Canned Apple Pie Filling!

Once again, it's fall and that mean a LOT of apples!  and what to do with all those apples you ask?  well there are so many choices, but, being new to the home canning world, I decided to can apple pie filling!  It was a little bit of an experience but I ended up doing 4 batches, learning more along the way.
First, you need a ton of apples and a ton of patience to peel and core them all.  perhaps I should have invested in one of those nifty apple peelers but I didn't.....
So.....it's easy if you have the time and equipment.  You'll need:
Enough apples to fill 7 quart jars (about 50-60) if I had to guess....i didn't count
7 quart jars
a water bath canner
lids
rings
jar puller

10 cups water
4 cups sugar
1 cup cornstartch
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinmamon

This was the recipe i found and it worked for me.  Feel free to tweek your spices and sugar to your liking.

First-you have to peel and core all those apples.  Put them in water with lemon juice to keep them looking nice while they wait to be processed.

When you're about half way through you apples, you can start your "apple pie goo" and your canning stuff.  i washed my jars and put them in the water to boil and sanatize.  meanwhile I put the goo ingredients in a large pot and slowly bring to a boil to thicken.  Caution- sprinkle and stir the cornstartch in or you get a large blob.  continue to stir every few minutes to keep it from sticking to the bottom!

Once all the apples are peeled, cored and sliced and your jars are boiled and your filling is bubby and thick you're ready to go.

After trial and error this is the best way i found to do it.  Remove one jar at a time and "layer" the apple and goo, kinda shaking it down after each addition.  i did about 6 layers per jar, trying to incorporate as many apple slices as possible since you want your pie to apple, not goo pie ;).  the first batch i just added all the apples and tried to get the filling in the nooks and crannies and i ran out of filling.  the next time i layered but didn't shake and ran out of filling.  third times a charm and it worked perfectly!  top it off with a hot lid and tight ring and put back in the water.

Repeat on all 7 jars.  Hopefully you had enough apples and filling to do them all, if not, you learn something along the way.  Boil in the hot water bath for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, either lift them straight out and place on the counter OR leave them in the pot until they cool then remove.  i learned if you tip them, even a little bit to get them out of the pot, they will spew hot apple pie filling everywhere.

place in a cool dry place for quick apple pies all year long or put a cute ribbon around the neck and give them away as presents!

Homemade Candy Apples

so it's Fall....my favorite time of the year.  Usually I'm all about pumpkin everything.....but apples rank up there too.  This year i'm discovering new things in the kitchen and experimenting as I go.  A few days ago, I layed eyes on a candy apple but wasn't about to shell out $4 for it.  So i decided to make some.

After scouring pinterest and reading several recipes and methods, i decided on the one that seemed most simple, as i'm not an experinced "candy" maker.

And, I had to buy a candy thermometer.  Walmart brand was a $4 investment.  I decided i skip so many recipes that call for one that i might as well just invest in one.

It was a lot easier than anticipated but still requires some fast skills....but luckily not numchuck skills or computer hacking skills...(lol Napoleon Dynamite).

Ok, so I acquired free apples.  And they weren't maintained, so don't judge their misshapen figures.  They taste just fine and free is free.

Recipe:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
10 drops red food coloring
10-15 apples (depending on size)

Sticks for the apples, i used bamboo skewers cut in half since i forgot to stop at the store and hunt down popcicle sticks.  make sure they are strong enough, whatever you use, they are important in the coating process.

Spray a tray or something flat with cooking spray.  Wash, dry and twist off your apple stems.  Put all your sticks in your apples.

Put the ingredients (except for apples) in a medium pot and bring to a boil.  Insert your candy thermometer (don't let it touch the bottom of the pot) and boil until temp. reaches 300 degree.  (for me, this took longer than i expected.  maybe it was my cooktop or whatever, but it was like 20 minutes.  i don't think this is typical).  When it reaches 300 degrees take it off the burner and WORKING QUICKLY dip, spin and let the excess drip off.
Quickly is the key!

I had baseball sized apples and this batch did 15.  I barely had enough time as i was on the last two the coating was already getting hard.  I planned on dipping them in a variety of toppings like sprinkles and nuts but i had no time.  You'll need an extra pair of hands if you plan on adding extras!  By the time i was done dipping the last one, the first ones i did had already dried!

The coating immediately got hard but i left them on the counter and by the next morning it had gotten tacky again.  so either put them in the fridge or consume them right after eating.  They still tasted good even though they were tacky. ;) 

Nutella Peanut butter zucchini wheat muffins

Nutella.....yes I said it.

ok, so I originally saw this on pinterest....but I altered it so much, I can't hardly call it the same recipe.  Nutella.....yes nutella.  but you can't eat it alllllll the time, right?  but you can if it's in small quantities and in relatively healthy muffins....like these! 

mmmmmmm.....they have been tested (by the locusts I work with) and approved.  I actually would eat them all myself but I'll share......

You'll need:

1 1/2- 2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 brown sugar

Nutella
Mini chips for the top (I used peanut butter)

Preheat oven to 350.

mix the wet ingredients by hand until combined.  add the dry and mix until combined.  the mixture will be thick and sticky.  it's ok.  as long as there is no dry clumps of flour.

spray muffin tins with cooking spray.  fill them half way with muffin mixture.  spoon a bit of nutella in the middle but don't let it touch the sides of the cups.  plop more mixture on the top making sure to cover the blob of nutella.  i kinda took a spoonful of muffin mixture with  my hands and pushed it on over the nutella.  top with chocolate or peanut butter chips if you want.  The muffins won't really expand too much while baking so what's in your pan will be about what size you get when they are done.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Viola.

The original recipe called for an insane amount of oil and sugar.  and bananas....but i think the banana would have taken over the entire muffin.  I think my recreation is a good (and healthier) one!

Upcycle! Old door made into a corner shelf

Saw this on pinterest months ago and have wanted to tackle it.  I had a few old doors from when we remodeled the house.  somehow they got put outside for a few weeks and got rained on.....so they are even more distressed that they originally were!  To do this project you need:

Old door (six panel works best.  tried with a two panel and found out you need a solid panel up and down the middle to cut though or else it doens't sit together at a 90 degree angle)

Table saw

drill
screws
scraper
sandpaper
paint-if desired

Cut the door down the middle using the table saw.  you have to account for the thickness of the door.  so measure the door and then split that on the middle-example if your door is an inch thick, find the center and cut it a half inch bigger than that.  This was when you screw the two sides together, it's the same size.  i think this mithod is easier than cutting it exactly the same then installing hinges on it.

Sand or scrap away old paint.  In the first one I did, i scraped all the peeling paint and left it as is.  The second one I'm working on I painted brown then scuffed up the brown paint with sandpaper.  I'm in the process of adding shelves to that one.

Experiiment and have fun. There is no right or wrong here!

Homemade Pickles!

Homemade pickles.....mmmmmmm.  when your garden is producing massive quantities of pickling cucumbers (or you find a deal at the local farmers market) there is nothing better!  This is a simple recipe given to be by my coworker (thank you!) years ago....and I make them every summer!  I planted one packet of small cucmbers this year.  I only got three actual plants to survive but from that I got about 25 pickling cucmbers....enough to make 6 quart sized jars of delicious pickles!

What you need:
This is for a gallon sized jar or three quart sized jars or a large bowl....whatever container you're using (just needs to be glass and have a lid).  You can double or triple depending on how much you're doing at one time!

Cucumbers-picking, mini (doesn't work well with regular ones).  You need about 12 to start
6 cups water
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup suger
1/3 cup salt
Fresh garlic
Fresh Dill

Boil the water, vinegar, sugar and salt for 5 minutes.  LET COOL.

Wash and cut your cucmbers and put them in the jar.  I've done thick slices and thin slices-both work.  or do spears.  Whatever floats your boat.

Layer the cucmbers, garlic and dill in jars.  How much you use is personal preference.  Play around with it.  You can do just garlic or just dill if you want.  The longer you let the pickles sit, the stronger they are going to get!  I always do mine in quart sized canning jars (you are not canning these, but the jars work well).  in a quart i use about three cloves of garlic and one tall sprig of dill, bent to fit.

Once the liquid is cool, pour in the jars.  Put your lid on and put in the refrigerator.  Let them sit at least 24 hours.  They will last in the fridge for a few weeks....the longer they sit the stronger they get!

Birthdays "suck" gag gift/funny gift

Once again....an idea inspired by Pinterest.  My secretary was turning 30 and I wanted to try to recreate something like the variations of this project I saw on pinterest.  Basically it's a "cake" made out of lollypops with a sign on it that says "30 sucks" or "40 sucks" etc.  you could also get blow pops and have it say "30 blows" lol.....

ok, so I bought the required amount of lollypops (make sure you are buying enough....i was 2 shy when i bought two bags haha) and you'll need some kind of styrofoam base (dollar tree).  I got a ring shaped one but you could be creative with this.  I saw a lot of variations on this from a "cake" to just a box filled with pops.  Then you need some kind of sign.

Here's how mine tuned out....not exactly the picture I had in my head but after this go, I have more and better ideas for next time!

So overall, this cost about $5 to make ($4 for lollypops and $1 for the base.  I had the ribbon and wooden circle used to make the sign).  You could also use paper for the sign.  You can get cheaper/smaller lollypops (dumdums) if you're doing a high number birthday.  But I don't think you can skip on the styrofoam base or else you'll just get frustrated.  Unless your goal is just to thrown them in a small bag or box and not be creative at all ;)

Cleaning Gas Stove Burners

Sorry...before I start, I currently have no pictures but I'm eager to share my findings....

So you know how gas stove spider burners get GROSS....and they are almost impossible to clean?  Yea.....so I tried soaking....tried brillo, even tried oven cleaner to no avail....

So I went to youtube.  I watched too many video thinking they were for gas stoves only to find out they were for gas grills.  No, what I'm talking about it spider burners off a good old gas stove.  Mine were grey but after I had tenants in my house, they were black with cooked on food spillage.  It was gross.  This video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6PqgEsdKvc

showed me a method using ammonia.  Like usual, I was skeptical...until I tried it.  I did it exactly as she did and guess what, it worked like a charm!!!!!

I have no before pictures and the after would just show clean burners.....not too exciting.

But I must venture forth to spread the word.  Ammonia works!

Tshirt bag

So what do you do with old tshirts?  The ones that don't fit, the ones you don't wear, the sentimental ones or the ones that you find at a yard sale but won't for whatever reason wear but you have to have......

That's where the story begins.  My mom loves the Beatles.  I saw this tshirt....but I knew she wouldn't actually wear it.  So I decided I'd make it into something.  After sifting through pinterest, I didn't see anything that I absolutely loved, so I decided to just wing it and try something. 

I decided to make a small, flat, square bag-about the size of a record.  She could put just about anything in there to carry it around. 

The shirt was brown with orange print, so I went to sal val and bought a plain orange tshirt for 50 cents to make a lining in the bag.  I then layed out the Beatles tshirt and cut a 12 inch square (both layers at once) around the logo on the front.  I couldn't make it bigger as the shirt was on the small side.  I had planned on making the strap out of the leftover but didn't have enough, so I had to make the straps out of the orange shirt.  I then layed out the orange shirt and did the same, cut a 12 inch square (two layers).  I then cut two 3 inch strips off the bottom of the shirt (the entire circumfrence of the shirt) and folded them in half for the straps.

Now it was time to sew.  I'm usually pretty fussy with things but this project really had a hippie, bohemian feel to it.  I thought, no need to have crisp lines and hidden seems.  Nope, I decided to use a zigzag stitch and just sew down the sides and the let the seems naturally curl and fray on the outer edges like cotton tshirts do.  It's not like the bag is going to be washed a lot, it's a bag. 

So...  I took the three inch strips I was going to use for the handles and zig zag stitched down both sides near the edge to hold the two layers together. I left about a half inch seam on the outside (I used brown thread on the orange fabric....made it more quirky)  I then took the front of the bag and one of the orange inner panels and sewed them together while inserting the strap on the top edge. This secured the straps in between the front panel and inner liner.  I did this for the back panel as well.  I then sandwiched the front and back together and sewed all four layers (three sides) on the outside with a zig zag stitch around the outside.

Easy peasy....under an hour and you have this cute bag!

Some tips-you need a cutting board and rotary cutter.  tshirts are too stretchy to try to cut by hand and have everything line up.  Also, don't "pull" your fabric through your machine-it'll be all stretched out and misshapen when you're done!

Red, White and Blue Flag Cupcakes

So....Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day.....all holidays that spark parties, bbqs and covered dish affairs.  I'm always stuck on what to bring.....don't want something that's high maintenance, needs an outlet, needs refrigeration, might get ruined on the way there, etc.  So between a bit of inspiration from Pinterest and a bit of creativity on my own, I give you "boxed cupcake flag".

I did this with the itty bitty cupcake wrappers (the kind that a box of cake mix yields 75 cupcakes....but you could do with mini cakes or regular cakes...just adjust your transportation method and batter/frosting amount :)

I used a good old box of white cake mix (and left it white)...i usually have a hankering to dye it with food coloring...and you can...but I didn't this time!  I then just used a jar of white frosting (I did dye this...you have to....it's kinda the focus).  You only need a bit of blue so don't divide it into 1/3's....just eyeball it...you're smart enough to figure it out ;)

I had my handy dandy Wilton jar-o-sprinkles in red, white, and blue so I decide to top off the display with them but you don't neeed to. ( I buy baking decorating things after holidays when they are super cheap and store them.  Sprinkles and cupcake wrappers never go bad and they really set off a plain jane cake.  Plus, most time they include solid colors which work for brithdays, etc.  I have valentine, patriotic,  easter, fall, halloween, and holday wilton caddies and well as a boatload of regular jars....)

If you don't have a large enough tupperware/cake carrier, you could use a box lid and cover it in aluminum foil or wrapping paper (then you don't even have to worry about bringing it home!)

Enjoy! :)

Crocheted baby blanket, hat and onesie

So my coworker and his wife are having a baby.  I had some baby yarn on hand but it was the really thin stuff and I don't really like working with thin  yarn.  I had 7 skeins....so I thought, hmmmmm....perhaps I can double up.  And that's what I did.  I just used a simple double crochet with two strands of yarn and made a blanket, alternating the yarn colors.  I then made a hat with double color flower and a flower in the opposite colors and sewed it on the front of a white onesie.  This would make an adorable newborn picture!  I'm hoping they do just that!

Money bouquet and money candy box

So did you ever have one of those occasions where you had NO IDEA what to give as a gift but didn't want to just throw money in a card?  I had one recently so I decided to try another thing I saw on pinterest-a money bouquet!  While looking for good pictures of how other people tackled this project, I also saw the money candy box idea.  So....of course.....I decided to do both!  The cool thing with this gift is you can make it worth as much as you want.  You can make a $10 bouquet or a $100 bouquet.  The cool thing is,  you could feasibly do this with all 1 dollar bills and it will look like a million bucks....no pun intended :)

For the bouquet (like I made), you will need:
~money...obviously.  (clean, crisp bills work best.)
~green wire to make stems, or regular wire and you can cover it with floral tape
~a few bunches of silk flowers to balance things out
~filler...i like the glittery, twirly things
~ribbon
~glue/hot glue to secure your ribbon.

For the candy box, you will need:
~money.....duh.
~small candy box (i stopped at the local candy store, she gave me a small 4x4 box for free) or reuse a candy box
~candy wrappers (like the kind fancy chocolate comes in) or small cupcake wrappers
~tape
~ribbon

For the money roses.....I spent wayyyyy too much time watching youtube videos on oragami.  These people are crazy about their paper folding!  After one video that had me lost in the first 10 seconds, they had you folding and rolling and curling.....eh not for me.  So I decided to just figure it out as I went.  Basically I folded two bills in half and secured a wire around it, twisted the wire and then just arraged the 4 "leaves" of money to look like a flower.  I kinda folded and curled and twisted.  It doesn't have to be perfect....people are going to look at it and take it apart most likely anyway.  I used silver wire I had on hand so I then covered the wire with my floral tape.  I made about 5 of them.  It took longer than I anticipated....but the end result was pretty cute.  I arranged the money roses amongst my filler and silk flowers.  Then I wrapped  my ribbon around the stems, secured with glue and tied a bow around that.

For the candy box, fold your money into little squares.  tape the money into the wrappers and tape the wrappers to the bottom of of the box so everything doesn't fall all over.  I don't have a picture of the inside of my candybox, but I think I had about 6-8 wrappers.  Fold the money in different ways so it all looks different.  It turned out pretty cute.  Then wrap a ribbon around the outside of the box and tie in a bow.

Making new plants from your african violets

I really love house plants.  And african violets are so pretty!  I've got quite a few.  Some people are scared to have house plants or think they "kill" them but it's not a hard task to keep plants alive and blooming.  You just need to keep them happy-water and the right temperature.  Easy peasy!

For african violets, they like warm temps, sun and need a small amount of water about once a week.  You can keep them on a sunny window sil in the warmer months and near a heat source in the colder months.
They bloom a few times a year.  They usually come in pink, white or purple.  The flowers are so pretty!

African violets are also very easy to reproduce.  They take a while but you won't be disappointed.  To make new plants from your current plant you will need a few small containers (pots or even small cups) with good soil, a sunny place and remember to water them weekly.

Pinch off one of your current leaves close to the base of the plant.  Each leaf will eventually produce it's own plant.  So, for starters, maybe just do a few leaves.  Each leaf needs it's own container or enough room in a larger container.  This way you aren't trying to untangle a mess of small plants when you re-pot them.

Stick the leaf in the soil far enough that it doesn't fall out.  Make sure to keep it covered in soil and water once a week.  If your leaf falls over, bends or dies, it probably means it's not in the soil deep enough, you didn't water it enough or it's too cold.  It's ok, just try again.

It'll take a good couple months, but eventually you'll see teeny tiny little leaves sprouting at the base of your original leaf.  This is good!  Keep watering.  They will quickly multiply and get bigger.  When the leaves get to be the size of dimes,  you can pinch off your original leaf so the new plant can focus it's energy on growing.  You can then repot the original leaf to grow another plant or just toss it.

Your plant shouldn't  'overflow' the edgs of your pot so once your new plants leaves are the size of quarters, you need to make sure it has ample room to grow.  A bigger pot may be necessary.  Carefully transplant the whole new plant into a larger container.  Keep watering weekly and keep in the sun! 

Here are some pictures of the process.  I don't currently have any of small sprouting plants but will be able to add some in the next month or so!  They are out of order....sorry.....i'm still technlogically stupid sometimes ;)




This is one of my full grown "old" purple violets.





This is one of  my "old" pink "mother plants" 





This is what my new plants look like after about 9 months.  They won't produce flowers for a while yet, but they are growing strong!  They will need bigger pots pretty soon!



Another plant that is less than a year old

This is what a new plant looks like after about 4 months.  it's about time to re-pot this into a bigger container.

This is what the beginning of the process looks like when cultivating new plants out of leaves.

Here is one of the new plants about 6 weeks in....little leaves!

Flip Flop Wreath

A wreath made out of flip flops!  What a summer fun project!  Saw these at craft shows for upwards of $20 and though....yea.....I can make that!  I think some of the price comes from the cost of the flip flops themselves.  You can score some at the dollar tree or dollar store for $1.  Or, if you're like me, you will wait until the summer merchandise goes on sale in the fall and stock pile them for about $.25 a pair.  I think I bought about 30 pairs this past fall just waiting to make these wreaths!  I've already made a few as gifts and one for myself.  

Last week was my friend Ang's birthday and she had mentioned wanting a summer wreath for her door.  What a perfect opportunity to make one!

It's pretty straight forward, pick out your flip flop colors, decide if you want any other things, like flowers, included and glue it all together!  I used hot glue and it worked fine.  My first attempt, I tried to glue the flip flops to themselves and while it looked good on the table, it "sagged" when I hung it.  So, lesson learned, you need to glue them on to a wreath form.  I used old wreaths and covered them with ribbon since you don't really see them.  This last one, I used a large embroidery hoop and that worked fabulously!

So, you'll need flip flops.  I liked the kid sized ones, makes for a more appealing wreath.  And the baby ones are just too cute, but the you'll need more of those and so your cost will be higher.  I've used anywhere from 3-5 pairs.  You'll also need a hoop or wreath to use as a base, hot glue, ribbon to hang it and any flowers or other embellishments you want to include!  Be creative!

"Favorites" scrapbook for ages 3-18

What a fun project!....saw this idea on pinterest and showed it to my friend.  She asked me to make one for my goddaughter.   The idea....you make a scrapbook and each page has a list of 20 questions of the child's "favorite" this or that and a place for thier picture.  The idea is to ask the questions every year on thier birthday.  I didn't really like the list of questions I found on pinterest,  so I used some and made some of my own.  They are as follows ( I just copied and pasted the word document I used to print out on scrapbook paper)

What is your favorite……….

1.  Color?..............................................................

2.  Toy? …………………………………………………………....

3.  Fruit or vegetable? ………………………………………

4.  TV show? ……………………………………………………..

5.  Thing to eat for supper? ……………………………….

6.  Thing to wear? ……………………………………………..

7.  Game? ………………………………………………………….

8.  Snack? ………………………………………………………….

9.  Animal? ………………………………………………………..

10.  Song? ………………………………………………………….

11.  Book? …………………………………………………………

12.  Friend? ……………………………………………………….

13.  Place to go? ………………………………………………..

14.  Thing to do outside? …………………………………..

15.  Drink? …………………………………………………………

16.  Restaurant? ……………………………………………….

17.  Thing to do with Mom? ……………………………..

18.  Thing to do with Dad? ………………………………..

19.  Birthday gift? ……………………………………………..

20.  What do you want to be when you grow up?

So then making it........I'm not really a scrapbooking junkie...I've done a few small ones.  So I decided for this project, I'd use a kit.  It contained the scrapbook with 10 pages, a variety of plain and patterned scrapbook paper and a ton of embellishments and stickers.  The great thing about it was it was all color coordinated, so any combination of items you used went well together.

First, I took the plain scrapbook paper, typed up the questions in a word document and printed them out on the paper.  Then I took a paper cutter and trimmed them down.  I layed all the patterned paper out in the order I wanted it in the scrapbook.  Then I color coordinated the lists and embellishements.  I had to go to walmart to pick up those glue dots as the kit didn't include them ( I don't know why, they are important and make things easy!) 
Each scrapbook page had the list of questions, a paper frame to put a picture in, about 3 or 4 embellishments and I put the birthday age at the top rigth corner of each page.  I did a page for ages 3-18.  I also did a cover page with her name on it and a seperate page for me to write her a little note.  I think it came out very well.  Here are a few pictures of some of the pages.

Macrame "survival bracelets" and dog collars

So these survival bracelets are all the rage lately.  I hear it's a military thing... basically you use paracord (it's a relatively expensive special kind of cord that has 7 little pieces of string inside it and it's very durable).  You "melt" the ends to secure ends together or two colors together.  People supposedly wear them to "survive" should they get stuck somewhere undesirable.  I guess you take them apart to fish or whatever....not so much for me.....I'd probably die in a situation where all I had to survive was a couple feet of string.....  unless I had a bow and arrow then I'd go all Katniss Everdeen and shoot my dinner and live the high life.  Anyway....back to the bracelets.  So all my coworkers wear these and some of them make them.  One was nice enough to give me a tutorial.  It was super easy for me to pick up, since I already knew how to macrame.  I don't have step by step pictures, but if you don't know how to macrame, youtube videos could do much better explaining it than I ever could.  So I got to thinking, if I can make a bracelet, why not make dog collars.  So I went and bought some supplies (I found the cord by the foot at the hardware store but they also sell it online).  Through some trial and error with how much cord to use, I figured it out.  You need about 1 foot of cord for every 1 inch of bracelet/collar you want.  You will also need the plastic buckles (also found at the hardware store or online), a lighter and scissors. The cord I bought was cheaper the more you purchased.  By the foot it was 10 cents per foot.  If you bought the 50 foot bundle, it was $4.  if you bought 100 feet it was $8.  online, depending on shipping, it was a little cheaper.  The buckles were 90 cents each or 8 for $3 at the store.  The more you bought the cheaper they were and a lot cheaper online.  So I guess it would depend on how many you are planning to make whether you just buy a few or whether you buy in bulk on line.  The store I bought my supplies at were selling finished bracelets for $6 (they would cost about $1.25 average to make) and I now see that's about the going price for them.  (and they take all of 5 minutes to make).

Some hints.....since they don't stretch, your measurements need to be relatively on target for whatever item you are making.  I've made a few so far....and although I don't particularly like wearing the bracelets (they are kind of bulky) the dogs seem to tolerate the collars just like any other collar and they are super cute and durable! (and a lot cheaper to make than similar store bought collars!) You can make in a variety of colors or even mix colors.  Plus, if you and your dog ever get stranded in the wild, you can "survive". :)