Gracious Gifts: Tea Lovers

  Yesterday, I had coffee with a dear friend. The one who loves themes picnics like me (French, Mexican, etc.) Sadly, she is leaving me for two months to go work a festival in NYC. While I am terribly excited for her, I am going to miss our picnics! We finally got around to exchanging Christmas gifts ( I know so terribly late). She loves tea so I gather some fun tea supplies for her. First off, a great loose leaf chocolate tea. A box of tea cookies and last but not least, a tea magazine! These three things made the perfect little gift. Since the three things all fit one theme, it made them seem like adorable gift set. She got me the most adorable cheese knife set and a wheel of good French cheese!

Gracious Gift: Mini Frying Pan

So my mom got me this mini frying pan, at first I was quite trepid. What is the point of a frying pan that just holds one egg, I viewed it much like the Ipad. Fun but not needed. Then Lotti and I tried it out. Opinions were changed that first time. Eggs came out round and pretty plus you didn’t have to get a huge pan dirty. It’s great when you just want one egg in the morning. Certainly, I wouldn’t recommend it if you were cooking four eggs every morning, but for us, it’s perfect. Much like my Ipad, my mini egg frying pan changed my mind as well. It would make a cute gift for someone moving into their first apartment.

P.S. I’ll post the winner of my first giveaway sometime this weekend! Look out!

Gracious Gifts: Cookbooks for the Health Conscious

Here’s another cookbook idea for the holiday season.

      I have to admit, I bought this cookbook because a girlfriend of mine had it and made the tortellini recipe. That recipe was to die for and when I found out it wasn’t half bad for me, I knew I needed this book. I am also a book hoarder, mainly just cookbooks and coffee table books. I freely admit it, along with a lot of stuff, I own like 12 different cook books. I love pictures and this book has a pretty picture with every recipe and they are easy to follow. 5 fresh ingredients in 15 minutes, sign me up!  Anyways, enough about my hoarding tendencies. This book would be great for your health conscious friend who still likes really good food!

Peppermint Bark

I love peppermint bark and the best part is I can make it in 10 minutes flat plus it only takes three ingredients. I make it as a little gift for my professors and they are always so touched. It’s the perfect gift that shows you are thinking of them without having to spend too much money.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup Rice Krispies

11 oz White Chocolate

Peppermint Candies

 

Directions:

1) Place the peppermint candies (about 1/4 cup) in a plastic baggie and SMASH THEM into crumbs.

2) Melt the white chocolate. (I am lazy and use a glass bowl in a microwave, at 30 second increments to not burn it)

3) Stir in the rice krispies.

4) Pour the mix on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Flatten out and sprinkle the crushed peppermint candies on it.

5) Place in fridge for 5 minutes to harden then cut or break apart.

6) ENJOY but not too much otherwise your waist will not thank me.

Weekly Wonderings: December 7th, 2011

Last week, I showed you gifts I wanted to make, this week I think I will highlight some of my favorite gifts I have made or received this year!

1) Pretty Notebooks

2) Cranberry Compote

3) Brownies

4) Sugar Scrub

5) Glitter Candles

So what are your favorite homemade gifts this year? Got any good ideas? Please share!

Weekly Wonderings: November 30th, 2011

      The holiday season is almost upon us, which means time to start hunting for gifts. In my love of all things homemade, like food or projects; this year I am embracing the idea of homemade gifts for my friends and professors. (Yes, I give professors  a little holiday gift, normally food of some sort, kindness never hurt anyone’s grades).  Here is what I am thinking of attempting this year:

1) Peppermint Bark!

2)Bath Fizzies

3) Book Plates

4) Candy Cane Marshmallows

5) Spiced Nuts (I made these last year and they were a hit!)

 

Extras might have to be made of everything so I can try it! All of these wonderful ideas and photos are from Martha Stewart, I love looking at all the great homemade gift ideas she has! You can find my compellation of gracious gifts here!

Gracious Gift: Funeral Style

      I know normally I talk about cute housewarming gifts or the like but I just had to share this gift we received from some lovely people. Days before the service, we received this basket of goodies for the two kids. It was filled (though already eaten when this photo was taken) with candy and movies for each child. A girly movie for Aurora and a boy one for Brandon. Books for them to play with, and games for them to play by themselves with were in the box. It was the most thoughtful gift we received, yes the food was nice but this gift kept the kids entertained for hours which was so much better! I will definitely be using this idea for future.

Housewarming Gift: Cake Platter

        
  A cake platter can be a great gift, especially if there are some home baked goodies inside. I highly recommend Brie Bites or Strawberry Cookies. I got this cake platter for my birthday, when I got this also! I decided though beautiful the cake platter was a bit to dull for my tastes. It need a touch of gold. And out came my handy dandy paint pen! I watched an episode of trash tv (Don’t judge me on my RHOBH obsession), while carefully painting the outer edge gold. It took a few layers (3) but in the end it gave it that perfect touch of class! Now the cake platter looks more expensive too, and you can’t beat that!



   
   Happy First Day of October! How do you plan to celebrate the coming of fall?

Martha Stewart Sunday: Lip Balms

       God bless mothers of twins, two kids the same age are a handful. EVERYTHING has to be equal and as my mother keeps saying "What is fair is what is best for each child". So trying to keep one kid busy while the other one has over a friend has been quite the feat at my house. Enter lip balms. And Martha Stewart, of course. What little girl doesn't love lip balms? Perfect for that too young for make-up but still want to put some on stage. I remember making my own, way back when. Martha Stewart even had this cute kit, my mother ordered me for chirstmas. Yes, my love of Martha has been since almost birth, don't make fun, instead appreciate that I am steadfast. I liked her even when she got sent to prison; she used to be a stock broker, if you didn't know. Fancy. Anyways enough idol worship, here is a simple way to keep ages 10 and up (even those past 60) entertained for a bit (okay, like 20 minutes, but still)

Materials:

-beeswax (unbleached) (3 tsp.)

-Sunflower oil (5 tsp.)

-Essential oils of your choice (vanilla and peppermint are always good fail safes!)

-Pipette

-Mason jars

-Lip balm containers (either recycle or find some at a craft store)

-lipstick shavings if you want to color the balm



Directions:

1. Fill a shallow pan with about one inch of water. Bring to a boil. Pour beeswax and sunflower oil into mason jar.
   
2. Place the mason jar in the boiling water, use a pipette to stir until melted.
   
3. Carefully remove from heat and add essential oils to mason jar. For best results (i.e. not overpowering) add up to 10 drops of essential oils. (stir in lipstick shavings now too, if desired)
   
4. Pour into containers and let set for twenty minutes before moving.
   

 
Minty Vanilla (i.e. the safe choice)

8 drops vanilla

2 drops mint

 
What's your favorite craft to entertain kiddoes?

Because everyone should get to brag now and then

      So it's my birthday in less than two weeks, and I am super excited. I love getting gifts, and eating cake. Then again, who doesn't? Anyways, point is my birthday makes my boyfriend a nervous wreck. He is constantly bemoaning that he can't find something that is good enough, or worried that I will not like it that much. He doesn't seem to get that as long as it's from him and not hideous, I will love it. Last year, he asked me what I wanted and I said a dragon. He said he would try but if not, then what could be a good second. So my flippant answer was a dragon teapot. I love tea, so it made sense, kind of. Anyways, lo and behold on my birthday I am given one dragon teapot. It's mouth is the spout, the lid is a little wizard sitting on the Dragon, and the dragon's tail makes up the handle. It is AMAZING. And exactly what I asked for, this year I wasn't that clear on what I wanted. But yesterday the delivery man came to our door and my mom was like "Did you order something" and me, panicking was like no, I didn't , well I ordered some textbooks but that was yesterday they can't be here today……. Turns out it was my birthday gift really really early and since I did not know it was, I opened it. OOPS.

Excuse my unmade bed!

 
     Apparently, Kodak allows you to print an image on blanket, and my boyfriend took my favorite poster (seen here) to have printed. He found some really high quality images of it, even managed to send me the colors but not the poster, and had Kodak print the image on a really soft blanket for me! Which is perfect because I am ALWAYS freezing and he is like Mr. Freeze from Batman. He can survive in the artic in jeans, I barely survive the grocery store without a cardigan! Needless to say this blanket will get used TONS by me, and it folds up very small, so it will be great for traveling. AND sometimes, like when they lose your luggage for three days while going to Canada from Florida in the WINTER, "Keep Calm and Carry On" is exactly what you need to be reminded constantly.



    So what's been the best birthday gift you have ever gotten?

Weekly Wonderings: July 27, 2011

Fish the kids will eat!

I've been busy all summer, here I thought I was coming home to relax but trying to help my mom around the house has been quite trying. When I try to watch a movie with my boyfriend, I fall asleep within an hour while still on the phone with him. I don't know how she does it. Taking in two 10 year old foster kids is a crazy amount of work, between taking them to and from camp and their doctors' appointments, it is full time job and she also teaches. I've been trying to think of fun things to do with the kids all week, so here are my fun for kids and adult ideas:

Smores and Science, yes please!

If only we had enough milk cartons…

Trix on stick, what more could a kid want!

Sushi for kids!

From Pinterest of course! What have you been pinning recently? 

Father’s Day Gift: BBQ Sauce

      My father is one of the hardest people to shop for not only that but he just buys himself whatever he wants. So it is always an issue come holidays to find him gifts, June is the worst because it's Father's Day and his birthday. It's always a mad scramble to try to find him something. He's from the south at heart, thus his sweet tea must be hand brewed and BBQ is a staple of his diet. Not having a ton of money to drop on a father's day gift, I came across this great recipe for bbq sauce. The ratings were all great on Allrecipes.com and I will just leave it at: I was licking the spatula after pouring it. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ketchup
  
• 1 cup tomato sauce
  
• 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  
• 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  
• 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
  
• 2 teaspoons hickory-flavored liquid smoke
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
  
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  
• 1/8 teaspoon chili powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
  
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
  

Directions:

1. Pour, pinch and scoop all ingredients into a pot on simmer at medium heat for 30 minutes.
   
2. Pour into mason jar and decorate!
   

*Adopted from Big Al's KC BBQ Recipe, makes enough for a 12 oz Mason jar plus another half cup for you to use for dinner!

What are your plans for a father's day gift?

Martha Stewart Sunday: Birthday Banner

Ignore the ugly 3, silly apartment management!

     It was Charlotte's birthday last week, and I wanted some way to decorate her door for the occasion. Cue Martha Stewart Clip Art. Seriously, she has the coolest clip art, and for every occasion to jam lids to garlands. Here is a link to her best clip arts. http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/clip-art-and-templates?lpgStart=1&currentslide=40&currentChapter=1 (The garland is the first one!) It makes me want to make sugared citrus peels just to put the pretty labels on it. Anyways, back to her birthday, I found the birthday garland and new it would work. I used cardstock paper in two different colors. 


Tips:

*If you are doing two colors (and I highly suggest that you do), you will have to print two copies of the first color, but just the first page to get two H's.

*They are smaller than they appear, so you might have to enlarge them if you want a big garland.

*Cutting them can be a bit tricky it you aren't the best at cutting. You want to leave the black circle showing.


 

Pretty Pretty Recipes Cards

     
      So for next installment of the pretty pretty series, I have a cheap and easy way to add some decoration to your kitchen. One of my best friends for my 21^st birthday made me a cute gift basket with Nuvo (one of my favorite drinks) and these adorable recipe cards to make drinks. They were too cute to keep hidden so I used some pretty ribbon to hang them up. They add a bit of sparkle to my kitchen and take up minimal space.

Materials:

Ribbon

Balsa wood

Markers

Glitter

Small Jewels

Hot Glue

For more in the pretty pretty series, check out these organizers, these boards and these notebooks (plus these)!

Martha Stewart Sunday: Body Scrub

  
  I love a good sugar scrub, they make even the most roughest of knees feel silky smooth but I don't love is how expensive they are; my last purchase of one was over 30 dollars. So I was delighted to find that Martha had put up directions on how to make your own. They are great to use for yourself or give away as cute personalized gifts, since you can change the essential oils to match the person. Also, there are tons of variations on the mixture allowing for complete customization. I changed Martha's recipe a bit, since I love the smell of brown sugar.

Basic Body Scrub:

2 cups of Organic Cane Sugar, Epsom Salt and/or Brown Sugar (I used a three part equal mixture)

1 cup oil (Use Sesame oil (Neutrogena makes a great one) and/or Olive oil)

Essential Oils (You can find these at organic sections of groceries or in craft stores, like Michael's, where the soap making ingredients are)

Food Coloring (if you want to dye it, but that really only works if you use only Epsom salt)



My Pom Scrub-

3 part equal mixture of salt and sugars

2/3 cup sesame oil, 1/3 olive oil

3 pipettes full of vanilla pomegranate essential oil



Container-
You can use canning jars, or Tupperware to plain glass jars. I used a leftover plastic container that used to hold my favorite sorbet, Talenti's Roman Raspberry. The sorbet is delicious and the plastic jar it comes in is great to re-purpose for other uses!

Directions:

1. Pour ingredients in container and mix! The consistency should be a bit over oily, you want the scrub to stay together in your hands, not crumble into little pieces.
   
2. Decorate the container- you can print out labels or modpodge paper around the container, just make sure it is waterproof!
   

Here are some other great scrub recipes:

Coffee Scrub
Four Great Sugar Scrub Recipes
Traditional Sugar Scrub with Vitamin E

And here is a link to Martha's readymade clip art template labels.
Scrub Label 1 and Scrub Label 2



Do you have any great homemade beauty recipes?




 

Pretty Pretty Boards

   
  I am always saving little mementos from trips be it ticket stubs to museum guides, but I never know what to do with them. Often they just get filed away in labeled shoe boxes at the back of my closet for what occasion, I don't know. My friend, Lily (of the cranberry compote and brie bites fame) has some great ideas of how to show off your little mementos or other important things. These cute boards look great when lined up or alone on a wall, and since they are made from foam board, you can use 3M wall adhesive so you don't have to use nails (a big help for those who are renting a place). With all the different themed papers out there, you can find something to match just about anything!

I just cut the boards in the center, they were the perfect small size!

Materials:

Modpodge

Foam brush

Scrapbook or other decorative paper

Foam Board

Scissors/ knife

Directions:

1. Cut the board and paper to desired sizes, the paper can be left a bit bigger to cover the sides of the board.
   
2. Modpodge the board with a light coat, then press down paper. Go slowly, and use pressure of fingers or ruler (be careful) to work out any bubbles. Lightly modpodge the paper as well once smooth.
   
3. Let dry, then coat the paper with a second and if needed, a third coat of modpodge.
   
4. Enjoy! Use push pins or ribbon to help decorate your board!

This one is for my roommate, Charlotte, who loves old keys. See you can match any theme!

Glitter Candles

      So I love candles and I love glitter, thus I combined the two to make some cute decorations. These are quite simple to make and can be customized to make a great gift. The color and style combinations are endless, so you could make one to match every room, or mood.

Materials:

Modpodge

Foam brush

Candle

Glitter (the finer the glitter the better it looks)

Newspaper or other drop paper 

Directions:

1. Use a generous amount of modpodge so outline your design on the candle. Then sprinkle the glitter over, sprinkle a lot!
   
2. Wait for it to dry, and then tap the candles to free lose glitter. You can take a damp paper cloth to pick up lose glitter off the candle to clean it up.

1. 

   
   
   
2. Good Luck!