.

Glass jars: R3.00

Jam ingredients: R400

Sticky paper for labels: R50

Fabric: R50

Your time: free

Total cost for each jam favour @ 100 guests: R8.00

Hope you enjoy making these favours.  Come back soon for more D.I.Y. wedding favour ideas.

Lots of Love

Faye

Crafts

I had a great day yesterday.  I put my laptop aside and decided to haul out my now deceased granny's sewing machine.  I have to admit that I have a modern sewing machine, but I love using her 1800's Singer.  I am self taught, so my advice is probably not brilliant and there are going to be some seamstresses out there that will shudder at my advice.  At the end of the day, though, it all came together in the easiest possible way and I have to share my sewing adventure with you.

I am a self professed "jeans girl" and I have many pairs that have either dated or dont fit me anymore. With this in mind and the idea that once you have worn your wedding dress and do not want to donate it to charity or a second hand store, try the next most traumatic thing, cut it up.  Wow, that must sound terrible, but with upcycling (turning something old into something new) you can create a gorgeous patchwork quilt for your baby, which lets face it, is your next journey.

One pair of jeans were then cut, by myself, into 5 inch squares.  The pockets were put to the side, just in case, I found a use for them later on.  Placing two squares, right side facing each other, I sewed as close to the edge as possible. I then opened them up and proceeded to sew another square to the open square as before.  I did 4 squares in a row, twice and then hemmed the two sets of four together in the same way as I had done before with two individual squares.  Turning them right side up, they made a gorgeous denim patchwork.  Once I had completed enough rows of 4 squares, always connecting them to the previous squares, I turned the patchwork inside out and simply hemmed the outer edges together, leaving the top section open, to insert the cushion.  I then took a pair of old white pants and cut out a heart and hemmed the edges inward.

Turning the patchwork inside out again, so that the right side was showing, I then hand stitched the heart to the denim patchwork cushion.  I could not stop there and pulled some lime green wool from the cupboard and tacked it all the way around the heart.  Button holes were cut into the one open side and stitched.  Lime Green buttons were then stitched to the opposite side and the cushion was placed into the patchwork cover.  I closed the buttons and a gorgeous cushion is now on my daughters bed.

As soon as I have taken some photographs, I will post them.

Try it with your old wedding dress and cut squares from the fabric. Sew them together in groups of two and then four and so on until you have the width you require for the quilt.  Continue to make rows and then stitch them together.  If you are making a quilt, use an old sheet and stitch the patchwork to the sheet.  If you have various fabrics on your dress or fabrics from your decor, cut shapes out of them and either place shapes into the individual squares or onto the quilt as a whole.  This will make a gorgeous baby blanket made with love and very special fabric, your wedding dress.

Hope you try it and I know that you will love it.

Faye

Chocolate Favours

Anthony Gird and Michael de Klerk are the founders and makers of Honest Chocolate, an organic raw chocolate.  Honest Chocolate is run from Anthony's kitchen in Tamboerskloof in Cape Town. It all began when Anthony started experimenting with raw chocolate in smoothies and chocolate mousse which gave rise to a gorgeously decadent chocolate bonbon.  Each box and its chocolate bonbons are made by hand.  Unfortunately these chocolates are only available in Cape Town for now but watch this space because I can only hope that the rest of the country gets to taste these yummy delights.

At the moment you can get a box of 6 bonbons for R45 but they are experimenting with a 4 and 2-bonbon box.  You can contact Anthony Gird at anthony@honestchocolate.co.za to order choccies for your wedding day.  Be sure to visit www.honestchocolate.co.za for more information on the raw chocolate and bonbons.

Thanks for stopping by

Faye

Wedding Favors

Earth n Love sent me the cutest sample bottles of their citrus body wash and cape chamomile body lotion as an idea for wedding favors.  I love the idea and the cute little bottles.  Thanks Earth n Love.

Some other eco friendly wedding favors that I just adore at the moment are the bird seed hearts or any shape you wish to make.


They are so easy to make and look gorgeous hanging from some dried branches in a vase on a table.  

To make these favors you will need
1. Heart cookie cutter
2. Wax Paper
3. Peanut Butter
4. Bird Seed
5. Refrigerator space
6. String
7. Recycled printed thank you card, printed both sides. (names on one side and thank you for sharing our special day, on the other side)
8. Ribbon
9. Frame for table
10. Card to fit frame with "Take one of these home for the birds to enjoy.  Thanks for coming.  Your Names"


Tear out a large sheet of wax paper and place it on a flat tray.  Put the cookie cutter onto the wax paper and fill halfway with bird seed.  Put a teaspoonful of peanut butter on top of the bird seed and press flat as far as possible.  Thread the card onto a piece of string and place both ends of the string into the peanut butter.  Fill the rest of the cookie cutter with bird seed and press flat.  Use a section of ribbon and tie at the base of the string where it meets the bird seed.  Remove the cookie cutter from the contents and start again.  Its that easy.  

Some other ideas are to give herbs or plants in a gorgeous silver bucket.  This is a gift that will last forever and provide some great herbs for your guests dinners.

 

Or you could have some mini topiaries like these.

I also found this on www.marthastewart.com and think that they are fabulous.  Just to let you know that you can get bio degradeable compostable film packaging from Good for the Ground. Visit www.goodfortheground.com. I have tried it out and they look fabulous and are ridiculously easy to make.

You can also hand make soap and use the bars as favors with your own labels.

Remember that all the suppliers that I recommend are going to great efforts to look after our environment. Hope you enjoyed these ideas and thanks for stopping by.  

Faye