Dressed up Jars with Homemade Mixes

I feel like I have really accomplished something today!  I found this great blog on Pinterest (What are the chances, right? lol) that has these mix recipes for things I use store-bought mixes all the time.  Bonus idea:  she keeps her mixes in these jars I've been buying from Hobby Lobby on 50% sales.

The first mix I put together is the corn bread mix.  Then,while a batch was baking up to go with our soup this evening, I did the pancake mix and the quick mix (aka: Bisquick).  Now, I wasn't able to follow her recipes exactly.  I wasn't able to get unbleached flour.  We live in an area with limited access to some ingredients and we were sold out of unbleached flour.  All those holiday bakers!  Harumph!  Just kidding........  By the way, I added a minced jalapeno pepper to the corn meal batter before baking it.  I think I'll add two next time.  We could taste it, but it wasn't quite enough for our taste.

The blog I found the recipes at is called Heart, Hands, Home, and here are my versions of the jars with mixes.  (The cocoa mix is store-bought, but I have a mix recipe from another blog I'm going to try when this is gone.)  My last mix will be the brownie mix.  I need another jar........

Anywho.....sorry about the lighting

 

I used eCAL and my Sizzix Eclips to make the labels.  I got the froo-froo swirly cut file from My Vinyl Designer.  It's in one of their freeby files.  I think it was freebie number 3.
 

I was so frustrated when I was cutting these.  I ended up using three sheets of black vinyl before I stumbled on this great tip.  I'll get to that in a minute.  I used a new blade, but after cutting two of these, the blade kept tearing through the swirlies on the others.  I tried everything I could think of but had to keep pulling pieces of vinyl off the blade before it occurred to me that the adhesive from the vinyl might be building up on the blade.  I decided to smear Goo Gone on to the blade before cutting again.  I already had my machine set to 1 pressure, 1 speed, and 2 depth, which is the Eclips' version of the "kiss cut" for vinyl (not the preset settings in eCAL), but it wasn't until after I used the Goo Gone that the cuts came out perfect.  Good to know. 
 

I decorated the lids with some pretty paper I got from Walmart to do my wedding album in.  I also glued one of those little library book pockets to the back of each jar to keep the recipes in and decorated those with the same pretty paper.

Two topics for the price of one:  I baked the cornbread in a dish I etched my initials into.  I chose several dishes that I typically take to potlucks/church dinners and etched my initials into one and the words: faith, believe, hope, and love onto the others.  This way I have a variety of dishes to take and I always know which dish is mine without having to put a sticker on it.  

I've done several with initials as gifts, too.  They go over really well for bridal showers (Brides love to see their future initials etched into a casserole dish).