I’m excited to be part of another round of Craft Lightning, where bloggers are challenged to create 15-minute crafts around a theme. Our theme this time around is Valentine’s Day. As soon as I signed up, I knew I wanted to make something that involved food (one of my favorite parts of the holiday), so I decided on a jar mix. And, what better jar mix for Valentine’s Day than one that can be turned into breakfast in bed? I needed to take the craftiness up a notch – and that’s when I remembered that I still had some vinyl from Expressions Vinyl in my goodie closet. The vinyl heart on your jar mix is a the perfect touch to make this gift extra special.

This post contains affiliate links. Materials for this project were generously provided by Cricut, Expressions Vinyl, and Oriental Trading.

This project really can be done in 15 minutes (once you gather your supplies), but it’s broken down into 3 parts: preparing the vinyl, preparing the jar mix, and finishing the jar. I’ve also included a printable recipe card that you can attach if you’re giving the pancake mix to a friend (or if you think you may forget how to put the pancakes together for your special someone on Valentine’s Day morning). You can find more Craft Lightning projects by visiting the hosts at The Country Chic Cottage, 30 Minute Crafts, and Make Life Lovely.

If you make your own Pancake Breakfast for Two Mix or Vinyl Decorated Milk Bottle, I’d love to see it! Share your progress and questions by tagging me on Facebook as @Underground Crafter, Instragram as @ucrafter, or Twitter as @ucrafter. Sign up for my weekly newsletter and get a coupon code for your choice of one of my premium crochet or knitting patterns and other subscriber goodies. Plus, you’ll never miss one of my free patterns, tutorials, or recipes again!

Vinyl Decorated Milk Bottle

Tutorial by Underground Crafter

Materials

• Expressions Vinyl Series 51 Premium Permanent Vinyl. I used Silver. (Do not substitute “regular” vinyl. Series 51 is designed for outdoor use, which means it will hold up for more washing. And, I assume you do plan to wash your milk bottle between uses.)
• Expressions Vinyl Transfer Tape. I used the paper type. (You can read more about different types of transfer tape here.)

• Cricut Explore Air with Cricut Design Space, a Cricut Tools Weeder and Cricut Tools Scraper. (I used the trimmer, scissor, scraper, and weeder from my Cricut Gold Tools and Trimmer Set.)
• 1 Oriental Trading clear glass milk bottle with lid (5-1/2” x 2”). (Don’t forget to check their coupon page for a deal before ordering.)
• 1 ribbon, approximately 20″ (51 cm) long.
• Rubbing alcohol.
• Cotton ball or paper towel.

Instructions

Prepare the Vinyl

• Use Cricut Design Space to customize the image. I used Heart #M2F695 from Ashlyn’s Alphabet, which is free with Cricut Access, and sized it so that it would measure about 2″ (5 cm) tall.

• To cut the Expressions Vinyl Series 51 Premium Permanent Vinyl, set your machine’s materials dial to Vinyl. Place the vinyl on your cutting mat with the glossy, vinyl side up.
• Trim the Expressions Vinyl Series 51 Premium Permanent Vinyl down to a more manageable size using your trimmer and/or scissor.

• Use the Cricut Tools Weeder to remove the space around your image.
• Cut the Expressions Vinyl Transfer Tape so that it fits over your vinyl image.

• Wipe the surface of the milk bottle clean using the rubbing alcohol and cotton ball or paper towel. Allow the surface to dry.
• Remove the backing from the transfer tape. Place the adhesive part of the tape over the vinyl.
• Position the transfer tape with the vinyl over the milk bottle. Use the scraper to rub the vinyl into place, flattening out any air bubbles.
• When the vinyl is correctly positioned, peel off the transfer tape.

Prepare the Jar Mix

• Prepare Pancake Breakfast for Two Jar Mix (recipe below). Fill milk bottle with jar mix.
• Wipe flour off container with paper towel.

Finishing

• Tie ribbon in a bow at narrow neck of milk bottle.

Pancake Breakfast for Two Jar Mix

Recipe by Underground Crafter

This recipe was adapted from the Basic Pancakes recipe in my all-time favorite cookbook, the Joy of Cooking.

Ingredients (to make about six 5″/13 cm pancakes)

For Jar Mix:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Flavorful mix ins (optional)
  • I used 1/4 cup dried cranberries (craisins) and 1/4 cup toasted, chopped pecans. You could use another dried fruit and nut combination, or 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips.
  • If you don’t use sweetened mix ins, add another 1/2 Tablespoon granulated sugar to the flour mixture.
• 1 Oriental Trading clear glass milk bottle with lid (5-1/2” x 2”)
• A small bottle of maple syrup is optional, but it does take the gift up a notch!
• Pancake Breakfast for Two Jar Mix recipe card.

Download the Pancake Breakfast for Two Jar Mix recipe card.

For Pancakes:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• Toppings of choice (such as butter, maple syrup, honey, vanilla yogurt, or fresh berries)

Jar Mix Instructions

• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in small bowl.

• Pour flour mixture into milk bottle.
• Tap gently to flatten. Pour in flavorful mix ins, pushing down gently if necessary.
• Close lid to seal.

• Print recipe card.

Pancake Instructions

• Preheat lightly greased griddle or frying pan on stove top.
• Pour contents of jar mix into a large bowl.
• Pour milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla over jar mix.
• Whisk together until just combined.
• Pour approximately 1/3 cup of batter onto hot griddle for each pancake.
• Turn with spatula when the top of pancake is covered in bubbles and some bubbles have popped open.
• Cook until other side of pancake is lightly browned.
• Serve hot or keep warm in 200 degrees Fahrenheit oven until ready to serve.
• Serve with your favorite toppings.

© 2017 by Marie Segares (Underground Crafter). This recipe and tutorial are for personal use only. You may use the recipe and tutorial to make unlimited items for yourself, for charity, or to give as gifts. You may sell items you personally make by hand from this recipe and tutorial. Do not violate Marie’s copyright by distributing this recipe and tutorial or the photos in any form, including but not limited to scanning, photocopying, emailing, or posting on a website or internet discussion group. (You are welcome to print out the recipe card to include with any jar mixes you make.) If you want to share the recipe and tutorial, point your friends to this link: http://undergroundcrafter.com/2017/01/09/pancake-jar-mix-with-vinyl-decorated-milk-bottle. Thanks for supporting indie bloggers!

If you make your own Pancake Breakfast for Two Mix or Vinyl-Decorated Milk Bottle, I’d love to see it! Share your progress and questions by tagging me on Facebook as @Underground Crafter, Instragram as @ucrafter, or Twitter as @ucrafter. Sign up for my weekly newsletter and get a coupon code for your choice of one of my premium crochet or knitting patterns and other subscriber goodies. Plus, you’ll never miss one of my free patterns, tutorials, or recipes again!