Wednesday, December 29, 2010

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!

8 comments:

  1. Oh my, these are ALL such lovely gifts! Lucky family and friends you have! Your necklaces turned out BEAUTIFUL!!!!

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  2. and I LOVE the name kapri!!! Have you hear the Colbie Caillat song called Capri?

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  3. Saw you on LMM!! Very cute necklaces!!

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  4. @Bruce don't thank me...I got all these FAB ideas from the links above... but thanks for viewing & getting inspired before the holidays ;-)

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  5. A seashell in the jar makes a great scoop too! Can be purchased at most craft stores.

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    1. oh good to know!! that's a great idea for a scoop :-)

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  6. Thank you very much for these Christmas goods all handmade done. This is a great idea for crafting with children. The abortion dissertation look here can write about it as well

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