My First Blog

Hi everyone. I've never done a blog before, and I feel that I probably won't be very good at it at first. I have tried many times in the past to keep a diary or journal and I have always failed, I'm just not that devoted to recording my own personal life. But as this blog is meant to be tied to my jam making and other crafty goings on, maybe I'll keep up with it a bit better. 


A little bit about me. I've been making jam since I was a little girl, I used to help my mom make it whenever we'd had a particularly good trip to the pick-your-own or Grandma and Papa's berry crop had a good summer. Then I took a 15 year hiatus and did the teenager thing and the student thing and basically forgot everything I had known about making jam, except that it was messy and not a fun activity for hot humid days. 

Mini marmalade wedding favour.

But about this time last year I had a wedding to plan, my own. I was desperate to find favours that I could make myself and would really have a handmade feel about them but that my guests would actually enjoy and remember. Eventually I stumbled across jam, and found some small, 4oz jars at Jam Jar Shop. I made four flavours, Strawberry, Raspberry, Peach and Marmalade, they went down a treat and I got rave reviews from all my friends and family about how much they had enjoyed their jam. Some people requested more, and I found myself giving it away. 


My husband suggested I turn it into a business, I think more because I've been unemployed for over a year then anything else. But I'm not a businesswoman by any means, I have two degrees in history and my maths skills leave a lot to be desired, so I really have no idea where to begin. A few friends turned me on to Etsy and I've recently set up an account. I'll have more details about it when I've got something on there to sell, it's empty and sad at the moment.

My husband Tom.

My husband is a volcanologist (well, almost) that's volcanoes, not star trek by the way. Anyway he started up a fairly successful volcano blog last summer, to keep busy and up to date between degrees, and his success has inspired me to give blogging a go. It also gives me something to do when I'm left home by myself while he's hard at work.

Although jam making will be the driving force behind this blog, I'll be posting other things I'm working on too, because otherwise it would get boring. Hopefully I'll be able to put in tabs or something so there will be a jams section and a crafting section and a baking section, etc. but I can't seem to sort out how to do it just yet. I'll be working on getting a Facebook page and twitter account up and running as well, for all you social networkers out there more savvy then me. Until then, thanks for visiting, looking forward to writing more soon.