Crafting and Coffee and Donuts, oh my!

The weather has been showing signs of spring, so when we saw that we had a Saturday of temps in the 70s coming up, my sister and I planned to spend  the day working on some re-purposing projects and pricing some stuff for our Junque Rethunque booth. First, though, we had to meet a guy in Rogers about a couple of tables I found on Craigslist. On our way home we stopped by Walmart to pick up some snacks to keep our energy up for the busy day ahead.

I’m not a two-cup a day coffee drinker, but  I have learned over the years to enjoy an occasional cup if it is diluted with lots of sweet creamy stuff. I guess you could say I like my coffee like I like my wine – light and sweet. When we saw this Delicious Pairings display in the Walmart bakery, we had to stop and check it out.

I was scoping out the donuts (mmmmm…. donuts…. I ignored my low-carb diet for the day) and my sister was looking at the Starbucks coffee to see if there were any new flavors on the shelf. She is a Coffee Drinker, and tends to like a darker coffee, but she suggested we look at a light variety to have with the donuts… it was only fair that if I was buying, I got to pick. :) And since you can't have too many donut pictures...

The display makes it super easy to figure out what intensity each variety of coffee is – simply by putting them in light to dark order. The lighter flavors are in the yellow bags, then an orange design is next, then a kind of deep rose. The Blonde Willow Blend was at the very far end of the light options, so I took a chance. I've purchased the instant iced coffee mixes from Starbucks, and even have their app on my phone - I guess you could say those are the "gateway drugs" to buying a bag to use at home, right??

Even though I rarely make coffee at home, I do have a coffee maker in case we have company who would like some. I pulled it out and dusted it off and we were in business. I put some milk and sugar in my cup and poured in the coffee… it brought back memories of my mom – the coffee she drank was always a light tan color too.

The flavor was really excellent. It was a bit sweet even on its own without the sweetener in it, and had a tangy, citrus flavor. I felt like I was at a wine tasting - except that I didn't spit it into a bucket... It’s amazing how different GOOD coffee is from the run-of-the-mill kinds that come in the cans. I won’t name names. 

There was no bitter, burned taste to this Blonde Willow flavor. And drinking it with a bite of chocolate-glazed donut was a great combo. The citrusy flavor of the coffee went well with the chocolate – it reminded me of the chocolate oranges that I put in the kids’ stockings at Christmas.

After we spent the day painting and waxing and pricing and sorting, I was cleaning up the mess and found the bag for the coffee on the counter. (I had put the coffee into a vintage coffee jar to store in the cupboard.) I wasn't keen on the idea of throwing it away, since it's plastic, and I have been planning to try making a coffee cuff I could keep in my purse to replace the little cardboard ones you get at coffee shops... so I decided to do a little more re-purposing. It is National Crafting Month, afterall...

I used a cuff I kept off a cup of coffee (obviously around the holidays - I told you I don't drink it often! LOL!) and cut out a piece of the bag, and two pieces of fabric from the arm of a wool sweater. I sandwiched them together and sewed them up. Nothing fancy... I like the handmade look with little wrinkles and imperfections.

 It seemed to need a little "something" to finish it off (I'm fond of embellishing), and it needed a closure too, so I cut some circles out of the rest of the bag and made a flower. Isn't that black button cute for the center??

All that was left was to sew it on. The plastic was very easy to sew through - on the machine and by hand. Ta-daaaaaa!! What do you think??  I kind of love it. :)

So, now you tell me... what's YOUR favorite Starbucks flavor - and have you done any re-purposing lately? Have you visited the Delicious Pairings display at Walmart?
 

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Community and have been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study. However, all opinions are my own and I only write about products that I actually use. #cbias #SocialFabric