Homemade Xmas Goodies

This year I ventured into more 'homemade' gifts more so than in previous years - I've been so inspired by all these ridiculously crafty geniuses in BlogLand.

For example, my awesome Christmas Card Wreath that I'm OBsessed with!!

Here are my top 5 homemade goodies that I just had to make as gifts for some wonderful people in my life...all by scratch (okay fine, so I didn't actually MAKE the pretzels/kisses, but you get the point), all made with lotsa love:

1. Hot Cocoa Mix - found here from 'delia creates'
2. Chocolate Chip Cookies - found here from 'Today's Nest'
3. Holiday Pretzel Kisses - found here from 'Little Birdie Secrets'
4. PomPom Necklace - found here from 'Little Miss Momma'
5. Sugar Body Scrub - found here from 'Prudent Baby'

The week leading up to Christmas I was a slave to making this list happen before the big day...

Hot Cocoa Mix
I have to admit my hesitation when I started combining all the ingredients for this cocoa mix...that makes 45 servings BTW!! But let me just tell you that I'm never going back to those little pre-made hot chocolate packets again. I packaged up 4 jars of this mix as Christmas gifts - of course had to add a little cute holiday fabric to the lid:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
I've never made cookies from scratch. At least not in my adult life...can't remember much of my childhood. Anyway - I always buy the pre-made stuff - but I'd love to have a go-to basic C.C. cookie recipe on hand, that one day Kapri will be able to help with. I whipped up a few batches of these to go along with the cocoa mix & for everyone we saw on Christmas day. They were so yummy...though this recipe made SO freakin many, even though I made them a bit on the larger size. Look at this, it's like...the Mount St. Helens of cookies on my counter-top!! I still have some in my fridge...wanna help me eat them??

Holiday Pretzel Kisses
Chocolate, pretzels - my kinda combo. I practically ran to the store to buy the 3 simple ingredients for this sweet & salty treat. Easy peasy! I got a bag of the Candy Cane kisses and a bag of the Mint Truffle - both are numalicious:

PomPom Necklace
These lil fabric lovelies came from an AHHdorable mom blogger, she's:
a. Gorgeous,
b. Uber-creative, and  
c. has a cutie patootie little boy that's about a month younger than Kapri!

I saw these I could picture myself wearing one immediately. It took me about an hour for each - and I gave a few away as Christmas gifts to my sistas. I heart them so!!

Sugar Body Scrub
I've always wanted to make a homemade scrub - and this one is a quick & easy gift idea. I should've made one for myself first so I knew how it worked out, but I didn't...so hopefully someone will report back to me & let me know if they liked my gift!

I used granulated sugar (maybe I'll try raw sugar next time...which is good for extra exfoliating) and sunflower oil, which is a lighter oil with very little 'fragrance'. Then I went to Henry's for some essential oil...I couldn't think of a good combo of 2, so I thought I'd just go with the vanilla...buttttt that one was like, double the cost of all the others!

So, I went with grapefruit...which was yummy, light & fresh - I also gave a little scoop, adorned with a small jewel {to kinda hide the fact that the scoop was originally from old formula containers - I knew if I saved em they'd come in handy someday!} Anyway....YAYYYY for homemade!