Insulated Lunch Purse, with a laminated lining

I have been wanting to make one of these for some time now.  I decided that I'd have to make the pattern myself since I couldn't find any that were exactly what I wanted...one "small" dilemma, I haven't been sewing bags all that long AND I've never created my own pattern for anything other than quilts!  Oh yea, I should also add I don't think I've ever sewn a zipper, or used "do it yourself laminate".  This was going to be an adventure!  At one point Hubby had to order me to bed because I was tired and trying to finish "one more thing" and frustration was coming fast and furious!  It was NOT as painful as I had thought it might be, there were a few "lessons learned", but in the end, I LOVE my Lunch Purse!  I didn't have much fun with the "iron on laminate" stuff, I thought it would be smarter than buying laminated fabric since it really only has one use (for now) and it seems so limiting since not every fabric comes in a laminate, but after playing with the stuff, I think I'll just learn to live with finding and buying the pre-laminated stuff.  If any of yall have any tricks or tips for using the iron on stuff, I'd LOVE to hear them!  Well here's the inside (laminated) part...

The laminate seemed to want to seperate from the fabric when I manipulated the inside.  I do like that the bag is deep enough to hold a water bottle :)

I love the zipper all the way across.  I also did NOT want the zipper at the top, top of the bag so it sits about an inch or so down.  I used some InsulBright in the bag as well to keep lunches warm/cool.  For the finishing touches I grabbed a handful of ribbons from Ribbon Carousel made some bows and voila!  Pretty!!  Since I'm a SAHM with older kids I really don't have a need for one of these, so this one is for a friend... I hope she likes it.  I have added this as a "Custom Order" item in my Etsy store, but will be adding some more pre-made bags soon.

Hand made Jam Labels and homemade Jam!!

This summer I was finally able to make all of the Jams I wanted to!  Well, I think I may need one more batch of Apricot (soooo yummy!), but we have a pretty good size stash and managed to give a few away :).  For me, labeling these silly jars is the most frustrating part!  I do NOT like the sticker labels (such a pain to remove!), even the water disolveable ones are icky (pull them out after a few months of storage and they look icky!).  Some of you may know that I am also a paper crafter so I went poking around for some ideas, and found this one from the brilliant Susan Liles...

So I ordered the dies and stamps I wanted and these are what I came up with... the heart labels are for my Daddy's PB&J stash ;)  I just used some Baker's Twine around the lid so it looks pretty when you present (and when you look in your pantry and see all of those pretty tags!) BUT here's the fun part...

I adhered a pop-dot on the back and left the "paper" on one side.  Once you've opened the jar for the first time you can stick this on the lid center and voila!  A Fridge-friendly jam label... you are still able to unscrew the rim.  Now I have to get my hind-end in gear and mail some of these jars to some of my friends :)  This year we made the following jams:  Triple Berry (1 whole batch for my Daddy and 1 batch for everyone else, lol), Blackberry Port, Spiced Peach Amaretto, Bourbon Peach & Vanilla Bean, Apple Butter & Apricot!!