I was in a pickle........

Actually I was in a jam......making homemade jam that is! Every year when the peach trucks come to town, my mom and I know it's jam time. We have a secret recipe for Hot Peach Jam and my friends usually start asking for it about now. My mom was always canning some type of fresh fruit or vegetable and I love that I'm carrying on that family tradition. But I still need her help because she's so good at it. So she comes over with her water bath equipment after I have my jam mixture all ready. She's a lifesaver! So I wanted to make her a card but didn't have a Hot Peach Jam stamp, imagine that (Karen can you work on that for me? LOL!) So I searched my stamp collection and thought that Karen Lockhart's jar of pickles with the sentiment *I was in a pickle and you helped me out.....* would work just fine. We've canned a lot of pickles in our day too, I must say!

So here are two versions of my pickle jar cards. For this first card, I colored the pickle jar in with Copic markers, using just a few shades of green to color the pickles and then a light blue for the liquid/jar color. Very simple and clean. I then cut and embossed my image with a Spellbinder's Rectangle Die Template. The background papers are from the Homespun Memory Box Collection. I used my largest Spellbinder's Square Scallop Die Template to make the bottom portion of the card. The gingham check was adhered to the top and a SU! ribbon hides the two patterned paper *seams*. Three little sequins were added to the sentiment for some bling.

This main image on this card was colored in the same fashion as the first card and was also cut and embossed with a rectangle Spellbinder's Die Template. For the blue mat, I cut a rectangle with my paper trimmer then inserted only one end into my die template so that just one side would get the scallop cut. I learned that trick from Nichole Heady at Papertrey, she's SO clever! Flat beads and SU! ribbon were added for embellishments.
I thought you might like to see our Hot Peach Jam process. First I blanch the peaches in boiling water, peel and then cook down with all the secret spices for about an hour. I did a double batch on this day.
Then we prepare the jars, lids and rings and give our prepared jam a water bath to seal the jars. I took this photo of my mom's hand while she was removing some jars. She works so hard and her poor hands are showing the signs of it. I will always love this photo.
Then it's my turn to go to work. I can't leave those cute little jars just sitting around naked! So I fancy them up with ribbon and a cute tag. I punched those with a Marvy punch after printing on My Mind's Eye patterned paper. I used the SU! horizontal slot punch and then tied to the jar with brown May Art's ribbon. I'll take my first order to school on Monday, my friend ordered three jars. I'll probably make at least two or three more batches while the peaches are still good this year.