Story of the Week

Max wanted to wrap his gift to his teacher. Not really having a box, not to mention we were giving her several handmade things such as a necklace, soap and strawberry jam - I decided that a gift bag would be better. I got Max to agree to the bag and after loading it with everything, I handed it over to him.

"Mommy, where's the stuff?" His hand waving over the top of the bag.

"All the stuff is in it, honey"

"No, mommy. The stuff!"

"You mean, tissue paper?"

"Yes, the stuff!"

"Well, we don't really need it."

"Are you a maniac?! The whole point of wrapping a present mommy, is so you can't see inside it!"

I was schooled by a 5 year old...

Recycling for Labels

I had a lot of fun last year making my Kahlua labels - I cut out pretty pictures/ads or other images that appealed to me and turned them into labels with a silver pen and a little glue.

I thought they turned out nice, and it was a little recycling to boot!

This year, I decided to cut up the J. Peterman catalog. I don't usually get catalogs, but I have always enjoyed reading this one. It's sort of fantasy and romance, mixed up consumerism...probably not good for me, since I am trying to significantly cut down on the whole consumerism thing! But, I thought the pictures and descriptions would make really fun labels - and they did! It's more fun for me since I get to see them all together and my recipients might not understand the whole fun factor for me. And I tried to match the items with the recipient. A friend who loves jewelry will be getting the label with the over-the-top necklace...

I also wrote a little description for the back label - very tongue in cheek. And again, I don't know if anyone would actually read it or get the jokes...but it was fun for me!

Christmas Gifts

It's that time of year again, so we spent the weekend making Christmas gifts. I made soap - two kinds of Castille soap (one plain, and one rosemary-mint), and a lavender soap unsing a different recipe. Ryan keeps walking by the rosemary-mint and asking if I can cook something that smells like that!

Ryan helped harvest the mint and we also made tea. Well, more like dried mint leaves, but it makes a wonderfully refreshing tea that helps calm upset tummys. (Which really comes in handy around my house!) The tea came out so good, I think we will harvest as much as we can and that will make a great gift too. While I was researching mint tea, I ran across a couple of recipes with rose hips...that got me thinking. Would my laziness from this summer of not pruning actually turn out a decent Christmas present? Apparantly, rose hips are amazingly nutritious and supposedly taste good to boot! So, sometime this week, I will go harvest my rose hips to add to the mint, for some absolutely delicious, homemade tea.

And of course, no Christmas gift making session would be complete without Kahlua. Lots and lots of kahlua. But, since I haven't been drinking much wine, I don't have the empty wine bottles to fill up! I'm sure I can think of something...

Christmas Presents

For the past few years, I have tried to make most of my Christmas gifts. This presents a problem after a while. For the first year it is fairly easy to come up with something. But after a while what can you make that friends and family will really enjoy without saying "Oh, thanks. You must have made this," with that half smile/grimace? Also, I would love to include handmade gifts for the kids in my life...any ideas?

The first year I made beeswax candles and bath salts. (I admit, very Martha-ish. But I was using one of her books.) That was many years ago when I was a poor, barely graduated professional. Two years ago, I used left over fabric from my baby bedding business and made fabulous furry blankets. I had swirled furry, fluffy fabric on one side and cool designer fabric on the other. I still get requests to make these blankets.

These are the baby versions:




Last year, I made sets of re-usable grocery bags, again from left over fabric. This was also a big hit and of course very fashionable and environmentally friendly.

So far this year I have made Kahlua. Lots and lots of Kahlua. If you have never had handmade Kahlua - this is the bomb! I have people who will never drink the real stuff and beg for more of mine...namely Darrin, who said that Kahlua was a sissy, girl drink. I have saved wine bottles from the year to fill up and bought wood topped corks to seal them. I have yet to make my labels, but that should be easy.



I have finally tried my hand at soap making. I love handmade soap and buy it at every craft show I go to. Soap from the store is not actually soap, but a detergent that dries out your skin and is made with lots of yucky stuff. Making soap yourself can be a little tricky and I'm not sure yet if it all turned out, since it has to cure for at least three weeks before it can be used. There are some wonderful instructions on line for soap making.

And finally, I upgraded my grocery bags. I bought beautiful brocade on sale and made happy bags for all those people in my life who steal my grocery bags for overnight bags, school bags and anything else that needs carrying! These are reversible and very strong. I designed the pattern to fit my life. They fit a lot of groceries, the handles are long enough to be carried over your shoulder, but short enough to carry like a regular grocery bag without dragging on the ground.

And if I have any time left over, I would like to try to make bags out of up-cycled plastic bags. You can iron several layers of regular plastic bags together to make a hardy plastic fabric and then make whatever you want out of it. I have already tried the melting part with varying degrees of success - although I will say it is pretty easy. And it looks really cool!

This I made for me! It is an up-cycled poultry feed bag lined in a very cool, coordinating cotton fabric...

Kahlua
2.5 cups sugar
3 cups water
10 teaspoons instant coffee
1 vanilla bean
3-4 cups vodka

Split vanilla bean and scrape out seeds. To a large heavy pot add all ingredients including bean and seeds. Slowly bring to a boil, stir until sugar is dissolved and then stir occasionally. Boil for 15 minutes. After it cools, measure liquid, if it has reduced to less than 3 cups, add water to equal 3 cups. If you have more than 3 cups, don't worry. You want to add the same amount of vodka as coffee/sugar liquid. Mix and bottle. This gets better with age!

I will post my pattern for bags later, because I think you really need pictures to understand sewing directions!