A Jo, My Gosh! First!

Today, I'm trying something I've never done before! I'm a co-host for the I Love My Online Friends GFC Blog Hop through a wonderful blog-- The Things We Find Inside. I've decided that February is going to be a month of growth for me-- it's the first month that Jo, My Gosh! has sponsors (and what lovely sponsors they are!), I've got some writing gigs lined up, and I'll begin as a contributing writer for another fantastic blog. It's always been my hope to turn writing into a full-time career. And, while it (obviously) isn't there just quite yet, I can't help but feel that I'm at least starting down the right path. 

Thank you, my friends, for being so supportive-- for reading and commenting and making this blog so much fun to create and continue working on. While I'll be trying some new things, I promise you that I won't lose sight of what has attracted you to Jo, My Gosh! in the first place! Let me know what you think about my new ventures as they unfold-- I'd love your opinions and ideas! 

If you're a blogger, participate in the blog hop this week and check out some amazing blogs!

Welcome to another week of the I Love My Online Friends 'GFC' Blog Hop.  If you are interested in learning more about the hop and guest hosting, please read HERE.

RULES FOR THE HOP

1. Please follow your host and the fab five on Google Friend Connect (GFC). They are Numbers 1 through 6 on the linky.

2. Link up your homepage and start hopping around. Remember, this is a blog hop, you've gotta do some hopping in order for it to truly be worth your time. When you get a new follower it's always nice to return the favour. Visit their blogs, leave them a comment and/or return the follow.

3. You are not required to, but it would be great if you could tweet/like/pin/share this post and/or grab the button and share it on your blog. The more people that see this hop, the more blogs for us to visit and the more followers we gain.

Thanks and Happy Hopping!

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Crossing off Delicious #57

Two nights ago, I tried my hand at making candy! Usually I stay away from trying to make it (eating it is easier!). I wanted to make my own caramels, not only because it's on my 100 in 365 list, but because now I will have a never-ending supply of caramel at my beck and call!

If you're on Pinterest, you have probably seen at least one recipe for six-minute caramels. In the summer, I pinned a recipe, but I really thought that it would be as successful as some of the crazy diets and ideas that Pinterest is chockablock with.

Two days ago, I decided to see if these recipes really worked.

And much to my happiness and surprise (and glee that I didn't have a Pinterest fail on my hands), it did!

Because I used an uncited recipe from Pinterest, I'm not able to cite any particular website. I have rewritten, edited, and added my thoughts to the directions. Of course, I haven't come up with this recipe, but I have written this one.

Six-Minute Vanilla Caramels

You'll Need...

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup light Karo Syrup
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup nuts or dried fruit (optional)
• a few tablespoons (to taste) flakes of sea salt

Instructions

1. Depending on the thickness of the caramel you desire, using buttered tin foil, line a baking dish. (8 x 8 or 9 x 5 pans will work nicely. I used a lightly buttered Pyrex pie plate and the candy slid out easily when hardened.)  Line either an 8 x 8 baking dish or a 9 x 5 loaf pan with foil.  Butter the foil.
2. Melt butter in microwave.
3. Stir in Karo Syrup, light brown sugar, white sugar, condensed milk and vanilla.
4. Mix until sugar has completely dissolved. Mixture will be light brown.
5. Microwave for 3 minutes (if not bubbling, microwave for another 30 seconds)
6. Mixture will be bubbling. Carefully scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir mixture until mixture has stopped bubbling.
7. Microwave again for 3 1/2 minutes (if not bubbling, microwave for another 30 seconds).
8. Stir in optional nuts or dried fruits and scrape down sides until mixture has stopped bubbling.
9. Pour into dish and place, uncovered, in the refrigerator.
10. Remove from the refrigerator when candy is set. (When the candy is set, it will cut easily and mixture will not pull with the knife.) Cut into blocks and sprinkle sea salt, if desired.

Wrapping: I used rectangles of regular wax paper and twisted the ends two or three times. Simple, easy, and so cute! 

 These are so easy and quick to make, you can bang out a few batch of these this weekend for impromptu Valentine's Day presents! That's what I'm doing with mine!

Fail Box

I'm an exceptionally detail-oriented person. Little things that are out of place bug me. I'm not clinically OCD, but I'm probably just a shade away from it.  For example: I'm having a difficult time picking wedding invitations because it bothers me that the font of our Save the Dates and the wedding invitations won't match. 

Writing it makes it sound even crazier. Believe me, there are things I completely let slide-- like exercise or learning math or getting my oil changed every however long it's supposed to be-- but crafty, visual things, I just cannot. 

That's why it pains me to show you this box. The idea was cute. The execution was... not. 

This box was one of three that I threw together right after John went back to Afghanistan after his R&R. This was my left over food box-- whatever didn't fit into the Super Bowl and F Words boxes got crammed into this one. And yes, I had to use extra boxing tape to make sure the sides didn't split out on its trip to Afghanistan. 

I also made and sent along Empty Pantry Bars-- my very own granola bar creation.

The failure of this box was the decorations. The colors just didn't work, and the flaps are hard to read. The outside of the box says, "Hey Good Lookin'." That's easy to see; however, the inside flaps should read, "Here's What's Cookin'." The letters and background just didn't work, and I had too little time to fix it and try again. 

The good thing is that I don't think John notices the decorations too much. Especially for this box. I'm fairly certain he just ripped into the granola bars the minute he saw them.  And that's a very, very good thing!