Day 5 - Rub-a-Dub-Dub

  Great comments everyone on our Day 4 question about what gets you in the Christmas spirit...Christmas music, perusing Pinterest, reading holiday magazine issues (make me stop), putting up the tree, wrapping packages (still doing that here) and seeing the holiday lights.

Thank you everyone who commented!

The winner of Day 4 of the 7 Days of Giveaways is...

 Congratulations!  

jmizelle said...

The moment I turn the page on the calendar to December 1st it happens automatically!
Love, love this project!

December 15, 2011 12:20 PM

jmizelle please email me at paula@2gypsygirls.com to claim your prize!  

You have 24 hours or it goes back in the pot!

Rub-a-dub-dub

I will admit, I am behind in just about everything except blogging this week, including decorating my Christmas tree!  So for today's post I needed to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.  This project is totally self serving since I needed to create the packaging for the gift we give our friends and neighbors.  I am going to preface this by telling you that for 10 years we have always given a white box full of sweets that takes at least 2 FULL days to prepare and that's not including clean up.  I just didn't have the time to do it this year so we moved on to Plan B without any kicking and screaming on my part.  

This year were giving barbecue rub...it will be a gift that can last all year long instead of 1 or 2 days.

I sent for these fabulous jars from Crate and Barrel.  I ordered them Sunday night and they were on my doorstep on Wednesday.  perfect.

Weck jars come in 5 sizes ranging from 9 to 26oz.   For this project I used the 18oz size.  Just for a reference...in the picture below it is the jar right behind the marmalade.

I love the Weck logo impression on the jar and the glass lid and also that orange rubber seal.  And yes, I know I could have done this way cheaper with glass canning jars from Walmart.  
But I didn't.

Barbecue Rub
2 TB of each: salt, sugar, brown sugar, chili powder, black pepper, ground cumin
1 TB: cayenne pepper, granulated garlic
1/4 cup paprika
Apply generously to meat.  

Especially good with pork roast. 

Remember to cook it low and slow.

NOTE: When making the rub in large quantities use a large bowl or disposable pan.  After mixing we used a big strainer to sift out the lumps.  And...If you are even thinking about mixing this concoction  with your hands, wear disposable gloves...you don't want cayenne pepper anywhere near your eyes or some other vital parts, if you know what I mean.

Note: You will need to double the recipe to fill the 18oz jar

PACKAGING

You could easily just tie up the jar with bakers twine and have a great look but that wouldn't be much of a blog post for today would it?

So were going to sew a very simple bag.  

Cut a piece of red and cream ticking 12" tall and 15" wide for the 18oz jar.  

Fold in half and stitch it closed on one side and bottom.

To make a flat bottom, fold each corner of the bag into a triangle and pin.

Stitch across the bag about 1 1/2" from the tip.  Repeat on opposite side.

 Cut off the tip of the triangle.

 This is what the bottom of your bag should look like now.

 Hem the top (or you can leave it raw).

I'm using May Arts Twill to close the bag (nice and flat) which is great for stamping.  Cut a piece of twill tape 30" long.  I used the 7gypsies Christmas stamp and black Archival Ink to add Merry Christmas to each end of the twill tape.

Next, I typed and printed out the recipe, then stitched it to a tag.  I added my favorite red label at the bottom and stamped it with 2012 so the receiver would know that if it's still in the cupboard in 2014 it's time to throw it out!
Fonts - Pharmacy and Euphorigenic

I know I spelled Barbecue, Barbeque on this tag.  Both spellings are acceptable at our house but spell check only accepts the first.  Hope I didn't offend any grammarians out there.

Then, because I just can't leave well enough alone I added a little wooden spoon that I stamped the word YUM on.  In reality no one is going to use a tiny spoon for barbecue rub so I figured it was okay to stamp on it.  The stamp set is from the dollar bin at Michaels (but not recently).
You can buy the spoons here or I can sell you some.  They are $5 for 50 spoons + $2 shipping.  Just email me - paula@2gypsygirls.com
Oh, and I punched the hole with my Crop a dile.

Inside the bag I have also included this recipe for the North Carolina Barbecue Sauce that goes quite nicely with the rub.  This is a thin sauce so it works great to store it in a squeeze bottle.  Just keep it in the fridge after you make it.  Makes for a fab-u-lous pulled pork sandwich.

2 cups cider vinegar
1 tablespoons sea salt
1 tablespoons ground white pepper
1 tablespoons red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup ketchup

 And were done!

Now I just need 20 more.

If you would like to enter to win today's giveaway
to win a stash of 7gypsies products, please leave a comment.

Today's question: Are you giving a small gift to your friends and neighbors?  Is it always the same or do you change it up from year to year? (if you're not, you can still enter to win...no pressure!)

Day 5 Giveaway is open till 12 midnight pacific time.  

Winner will be posted tomorrow morning and you will have 24 hours to claim your prize.

PS) I'm gonna put a plug in for the new Michael Buble' CD.  I just downloaded it last night (you can also get it at Target and Amazon).   His version of "All I want for Christmas" is worth the price of the CD...really the best version of the song I have ever heard.  Love the full orchestra, adds depth and richness to a pop song.  You can preview it here to see if you like it too. 

Cheers for a great day!

paula