Tall Cupcakes

Okay, here it is, the tall cupcake post.  The pan is made by Wilton, along with the cupcake wrappers/papers.  I found both at my local craft store (Michael's).  There are 6 cupcakes to a pan. One cake mix makes one pan.  Then I just use a can of frosting and decorate according to the occasion. 

Visiting Teaching Brunch

A few weeks ago I hosted a brunch at my house for the girls I Visit Teach (a program from my church, to learn more visit www.mormon.org). It was so much fun and I think would be a fun "gift idea" to do for any group of gals you love for the holidays. Below I will cut and paste from my personal blog what I did for mine, it was pretty simple since I'm at the end of being pregnant with #4. I've heard of lots of other fun ideas for this and next time I think it would be fun to send out invitations and have something for them to take home (a plant, handmade gift, etc).

What: Brunch (Ham, Mushroom & Spinach Strata, French Breakfast Puffs, Fresh Orange Juice and Fruit Skewers)

When: Last Friday Morning

Where: Emily's House

Who: Emily, Heather, Cassandra, Tina, Kari, and Michelle + the littles that aren't in school yet

Why: Do you really need a why to get together and eat good food with good friends? I don't think so!

submitted by Emily (delightfuldistraction.blogspot.com) email: delightfuldistraction@gmail.com

Photo Book Gift

I might be a bit late to post but I wanted to share the gifts that I made for my mom and my mother in law for Mother's day... Photo Books from Shutterfly... they were easy to put together and I watched for a good sale and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I feel like it's a personalized gift and a little different from the gifts they usually receive.

This one is for my Mother in Law... it's her son's (my husband's brother) wedding in Hawaii last summer.

Here is a link to the whole book:

http://community.shutterfly.com/gallery/post/start.sfly?postId=/gallery/1/post/GMGDBg2Zt2DVk0YA6TmZla&v_r=t

submitted by MaryRuth (thefrancks.typepad.com)

We're Back & Nativity Blocks

Hello Everyone!  Sorry I haven't posted in so long.  Being pregnant with #4 has been exhausting!  Anyway, I've had lots of people email hoping for more posts on this blog and just wanted to let you know that I'd love to post more ideas as the holidays are right around the corner.  I also know lots of church groups have Super Saturdays and craft days in the fall and there are plenty of great ideas to be had there as well.  So follow the directions on the sidebar and email your ideas, I'll be happy to post them and we can all enjoy!   I will also try to answer the questions you have emailed me over the past while.

Okay, one really fun item of business to start things off is that a fellow blogger found a site where you can print off the MAMBI clip art that was used to make the Nativity Blocks shared by Hilary last year.  The clip art costs $5 to download and you can find it at pccrafter.com.  The stickers have been discontinued but you can print the clip art on adhesive paper and viola you've got stickers.  So, a big huge thanks to Sanders Family (sorry I don't know your first name) for this awesome find!  

Here is the original post submitted by Hilary:

This is a fun idea for nieces, nephews and even your own kids. I saw this on a message board and asked the girl if I could share.

Paint blocks with a few coats of paint. Then apply the stickers. Ink or sand the edges to distress. Then put a coat of Mod Podge on them to seal in the stickers. Let dry.

This particular set of stickers is by Me & My Big Ideas (MAMBI). They are no longer made, so if you like this set you just have to hope a craft or scrapbook store still carries this line. I've done extensive searches online and they are hard to find! However, there are other brands of Nativity stickers. You could probably even find cute nativity clipart.

Cute Anytime Gift Idea

Supplies needed:
2 colors of cardstock (Valentine's is coming . . . think pink!)
cellophane
coordinating ribbon
and . . .
Chocolates!

To make these little cuties . . . borrow your friend's scallop cutter to get the cute edge on the smaller circle. (Or you can probably buy that fun cutter at your local craft store.) Then I used the Creative Memories cutting systems circle patterns to cut the larger circles. I used a bit of 2-sided adhesive to stick them together. Finally, I used the CM circle maker to do the smaller circles for the coordinating gift tags, and a corner rounder to finish them off.

I've had my eye on these chocolates for two years now . . . they are from Costco and I think they are so cute! One box was $10.-12. I think, and dividing them up for these gifts had enough for the women I visit teach and for the elderly couples and widows in our cul-de-sac. (And of course a few left over for me to sample.)

These are nice because they are a small but delicious gift for a single person to enjoy.

submitted by
Alisha 

Another Girlfriends Christmas Party

My friend Alisha and I enjoy hosting a party for our Girlfriends at Christmas as our "gift" to them. Here's what we did this year.



Wednesday night my friend Alisha and I hosted our 2nd Girlfriends Christmas Party. Neither of our days went as planned but we still had a great time and were happy with how everything turned out. When we were on the phone in the afternoon realizing how much was left to do in such little time I said "I think we might not be the super women we thought we were", she laughed at my drama.

These were the invitations we sent out.


We invited 6 friends to the party so there were 8 of us total. We started off with appetizers and punch while we played a little "get to know you better game". Okay, okay, I'll tell the truth, we started off with Alisha using my blender without putting the bottom of it on and then having quite the mess when she tried to take the blender off of the stand, after that our guests started arriving and we enlisted there help in some last minute food prep. THEN we enjoyed Creamy Mushroom Phyllo Triangles, Veggie Pizza, Shrimp Dip and Frothy Pink Grapefruit Strawberry Drink while we played the "get to know you better game". Four of the girls won prizes which were either a bag filled with foot scrub, lotion, a pumice stone and pedicure kit, or a bag of chocolate covered pretzel rods rolled in toffee bits.



Then it was onto dinner. Alisha made the lime tower centerpiece and had extra berries left over that I used along with some ribbon and a tag to tie the napkins with. We served Christmas Salad, Barbequed London Broil with Vermont Cheddar Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes, Crunchy Green Beans, Orange Rolls, and the most delicious and beautiful Island Fruit Cups you have ever seen (Alisha has an amazing gift for food presentation).




After dinner we did our dessert exchange. Everyone brought a fun holiday dessert on a new serving tray to give away! Here is a picture of them, I took individuals but most of them were blurry. Alisha made the Black Forest Cake, I made the tall cupcakes, Tanya made the Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Torte, Tina made the cutest snowman cupcakes, Kelly made her famous Peppermint Fudge Truffle Cake on a pedestal that I REALLY wanted, Lori made her own recipe of Ooey Gooey bars in this super cute candy cane tray, Heidi brought her favorite wassail recipe in this cute teapot, and Celeste made her famous cathedral cookies. Everyone was so excited to take their treats home to their families.




For the dessert that we actually got to eat Alisha made Double Chocolate Souffles.with Warm Fudge Sauce. And OH. MY. GOODNESS. Heaven in a bowl. Seriously a must try!


The last part of our evening was our little craft. We made these cute ornaments inspired by Becky Higgins. Each ornament has four pics of each child on it to remember this year by. Each person made them so differently and they all turned out so cute.





I had a great time and am so thankful for such good friends to share fun times with. I can't wait for next year!

submitted by Emily (www.delightfuldistraction.blogspot.com)

Packaging Idea

Looking for a cute and economical way to present all of those little gifties?

I found these great red lunch sacks at Target. They had blue as well. I can't remember how many were in the package but I want to say 50 for less than $2

Fold over the top, hole punch two holes, bring some fab ribbon through and add a tag. All set!

You could even jazz it up with a charm or ornament attached to the ribbon.

We like to do the ribbon through the flap side but you could do the backside as well.

We have used brown paper sacks too and they look great, as well.

(Our teacher gifts for Religious Ed were homemade cutouts cookies and hot cocoa packets.)

submitted by Carlo

A Few Fun Ideas

This first one is a scraplift from Becky Higgins blog, it is soo easy to make. Clear pebbles from your local craft store and scrap paper and ribbon and it is a great gift to give too. The second is a piece of wood, painted and I used rub on letters from my local scrapbooking store and rub on snowflakes and wrapped fabric around the edges. The third is an Ikea mirror frame which I painted a snowman on and used a wooden snowflake.






submitted by Joanne

Christmas Potpourri

his Christmas potpourri fills your house with a delicous holiday aroma. You will need: Fresh oranges, lemons and limes, whole cloves and cinnamon sticks (I got my spices in bulk and it saved me a ton of $). I got my cellophane bags at Michaels and you could attatch any sort of tag you wanted. I typed up these directions on the back of my tag:

Christmas Potpourri

1. Place ingredients in pot.
2. Fill Pot with water, covering potpourri mix.
3. Bring to a boil and turn down to low.
4. Let simmer & continute to add water as needed.

* potpourri will last approx. one week.

These can be used as visiting teaching gifts or little party favors etc. I think I spent around $14 to do approx. 40 bags. They are always a hit! Hope you enjoy!

submitted by Holly (http://www.zachhollyd.blogspot.com)

Girlfriends Christmas Party Invite

Ok this isn't really a gift idea but its the invitation to my "Girlfriends Christmas Party" that I'm having next week... invitations are simple.. maybe too simple but they're done and in the mailbox.

At the party I'm serving dinner...

3-4 different homemade soups
homemade Parmesan breadsticks
strawberry spinach salad (because its Christmas colors and so yummy!)
Hot Chocolate bar (mints, marshmellows, chocolate chips, etc)
Caramel Apple Cider

and then for dessert everybody will be bringing their favorite homemade holiday treat

I'll also be doing door prizes every twenty minutes... I'll have questions made up before hand and every twenty minutes I'll draw a question and somebody will win a gift... gifts are Christmas items... most from the dollar spot (actually the $2.50 spot ) at Target... christmas towels, cookie cutters, a Christmas movie, a christmas apron, etc.

We'll finish off the evening with "My Favorite Things" gift exchange and everybody received an insert in their invitation describing what to bring.

I hope that it turns out well... I'm reallly looking forward to it!!

submitted by MaryRuth Francks
www.thefrancks.typepad.com

Christmas Pineapples

My friend Kristi has the best ideas! Every year she gives out pineapples with a big red bow attached.
They are simple, beautiful and an especially delicious treat for everyone. They make great thank you gifts,
are a great addition to any homemade meal you might be delivering, and are great as gifts for friends and neighbors.
The pineapple symbolizes hospitality. In colonial times, if a pineapple was placed at the entrance to a village or placed as
the main centerpiece on a dining table, it symbolized the utmost welcome and hospitality to the visitor.

Submitted by Liz Brown (www.brownsarebloggin.blogspot.com)

Christmas Card/Sucker idea

Here is one of mine from last year...sorry the photo of the actual item
isn't all that great, but they turned out really cute! We dropped them by
several neighbors and ward members homes and rec'd lots of calls asking how
we made the succors and the tags.

Chocolate Lightbulb Succors:
Candy Molds
Melting Chocolate (I used red and green for the bulbs & brown for the little
screw tip)
Succor Sticks
Candy bags for wrappers (or any kind of cellophane)
Ribbon
Treat Tags

Directions: Melt chocolate in microwave on 50% power stirring occasionaly,
until smooth. Pour into molds and lightly tap mold on counter to allow air
bubbles to rise to the top. Insert sticks. Let harden in fridge or freezer.
Candy should be ready to remove from molds in about 30 minutes.

Note: I purchased about five molds so that I could make several at a time. I
got the light bulb molds from Hobby Lobby, but you can get them at Michaels
or any type of Cake/Candy shop. With the molds and candy I believe I spent
around $20 and made over 100 succors.

Treat Tags:
I created the tags in photoshop using a few digiscrap supplies I already
had. I printed them in a 2x3 business card size and attached one to each
group of succors (Each group had a succor for each person in the recipients
family).

I came up with the tag idea and got the light bulb strand from:
http://heatheranndesigns.info/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=33&osCsid=dc7565ea6991e44f06555b38c1aef4de

Submitted by: Jennifer Kesler http://jenkesler.blogspot.com

Sparkling Cider Gift

We did this one year for neighbor gifts and I thought I'd share the idea...

I bought tall skinny bags (meant for wine, I think) in the Christmas section at Target and put a bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider in it and attached a homemade tag that said:

"Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Sparkling New Year!"
Love, the Browns

submitted by Shelly(www.shellyabrown.typepad.com)

Link

Here's another great link courtesy of Hilary!

http://www.utahholidayguide.com/christmas/gifts/articles/little_gifts.asp

More Online Tutorials

this blog: http://adventureswiththeprovosts.blogspot.com/ is also doing 30 Days of Homemade Gift Ideas. They're intermingled with her regular blog posts... but she has some links to fun tutorials!! And they're not all sewing! (phew!) I like sewing but I'm not as talented as Little Miss Shelly! ;o)

submitted by Hilary

AWESOME ONLINE RESOURCE!

Okay, in the last post Shelly shared a tutorial from a cute bag she found online. The site she found it on is sharing 30 days of gifts to sew for the month of November. So if you're the sewing kind this link is for you!


http://sewmamasew.com/blog2

Tote Bag

Click on the link below for a step by step tutorial on how to make this adorable bag that Shelly (www.shellyabrown.typepad.com) found on the internet.

http://writemamawrite.typepad.com/photos/dishtowel_tote_tutorial/index.html

Holiday Frames

What a cute, easy, inexpensive way to doll up a multi-opening frame. This example uses Making Memories prodcuts, which I love.

Source: Unknown. (thus the smearing of the faces)

submitted by Hilary

Nativity Blocks

This is a fun idea for nieces, nephews and even your own kids. I saw this on a message board and asked the girl if I could share.

Paint blocks with a few coats of paint. Then apply the stickers. Ink or sand the edges to distress. Then put a coat of Mod Podge on them to seal in the stickers. Let dry.

This particular set of stickers is by Me & My Big Ideas (MAMBI). They are no longer made, so if you like this set you just have to hope a craft or scrapbook store still carries this line. I've done extensive searches online and they are hard to find! However, there are other brands of Nativity stickers. You could probably even find cute nativity clipart.

submitted by Hilary

Decorative Glass Blocks

I just made these this week, and I thought they turned out really cute! They could be for a gift or a decoration for your home. My sister's ward did this at a Super Saturday and she sent me the stuff to make my own!

Buy a 3 or 4 inch wide Decorative Glass Window from Lowe's. The 3 inch is $3.33 and the 4 inch is $4.28. Choose a saying from a Vinyl Lettering place and a color that you want to put on the window. I chose "Give (orange) Thanks (brown)" and "Silent Night Holy Night(navy blue)." Buy some ribbon to match the Vinyl lettering colors! Buy the ribbon the width of the Glass Window. You need one strip of ribbon to go around the window, and another strip to make a bow! Put the vinyl lettering on and then glue the ribbon on the window and make a bow!

I've heard of other people drilling a hole in the top of the window, and adding Christmas lights to it! I think that would be really pretty!

submitted by Kris