You say "cheap," I say "innovative"

Yeah, that pretty well describes a lot of what I do/have done.

In today's case, I'm talking about reusing/upcycling things to use as vases instead of buying real ones.

I mentioned planning to do this a number of posts ago. Anyone remember?

I took some Simply juice bottles, like so:

Cut off the top where the lid screws on, sanded the edges....ok, I may have actually filed them with an emery board, but it worked and as we all know, I'm on a budget. Moving on, the rest is paper and Mod Podge.

This is one of the smaller bottles, about 1/2 as big.

This one's full-size and was my first attempt.

Also, after seeing a few ideas on Pinterest for coloring mason jars w/ Mod Podge and food coloring, I thought I'd try it out with something different.

Like a Sobe bottle.

Terrible shot, I know, but I'm assuming you know what a Sobe bottle looks like.

And the results...

In process of drying

This doesn't do the color justice.

It's certainly not a perfect process, or at least, I haven't perfected it. And as I said, the pictures really don't do it justice, which is a shame. It's such a beautiful, rich green, like a nice green glass. I'm very happy with it.

Stuff:

• The Sobe bottle was outside drying upside-down for at least 3 days, with me periodically rotating it to change which side had the most sun.
• As you can see in the first picture, it doesn't look like it's drying evenly. However, by the time I deemed  it finished, it had all evened out pretty well. Under closer scrutiny, there are a couple minor issues, I suppose, but I think it's great, especially for a first attempt and since it'll usually have flowers in it.
• I probably used a bit too much Mod Podge, actually. The coloring happens because the Mod Podge forms a layer over the inner surface, then it dries clear, but for the color, making it translucent. 
• I haven't tested this with water inside (hindsight is 20/20, right?). Oo So we'll see how that goes. I'll let you know.
• I also keep one Simply bottle around for mixing concentrated juices in. Saves having to use a giant pitcher that takes up too much fridge space. It's really a handy size; I know exactly where on the bottle to add water to mix it just to my liking and I can just screw on the cap and shake it up instead of having to dirty a mixing spoon.

Versatility

I know it's off-center. It makes the composition better technically.  So there.

I know what you're probably thinking, "Sara, whatever would possess you to post a picture of a jar of pickles?"

I'm glad you hypothetically asked that. First, take another look. Yes, it's a pickle jar, but it's not a jar of pickles. Well, mostly. There is a pickle down at the bottom.

Here's the deal: you finish a jar of pickles and you're left with this jar full of pickle juice, which most people toss out. Such a waste. Instead, buy some cucumbers, slice 'em up, put them in the jar, and swish them up a bit. Ta-da! Instant pseudo-pickles. 

Really, I don't know why more people don't do this. Or maybe they do and I'm just the last one to hear about it.

Anyway, I say pseudo-pickles because the cucumbers don't get fully pickled (fermenting? is that what pickling does? Sorry, I've completely had a brain lapse of my Food Science class right now). I suppose they could if you leave them in the juice long enough, but I typically go through these in a couple days, so they're still basically marinated cucumbers.

Other things you may or may not want to know:

• The big reason why I like this idea is because I really like bread and butter pickles. A harder flavor to do on your own, and kinda expensive to be buying jar after jar. Über cheap alternative.
• As aforementioned, the cucumbers basically just get marinated. It makes me feel like I'm eating a tad healthier snacking on them than on legitimate, vinegar-altered pickles. (Right? Isn't vinegar a main component?) Please note, I did say feel.
• One jar will last me about 2-3 decent-sized cucumbers before the pickle juice gets diluted from the cucumber juices. Not a bad deal, I'd say.

As for my title, I'm talking about the jar of pickles, of course. Reuse the juice, reuse the jar. I don't think I need to start talking about the numerous uses of jars. And also versatility in the sense of the word "pickle." It's a verb, two different nouns ("Have a pickle!" or "I'm in a pickle."), an adjective (well, pickled). See? Versatile.

I love Christmas!

I love the music, I love the decorations, I love that everybody seems to be happier or have a generally better attitude. I love the baking, I love that the whole month just feels magical, and I certainly love Christmas itself, that celebration of the birth of our Lord.

While I was home I was able to enjoy the beginning symptoms, the telltale signs that it's that season: the day after Thanksgiving, I woke up to the sound of The Forgotten Carols blasting from the living room, and the house was filled with the sound and smells of my dad making his Christmas candy (which he's basically famous for throughout our town). I brought some fudge he made back with me and I can say that he's acquired a lot more fans.

But come back I did, and before we returned, my roommates and I were collaborating over text what decorations we could bring to festive up our apartment.

And may I just say, we're awesome?

This thing alone is about as bright as our main lamp.

I brought my miniature Christmas tree and nativity set that I've had forever as well as a couple other nativities my mom lent me. Kelsey's parents brought us a full-size, pre-lit fake Christmas tree, Sara's parents bought some ornaments and Sara made a paper chain garland for the tree as well as a few origami stars and flowers. We made a bow out of some glittery ribbon Taylor had leftover from the Masquerade Ball for our tree topper.

And I made a wreath, like I did in China, but with a few more options. You have no idea how excited I was for this wreath. It's simply a coat-hanger bent into a circle, with strips of plastic bags tied around it. I spray painted it green, and used a red plastic bag for the bow. 

And I'm so happy with it; I've gotten a lot of compliments thus far and I think we're the only apartment in our complex with any sign of festivity visible from the front door.

Doesn't that look inviting?

And just because I most adore the sight of a Christmas tree when all the other lights are off:

Pizza Monkey Bread

One of the first of the aforementioned "oh, that looks good" instances was after seeing this recipe on Confections of a Foodie Bride (again, brought to us by StumbleUpon).

It was easy enough, it definitely looked tasty enough; we were sold. We did a Broulim's run the Saturday before to gather the ingredients and were good to go. Mostly. We also discovered we didn't have a bundt pan....which you kind of need for monkey bread. Therefore, Heidi and I ran over to Viking to see if any of our gentlemen friends happened to have a bundt pan (not completely unheard of; some of them bake). After an initial lack of success, Logan informed us that his girlfriend (who actually lives at our complex) had one, so we went back home, ran upstairs, borrowed said pan, and were back in business.

Why didn't we just ask the other girls in our complex in the first place, you may ask? ............That's a great question. I don't entirely remember. There was a reason, and it seems like it was halfway decent, too. At any rate, it's not important.

Ignore all the random junk behind it and the lack of proper lighting, etc. I stole this picture from Taylor as I had neglected to take one myself. Let's focus on the important thing here: it looks (and was) really tasty. I mean, isn't that a beautiful golden brown?

A few notes:

• As often happens, we wound up not having enough pepperoni for the entire thing, so some bites had pepperoni and others didn't. 
• We used store-bought frozen pizza dough. That's right. 'Cause we're lazy. Still tasted awesome.
• We bought one of those containers of mozzarella balls, which turned out to not be quite enough. So in addition to some having pepperoni and some plain cheese, we also had some that were mozzarella and some that were cheddar/colby jack. 
• We didn't use garlic. Well, not real garlic, anyway. We sprinkled the sides and the pieces with garlic salt. 

So, there you have it. You can fiddle with the recipe, be cheap as can be, and make some adaptations and this can still be wonderful. I suppose that could just be my lack of refined tastebuds talking, but hey, I was happy with it. Give it a go, why don't ya?

Again, the recipe is from Confections of a Foodie Bride. Visit. Love.