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Soup Mix Sharing Jars

134 · Nov 9, 2018 · 5 Comments

This post is brought to you by Ball® Fresh Preserving Products by Newell Brands

Not all holiday gifts need to be ooey gooey sweet. Savory holiday gifts are just as lovely, sometimes even more so. I personally have been off sugar for 3 months now and I’m really nervous for the holiday season to arrive. Having the house fill up with sweets is NOT what I’m wishing for this Christmas. I would LOVE to get one of these Ball® Sharing Jar soup mixes as a gift. Not only is the soup mix soothing to the soul, but they are also good for you as well.

You can go as crazy wild as you want, adding all kinds of savory dried ingredients that are perfectly hand-picked by you, or keep it super simple and dress-up a store bought soup mix. My favorite Ball® Sharing Jars are the inspiration for my Sharing Jar Soup quartet.

I love the simplicity and earthiness of these soup mixes paired with a simple label & ribbon. As Ina would say, “How easy is that?”

Sharing Jar Soup Mix Labels

Before we get into the soup, I want to chat about the labels. I selected some classic soup recipes and created home wintery labels that are not only good throughout the holidays, but all through the winter. You can download and use these free printable label s HERE.

They are designed to be printed on card stock paper and then, using double-sided tape, taped onto one of the sections of the beautiful quart sized Sharing Jars. It’s a stunning way to highlight the character of the unique BALL® COLLECTION ELITE® WIDE MOUTH QUART SHARING JARS, which are perfect for gifting.

The Sharing Jar Soup Mix Collection

Here are three soup mixes along with their recipes that work perfectly for gifting and are typically real crowd pleasers.

SPLIT PEA SOUP, a classic, and one of my family’s favorites! You can download the recipe cards for this concoction HERE.

This spicy gem, BLACK BEAN SOUP, is a staple at many houses and will for sure be appreciated by whomever you gift this soup too. HERE are the recipe and mixing directions.

Lentils have become a favorite of mine and this soup does not disappoint! You can download the recipe for this treat HERE.

Now, last but not least is a little cheater method… If you are in a super hurry, grab a packet of a Tomato Based Soup with Pasta and an extra bag of Mexican style noodles to add to the mix and dump it into your Sharing Jar. This simple but heartwarming soup is fabulous during those winter months. Plus, it’s SUPER easy to throw together this gift!

You can download the mixing directions HERE.

Now you need to go stock up on some of the giftable Ball® Sharing Jars and get busy, those holidays wait for no one! Surprise your friends and neighbors with this thoughtful gift this season.

Christmas Gift Ideas and Free Printable Christmas Gift Tags

14 · Dec 14, 2017 · 1 Comment

UPDATED POST with new updated label originally posted December 1, 2015

Madly looking for gift tags for your friends and neighbors? These stylish gift tags are perfect to print on label paper and stick on really any cute container and make them look fabulous!

One of my favorite things to do is creating fun new little ways to show your friends and neighbors how much they mean to you during the holidays. It doesn’t need to cost a lot, nor does it have to take a whole lot of time & effort.

I went to Michaels and found some fun mugs and cute cups to create some easy, fun gifts. Then I created some stylish tags to add to the mugs and cups.

You can download the free printable gift tags HERE

You can print them on white label paper or you can print them on Printable Gold Foil (I love this stuff!) You can find it at Michaels too. All you need to do is download the PDF file and print out your labels…

I’m cutting these out with just a simple pair of scissors, no cutting machine required.

Now, I know that a lot of people love their sweets when it comes to Christmas, but not everyone appreciates ALL of those sweets. I thought I would come up with a non-sweet gift that will still be a fun gift to receive.

Everyone’s in love with the Buffalo Check this year and Michaels is right on trend with these fun cups. They even have some awesome Buffalo Check socks in the dollar section… PERFECT! I placed some matching socks into the cute cups and added the “Merry Cozy Christmas” Label on the front of the cup… 1st gift finished! Can’t get any easier than that!

Next up, the classic hot cocoa mug with a cute little twist.

I filled a large cone shaped cellophane bag with some hot chocolate mix and tied it with some buffalo check ribbon. I put it into a large buffalo check mug and then I added a cool battery powered set of star lights to the mug to add a little whimsical element. I love how it turned out… 2nd gift complete!

Last but not least I found another mug at Michaels that’s a great plaid mug. I noticed some Lindor Truffles up at the front of the store that matched the plaid pattern on the mug. I thought it would be a PERFECT pairing with the plaid mug.

Adding the gold foil gift tag just makes it look so classy! 3rd gift down and it didn’t take any time at all. All three are great, stylish gifts that anyone would love!

How to Paint Buffalo Check Jars

3 · Dec 5, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Love the Buffalo Check trend? Yep, me too! I thought it would be fun to use some of the Ball® Sharing Jars to create some Buffalo Check Jars to use as gifts this Holiday Season. Here’s how you can make some of your own.

+ This post brought to you by the folks at Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products +

Ball® Sharing Jars

This project looks a bit challenging, but truly it’s not! All you need are some of those fabulous Ball® Sharing Jars and some paint and you can create this trendy look for yourself.

I love the shape of the Sharing Jars and I love the mission. When you purchase the Sharing Jars your purchase will benefit Feeding America® – the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. For every package of Sharing Jars purchased, Newell Brands will donate 4 meals*! I LOVE it when I can help support a worthy cause when buying stuff I would normally buy any way.

* Newell Brands® will donate $0.36 per package of Sharing Jars sold, up to $150,000 provided to Feeding America®. $1 helps provide 11 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.

Buffalo Check Jars

I’m a huge fan of the Buffalo Check trend and can’t get enough of it right now. Pretty much everyone I know feels the same way so, I thought a stylish Buffalo Check Jar would be the perfect gift for friends and family for Christmas this year. I’ve filled them with all kinds of stuff; candy, bath scrubs, shower bombs, soup starters, cookie kits, all kinds of stuff. Of course after the jars are painted, you can no longer preserve in them but, they’re great for everything else. Here’s how to make them.

Materials

Ball® Sharing Jars
Americana Decor Chalky Paint in Everlasting, Yesteryear & Carbon
sponge paint brush
1/4″ flat head paint brush
240 grit sandpaper
Americana Decor Clear Crème Wax
lint free cloth

Instructions

To begin, make sure you have washed and dried your jars. Then paint a couple of layers of the white (Everlasting) chalky paint onto the jar with the sponge brush. You can use your favorite kind of chalk paint here.

Don’t worry about brush strokes, they will get smoothed out in the finishing process at the end. Let dry, ideally for a few hours or overnight.

Next, you’ll use the 1/4″ flat paint brush to paint the gray (Yesteryear) stripes onto the jar.

You will loosely use the lines on the jars as guides. I really didn’t want a precise looking check wanting it to look more free form or hand painted. I didn’t want this project to become to crazy with measuring every little detail and taping the jar to get perfect lines. This to me makes the project so much more enjoyable and I love the look.

Start at the top points of the lines in the Sharing Jar and use your 1/4 inch brush line to create the stripes. Three stripes around the jar and then a vertical stripe in the center of the flat sections of the sharing jar. Let dry completely.

Now, you’ll use the black (Carbon) paint to paint on the black section of the check in the intersections of the gray stripes. Again, let paint dry completely. It would be best at this stage to let the paint cure overnight. It will help the paint adhere to the glass much better.

Once the paint is dry, you will use the sand paper to smooth and distress the paint. Be careful not to attach the jar with a little too much vigor. You don’t want to sand the paint right off the jar. Using a soft hand, smooth the dry paint, (this will remove the brush strokes) and then carefully distress the high points of the jar.

Once this step is complete, you’ll want to wipe down the jars with a damp cloth to remove any of the remaining dust. Then you’ll use your lint free cloth to wipe on some of the wax to seal the paint onto the jar. Use the lint free cloth to then wipe off any excess wax and buff the wax.

Now, you’re finished! You have the cutest Buffalo Check Jars ready to fill with whatever you like.

I created a fun Holiday Survival Kit and filled the jars with a homemade sugar scrub, some shower bombs and included a Yankee Candle® along with the cutest little match jar ever… You’ll have to check it out. It even comes with free printable gift tags.

Disclosure + I am a paid partner for Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Homemade Snowball Bath Bomb

15 · Nov 27, 2017 · 1 Comment

In a pinch and need a nice, simple and budget friendly Holiday gift for friends, neighbors, teachers and the list can go on and on. These bath bombs are a fabulous simple way to show your friends a little Holiday love this time of year. With the free printable gift tag, you can’t go wrong with this fun little gift.

When it comes to neighbors, co-workers, teachers and friends, I always want to give them a little something around Christmas to show them how valued they are in my life. I however, don’t want to inundate them with all kinds of sugary treats all of the time. (Don’t get me wrong, I am no stranger to the classic goodie gift plate.) Sometimes it’s nice to receive something that isn’t sweet during the Holidays. With this easy to make Holiday de-stresser, it may quickly become their favorite Christmas goodie this year. All you need are a few simple ingredients…

Snowball Bath Bomb Ingredients

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup epsom salt
1/2 cup corn starch
4 tsp. water
8 tsp. coconut oil
2 tsp. peppermint essential oil
spray bottle
3 fillable plastic Christmas ornaments 70 mm
3 fillable plastic Christmas ornaments80 mm
black medium oil-based Sharpie
3/8 inch black grosgrain ribbon
white card stock paper
hole punch
scissors
printable gift tag via WhipperBerry

Snowball Bath Bomb Instructions

This is one of those projects that is super fun to get the kiddos involved so, gather everyone around the mixer and let them dump away. Here is a quick little video that I put together to show how easy it is to make these little bath time gems.

Snowball Bath Bombs via WhipperBerry from Heather Thoming on Vimeo.

Use the 70 mm plastic ornament to mold the bath bomb.
Keep spraying until your dry ingredients start to fee like nice wet sand.
Turn the mixer on low and spray the liquid ingredients into the bowl. The reason for the spray bottle is so that you add the liquid as slowly as possible. You don’t want to activate your ingredients until you or your friend is in their nice hot bath.
Add the liquid ingredients to the spray bottle and shake to mix.
It’s helpful to have a stand mixer for this project but, in a pinch, a whisk will do. Add all of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl.
Using the oil-based sharpie, draw little crosses or “x” all over the ornaments.

The following day, place your snowball bath bomb into the 80 mm fillable plastic ornament. It’s funny, they kind of expand a bit when they dry. That’s why you need the larger ornament to use as your gift box.
Leave in the mold for 5 minutes. Then remove the bath bomb from the mold and let dry overnight.
Let the black paint dry, it only takes a few minutes.
Print the free printable gift tag from WhipperBerry and cut out the circle.
Using a hole punch punch a whole to the side of the snowflake on the tag.
Then tie the tag on the ornament and you’re finished!

Check out the back…

Aren’t they cute! And… They are soooo nice in a hot bath sipping some peppermint hot chocolate. I may need to make a few batches to keep on hand for myself.