Creating our Favors: Step 1 - Canning and Cutting

When it came to deciding what we would do for wedding favors, I knew what I did & didn't want.

1. I didn't want to spend a lot of money
2. I wanted them to be made with love
3. I didn't want to buy something that would end up being a 'knick-knack' at the back of someones shelf
4. I wanted it to be enjoyed and used.

So I chose to go the popular homemade jam route. My Mr is a huge fan of jam so if nothing else the left overs will go to good use. One of the main reasons I chose jam verses other food options, like honey, BBQ sauce (which based on my menu, was a strong contender) or baked goods, was that my mother has a large garden and makes her own jam every year - which meant I wasn't stepping too far out of our comfort zone and taking on a difficult DIY project.

When I told my mother last summer what I had planned, she jumped in and made all of the jam with the help of my sister and one of my aunts that was visiting her at the time. I live 6 hours away from them so they did this on their own, much thanks from me as I really don't know how to make jam!

A few months ago my mother brought down the finish jams, mainly raspberry & blueberry but she also threw in a batch of carrot marmalade with cherries. I need approximately 180 so she still has a few batches left to go.

While they were working on making the jam, I had made a trip to Fabricland with MOH K and found an amazing deal on material I plan to use for table runners. My FMIL wanted to help so I asked her to cut the material in appropriate lengths for the runners and then use the left over material to make squares to go over the jam lids.



As I didn't have the jars yet from my mother we based the size on a larger jar that had an approximately same size lids. (Granted I never bothered to actually consult my mother before doing this.)

Once my FMIL and I agreed that the size of the square looked good, she went about cutting out 200 squares. Only to finally get the jars from my mother and realize that the squares may be a little too big!

Luckily they were too BIG and not too SMALL because it was just a matter of trimming an inch of the width and length.

When my FMIL came over and saw my sample trimming job she took all 200 squares back and finished the trimming before I got a chance to do it. (Have you noticed yet in my posts that she likes to do this!? Oh well, again saved me time!)

Were you ever overly zealous to start a project only to find out that you need did it wrong and had to take a step back to fix it? Like mine, did it work out in the end or did you have to toss it and start over?

Next up: Personalizing the favors!