A DIY even I can do (Vanilla)!!

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DIY (Do It Yourself) projects don't usually make the top of my list.
I can't say I'm terribly talented in this area and I have minimal imagination.
My husband, on the other hand, is a total DIY-er.
In fact, I feel a bit inferior because of all he can do...but my issues (and his awesomeness) are not the topic at hand. :)

A few years ago when we were cutting out sugar and artificial colors and flavors (to keep our kids from going crazy) I started looking at labels.
I was amazed at how much of our foods had junk in it.
One of the most confusing things to me was how pure vanilla extract could have sugar in it and still be called pure.
Every single pure vanilla I came across had sugar or some derivative of it.
Even Watkins!
Then I came across a blog at Heavenlyhomemakers.com on how to make your own vanilla and I thought I'd give it a shot because it looked so easy!
And it definitely was as there are only 2 ingredients: vanilla beans and vodka.
The only thing is...it takes about 4-6 months for it to be done.
Lucky for me, I started 4-6 months ago and I have 34 bottles of vanilla to show for it AND a very vanilla-y smelling house...mmmm.

I won't go through the whole process because Laura at Heavenly Homemakers did such a great job but I will show you a few pics of how we did it and the finished product.
This was so fun!

Cutting the vanilla beans 2/3 of the way so the vanilla can be extracted by the vodka.

The boys filling the wine jug (that I found in our neighbor's basement)
 with all the vanilla beans once they were sliced.

Bri pouring the vodka in.
After that the jug just goes in a cool, dark place and needs to be shaken every couple weeks.

My jars of pure, double-strength vanilla!

I ordered the labels off Etsy and the bottles from a specialty store.

Won't these make perfect little gifts?

*I may have a few extra 4 ounce bottles of vanilla to sell...shoot me an email or FB message if you're interested!* :)

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