Okay, I love this time of year, and one of my favorite things is figuring out what my homemade gifts are going to be - not all of them are homemade, but I like to make them really personal. This year, the grandparents (who are all huge coffee buffs) are getting baskets with the following: Mugs decorated by our children (we bought the bake on porcelain paints). 2 lbs of Coffee (some Starbucks, some others basing on favorite brands) 1 jar of homemade Almond Biscotti Homemade Chocolate Spoons A flavored creamer powder (like hazelnut or something Yummy). A flavored coffee syrup A homemade Christmas Ornament (still working on what for this year) We are also kind of tayloring the rest of the gift to each family...i.e. for my folks we'll give them each a gift cert to their favorite store too. For all of them, too, we are giving a framed picture of our kids I had done at Walmart while the portraites where really cheap a few weeks ago! What are YOUR ideas??? What are you doing??? SHARE!
We make a special fried cookie that no one else in our family or church makes. We make tons of those to give to friends and we make other cookies as well. We sometimes make peanut butter balls which we all love way too much! I am helping the kids at church make crafts too. They are making a clay pot reindeer candy dish, a babyfood jar snow globe and craft stick snow men ornaments. The kids are so excited about their crafts. I want to let them make angels out of a dish towel, wash cloth and pot holder if we have time. Beth
ooooh...a fried cookie, that sounds really interesting. Is the recipe a secret family recipe or can you share it (understand completely if it's a secret). THANKS!
It is not a secret but you have to have a cookie iron to make them. It is attached to a handle and you dip the shape (I use a snowflake design most of the time) into the batter that looks like pancake batter. Then you dip the iron into melted crisco in an electric frying pan. The cookie will turn loose of the iron and float in the crisco as it cooks. It cooks in no time. The cookie goes from the grease to a paper towel for a second to drain and then I dip the hot cookie in a sugar cinnamon mix. They are thin and crispy and sooooo good. If you can find an iron I will get out the recipe and send it to you. Once I found some at Walmart but mine came from a specialty store several years ago. Let me know and I will be glad to send it. Beth
Ohh Ive seen those cookie irons, cant remember where but I have. Im going tomorrow to a class about "gifts from the kitchen" from 1-2 so I will post any ideas I get t here. Im not sure what Im doing as far as homemade, my mom lives out of state so its hard to ship some stuff. I do alot of craft stuff so thats where my "homemade" comes in.
Sloan: Wow....it sounds like a pizelle....although I think they're actually made in something that resembles a waffle iron and it's not fried. MMMMM...they sure sound good....any chance I could PM my addy, paypal you shipping and have you send some out? I'm so intrigued my mouth is watering! LOL MelissainMI: please, do share! I love ideas, even if I don't use them this year, I'll file them away for another time Please share your crafty ideas too. That's what this thread is a bout - not just food gifts...
Here are some of my homemade items: I made this for my sister's bday about 2 weeks ago. its a bad picture and the paper does not have the ripple feel to it, sis' took the pic-blame her LOL THis is a clipboard I made for my mom last xmas, it turned out great and I saw the idea in a magazine. I made a complete wedding album for a friend of mine's daughter who got married last year, it turned out awesome! I love to alter things, create new things and just have fun with it...now to only fit it in my day like I wish.
WOW!!!! So very cool. You are very talented. Wow. I have no other response!!! See, this is why I stick to food! I'm sort of artistic, if I see someone else's idea BUT I cannot make things look THAT good!!! Wow. Very cool...THANK YOU for sharing!!!!
kbabe, I would love to share some cookies with all of you but these don't store well. You need to eat them the day you make them or within a couple of days at least. They are very thin and start to taste greasy if you don't use them soon. I have always wanted to teach someone else how to make them but nobody here seems interested. I have asked some of the younger moms at church if they would like to learn but they never have the time. Beth
My grandmother made homemade mints. The kind you boil and pull and then cut into small pieces with kitchen scissors. I have tried to make them but have only been able to get it right one time. The rest of the time they turn into a big lump of sugar that is hard as a rock. Do any of you make pulled mints? My grandmother made them for years. You pour the boiled mixture onto a marble slab and add color and mint extract to begin the pulling process. I remember watching her make them when I was little and she would let all of us have a small piece while it was warm and chewy. When they cooled they would be hard and you stored them for a few days until they turned creamy and were soooo good. Beth
sloan, I want that thingy you mentioned....... my mom made rosets, the fried cookies! at first I thought you ment the bow tie shaped ones ...... I love those powdered sugar covered rosetts. I made mints one year, but I havn't been succesful any other time.
One year I made 12 gifts in a jar for Donald's nurses they were all different, one was for a rice soup, and the rest were for muffins or cookies or such. I have made walpaper angels and cork gingerbread ornaments. The gingerbread ones are easy for kids to make, you trace a medium size cookie cutter on a flat sheet of cork (craft store or hardware store) cut them out and then use paint in the bottles with a tip to use like you would frosting glue on wiggle eyes, put a bow tie made of ribbon -- on top for a girl under head for a boy, then spray shelack or use clear finger nail polish to top coat. thread a needle and draw a thin ribbon or string for hanging. You can even glue tiny fake candy cane or presents to the hands.
Melissa, I can't see the clipboard picture. Can you resend it? I like what you made for your sis---very nice! I'd love to make those cookies too! I wouldn't know where to look for the cookie iron, or even what it would look like in the first place! Hmmmm....
here are a few ideas: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/holiday_gifts_ms/
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/giftgiving/a/120400a.htm http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/homemade_christmas_gifts.asp http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmasgifts_from_kids.htm this one is for kids grouped by age. I saw the words free!! http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/ soap http://www.indianchild.com/homemade_christmas_gifts.htm
Jennifer are those with rub ons or decoupoge? I wish you would have taken pictures of the plaques you made for me and the kids so you could post them, I have no idea how.
Amy, they were so simple! They are just rub-ons. A friend of mine found out the hard way that not all rub-ons come off easy and some are very simple. We just use acrylic paint, let it dry completely, put on the rub-ons where you want them and then either spray shallac(SP) them or you can buy a brush on coating. We figure that her entire box came to about $10.00. The boxes were on sale and the rub-ons we bought with a coupon. The most expensive part was the trim and we bought more of that to make the curtains I mentioned in the sewing machine thread. As far as the pix, a neighbor of mine has a camera and she emailed me the photos. My sis is the one that got us doing this and I wanted her to see what Jane had accomplished. Jane was so excited at how it turned out.
That is neat! Isn't it fun to do stuff like that? I used to make and sell crafts in this area. I could still have them in a store in a town nearby, where I used to have them, if I'd ever get any done! But I'm enjoying my kids and homeschooling so much that I don't have time for that now! In fact, I just sold stuff at a yard sale, then gave away the rest this past summer---there was a LOT of stuff too!
