Jam Jar

Since glass jars have been produced, they have been re used to store things in.   Initially known as preserving jars as they offered air tight storage and preserving housing for fruit and vegetables meaning that they could be preserved and used over the whole year rather than just "in season".  The addition of sugar, vinegar or alcohol offered year round food supplies often a lifeline to poor families without the modern fridges and freezers.
Home pickling  chutney making and jam making is ever popular and many small cottage businesses have grown up around this trade.  The ability to keep costs low in production have been embraced and many of these small businesses are recycling glass jars.  Church hall fetes, WI ladies among others are also large recyclers of glass jars.
in the jam making and pickling process, all jars used are washed thoroughly in hot soapy water and  are then heated in the oven or microwave to sterilise them (instructions for sterilising jars are HERE).  Incorrectly sterilised jars will infect food and it will go off.
Recently there has been an uproar for the ladies in the WI, small businesses etc as a 2004 EU regulation has been publicised stating that jam jars used must be new and  made of pure glass.  The FSA has advised that each authority will make rulings and to contact your local environmental health department for guidelines and advice.
The cheapest glass jars I have located are: JazzJars 1lb jars wth lids pack of 56 £18.75 + £7.25 = 46p each
This is a lot for a small business to add into their costs and many of them may be pushed out of trading.

Teal Choker

I been making some new Autumn and winter jewellery and this is the first one in the new range.  it's a wooden choker with metal accents in antiqued silver

The teal beads are accented with a few jungle green beads from the same series.

The Earrings are on ahook topper, but can be changed to  clip on s or stud topper.

The set is available on my Folksy store

Ra Ra Bazaar

I Won A Prize

This morning I heard that I had won a prize in a card making competition.
The competition that has been run by Jill from Christmas Pie Crafts was a competition to make a card featuring flowers.  I had an afternoon of playing with quilling strips and created  this card.
I admit to being very very happy!!!

Guest Blogger on Christmas Pie Crafts

I am the guest blogger on Christmas Pie Crafts today.  I wrote the article a few weeks ago and had quite forgotten about it, so it was a lovely surprise when Jill contacted me to let me know about it.  Why bnot pop over and read about my preparation for Christmas.

Sock Monkeys ~ The Sad Truth

I have been working on self certifying my sock monkeys for the CE EN71 mark which is a legal requirement for any toy.  A toy in legal terms is anything that looks like a toy! (so saying only for over 14's etc is not a legal get out of jail free card)
I got a self certification pack from Conformance (£30 incl VAT) it's incredibly helpful and shows you what test need carrying out, how they need to be carried out, what paperwork to collect, forms etc.
Now all components need to be EN671 compliant and whilst I can get stuffing, felt etc, I have been unable to find socks that conform and that is because as clothing, socks do not need to conform to toy standards.
Dispute the fact that I use children's socks from reputable shops, those socks may still contain dye that is not compliant, so by making a child's sock into a child's toy, I would be breaking the law.
I could get the socks tested myself for about £180, but when socks come in packs of 5 different designs that would each need testing individually and then when the shop decides to change designs, I start from the beginning again.
I am therefore taking the decision not to make sock toys.