Coffee Collars and Chocolatey Pretzels!

     About 6-7 years ago I read a novel, but I can't remember the title or author, and to tell you the truth I can't tell you a whole lot about it, but I did pull one thing out of that silly romance, and it's called a "coffee collar". The author had in a way coined the term for the little cardboard sleeves that hug your piping hot cup of joe. At the time I assumed that was what all coffee connoisseurs called them. Well, I was wrong! A few years later I was at my new job as a barista, and my first day there I wanted to impress my cute fellow worker. So I commented on the "coffee collars", and asked where they were stored. "The what?" was his confused response. He had never heard or used that term in the 10 years that he had been a barista. And now 3 1/2 years from that embarrassing moment I still use that term. The greatest thing about that story is that that cute barista that laughed at me, and who still happens to laugh at me when I asked for one is now my loving husband.

     So, anyways, I decided to make a coffee collar by using the cardboard sleeve around a Starbucks coffee cup as the template. It was really easy and fun!

COFFEE COLLAR

What you will need:

• sewing machine
• hand sewing needle
• thread that matches fabric
• 2 different fabrics ( I just used scraps that I had from other projects)
• badding
• cardboard coffee collar from a Starbucks cup as a template
• pins
• white colored pencil

1. Use the Coffee Collar as a template. I used a white colored pencil to trace the outline.

I added about half an inch on the top and bottom edge. When cutting out the badding make the side seam a little shorter, about half an inch.

My finger is pointing at the bend in the cardboard. This is where you should cut the badding at instead of at the end.

2. Pin the fabrics together. Right sides out! Sandwich the badding in-between. And sew along the top and bottom edge.

3. Fold the fabric in half with the side seams together. Make sure that the inside seams face out. Sew along the inside seam. Turn the coffee collar out.

4. Cut 2 strips of the inside fabric. They need to be the length of the coffee collar, and 1 1/2 inches in width. Press the outer edges in 1/4 of an inch. Pin the strip onto the coffee collar and hand sew it onto the coffee collar. 

5. Enjoy coffee with your new coffee collar!

Be Aware: This coffee collar will not fit all coffee cups. I figured this out quickly! But it will most definately fit a Starbucks coffee cup. You may want to make it a little larger so that it will fit a few other generic coffee cups.

A FUN VALENTINE TREAT

This picture came out bad, I forgot to turn the flash on!

     I made this fun snacky, dessert item for a card party that my family had. You could change the color of the sprinkles or candies to make this for different holidays.

Ingredients:

• pretzels (I wanted to use square pretzels, but I couldn't find them in the store)
• chocolate melts
• sprinkles or candies 

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

2. Place the pretzels on a baking sheet, and then place the chocolate melts on top of the pretzels,
centered.

3. Bake the pretzels for 5 minutes, or until the chocolate has melted, but not enough to run off the pretzel.

4. Immediately sprinkle or place candy on top of the chocolate melt. Place in freezer so the chocolate can harden back up. 5 minutes should be enough time to harden the chocolate back up.

Recently Shelved:

"Glow"

by: Amy Kathleen Ryan

Spaceships 

Romance

War

and the ultimate battle between the struggle if God is of existance!

I loved this book! The only downfall was that the book switches points of view. One chapter is from the religious point of view and then another would be from an atheist point of view. I felt like I needed to convince this character that there is a God. At certain points I wanted to stop and scream! But in the end I felt like my faith was in a way stronger.

Pin It