Homemade Jam and Jelly

I am so fortunate that God has blessed me with a wonderful family of women who like to cook.  Just recently my daughter brought me a fresh jar of her homemade Strawberry Jam and my sister-in-law brought me a jar of her homemade blackberry jelly from berries raised on their farm.  There is nothing like these frest fruit spreads on hot buttered buscuits accompanied by a steaming cup of coffee to get your morning started just right.  Thanks girls, for the wonderful gift.  These gifts are not only delicious, but represent a gift of their time.  Anything homemade is a gift from the heart.  This same sister-in-law frequently surprises my husband, Clark with a homemade blackberry cobbler fresh from the oven - just because she knows he enjoys it so much.  If you also like to give gifts of canned goodies, I would like to share my way of really dressing up the jars for your pantry shelves.  I make custom labels on my color printer using brown Kraft paper.  Then I cut a round jar topper from muslin, burlap or print fabric.  On the jars above, I have used muslin and added a small square of print fabric that I stitched to the center of the jar topper.  I then tie the topper onto the jar with a peice of jute string.  I sometimes leave the circle a little larger than needed to give me plenty of room to tie on the topper.  After I tie my string, I can trim a little of the edges off if I need to so the label will show.  It doesn't matter if the edges are a little uneven - after all, we are going for the primitive look.  I have only found one problem with dressing up your jars in this fashion.  I am sometimes reluctant to remove the topper to use the product inside!  This is a great way to dress up your jars to give as gifts at holiday time.  You can use Christmas fabric and put holiday designs on your labels.  Make a few extra for your own pantry shelves.