Why Be Blue....When you can Be RED

I love giving gifts to people I care about.

Nothing make me more excited than when I find the perfect gift, or come up with something well suited for a friend or loved one.

My friend, Lori,  turned 50 this past January, and we hosted a dinner party for her, here at our house.

Lori with her Coconut Cream Poke Cake that I made for her birthday cake.

While I was Christmas shipping I had found the wine glass that I included, it's an "XL" Size, and holds a whole bottle of wine.

I bought it to give to her sometime as a little "funny."  Lori is a bit of a wine connoisseur.

She is especially found of reds.

Well, I had it, and one day while trying to decide what to do for her birthday gift, the whole thing just came together.

Turning 50 is hard for many.  Lori, of course, took it in stride.

Literally.

She ran the half marathon with her daughter, Maisie, pictured here, as well as her husband and a couple of her friends.

They decided what better way to celebrate not only her 50th birthday, but her being cancer free for 12 years!

Lori always has a fantastic outlook on life.

That, among a million other things, makes being around her so enjoyable.

Let's just say, she's easy to love.

So, I made a play on words, using her love of red wine, and her positive outlook on life, and this gift basket was born.

I found a cool woven red basket, stuffed it full of red paper, and included the giant wine glass, a bottle of Apothic RED wine, a RED pomegranate candle, some nail polish, RED of course, and a little RED package of Lindor chocolate truffles (chocolate and red wine...Mmmmm.) and a little sign you see pictured here.

"I rescued some wine, it was trapped in a bottle"

I made the tag to go on it, on my computer and mounted it on scrapbook paper.

You will find the printable at the bottom of this post.

So, the next time you go celebrate a milestone birthday, give them something they will use, and give them a positive outlook on life.

Because, really, 

Why be BLUE on your 50th Birthday when you can be RED?

Printable for you

Homemade Irish Cream

Sipping an Irish Cream by the fire  is always a delight at the holidays.

I love to pour a little in my coffee, or over ice cream!

My Brother and sister-in-law make homemade Irish Cream every year at Christmastime.

I always make Homemade Kahlua, so I get the best of both worlds!

This year I made BOTH!

I did a housewarming basket full of fun things for my brother and his family in early December, and it had coffee, Kahlua and Irish Cream, homemade hot cocoa, with mugs and towels that all matched.

I found these cool black bottles to use, and just added a tag to the front of them.

I brought some as a hostess gift to my Aunt and Uncle's, too.

This ones was easy!

A little printed cellophane under the lid of a quart sized jar, some tulle and a tag, and 

Ta-Da! 

I even make a non-alcoholic version for those who don't want the alcohol, or so the kiddos can sip some of their own! 

Homemade Irish Cream

1 cup whiskey

1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract

1 - 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 Tablespoons chocolate syrup

2 Tablespoons instant coffee

1 pint Half & Half

(I used fat free SC Milk and Half & Half)

Leave whiskey out for non-alcoholic version.

Blend together.

Stays good until date on Half & Half when kept in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Peppermint Stirring Spoons

I am one of the room moms for our twins' 5th grade class, and this Friday is their Christmas party.

My kids are lucky, they still get Christmas parties... I have talked to many friends, and their kids have "winter" parties.  I LOVE singing Christmas Carols and singing the kids all dressed in their Sunday best at their programs.

I am thankful my kids go to a Catholic school.

We are doing this cute craft I found on Pinterest

and having a hot cocoa bar!

My daughter and I made these cute Chocolate Peppermint Stir Spoons!

They couldn't be easier to make and so good in hot cocoa!!

Want to make your own cocoa mix?

CLICK HERE

Chocolate Peppermint Stirring Spoons

48 plastic spoons

6 candy canes crushed

2 cups chocolate chips

2 teaspoons crisco

Crush your candy canes.

Line cookie sheets with waxed paper. Rest spoons on edge of cookie sheet.

Melt chocolate chips in microwave for about 1 minute and then 30 second intervals until you can stir them smooth, add crisco and stir until incorporated.

**I used a glass 2 cup measuring cup ... worked great to pour the chocolate into the spoons!**

Pour chocolate into spoon well, and tap the spoon to make the chocolate pool evenly in the spoon.

Add crushed peppermints and place in the refrigerator to set up.

Swirl it through some hot cocoa and Relax....

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

I made a housewarming gift basket for my brother and his family last weekend, and it turned out super cute!

I'll blog about it AFTER the holidays ... but the cute basket included this homemade hot cocoa.

I searched Pinterest, and read different recipes, but found this one from a blog that I love called wonkywonderful.com   You have seen recipes from Nicole on my facebook page, she shares there every now and then, and her stuff is always AMAZING.

So hers it was!

rich and thick and stirred into hot milk ... no water here, friends!  

Do you have a Tuesday Morning where you live?  I love going in that store, it's sort of like digging for buried treasure.  It's where I found this "Chalk it up" Glass jar.  I love how it looks like a barrel.

This is one of my favorite mugs, given to me by my dear friend, Traci.

(aint that the truth??)

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

wonky wonderful

1 cup cocoa

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup instant coffee creamer

1/2 cup Ovaltine

Combine and store in an airtight container.

Add 3-4 Tablespoons to a an 8 ounce cup hot milk and stir.

Teacher Gift - "Welcome Summer -- Soak it Up!"

Last year for the kids' teachers and teacher aids I made super cute 

Boxes of Sunshine

I knew they would be hard to beat!

But I had this cute idea while I was out shopping one day.

When I think summertime I think of sitting by the water and sipping lemonade to keep cool.

thus, this idea was born!

Here they are, all lined up!

I bought each teacher a different beach towel, these large bottles of lemon and lime aids to match, 

and found these colorful flexible straws.

I made this up from a google image, and tweeked it in Microsoft Publisher.

I rolled the towels, looped some tulle through holes punched on either side of the car, and tied it all together.

Ta-Da!! Who couldn't use this??

Hope they enjoy them!!

College Care Package - Valentine Style

When I posted the photo of my

50th Birthday Basket 

a girlfriend of mine that has twins in college emailed me and asked if I would like to make one for her

 son for Valentine's Day....

Well, OF COURSE!!

all boxed up

I wanted to make it look cute, so I thought and thought about what to do for a 

BOY for VALENTINE'S DAY?

I decided that spelling out HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TROY and getting items that complimented the letters of each word that a college kid would enjoy?

done.

"HAPPY"

H- hot cocoa, A-airheads, P- pizza combos and pringles, P- peanut butter, Y- yellow highlighters

"VALENTINES"

V- veggie soup

 A- animal crackers

L- laundry money (2 rolls of quarters)

E- 5 hour energy

N- nacho cheese

T- toothbrush and toothpaste

I- iTunes giftcard

N-  salted nutroll

E- Eileen's Cookies (popular Omaha cookie, frosted valentine cookies in a heart tin)

S- sunflower seeds

"DAY"

D- doritos, A- advil, Y- york peppermint patty

"TROY"

T- tide pods, R- razors, O- onions (funyuns) Y- yahtzee cards

the whole haul

a couple of red plastic stackable "crates" held it all inside the box

this was on top of the tissue, right inside the box

 A little diagram of the box's contents!!

Mom said he LOVED it!!

50th Birthday Candy Basket and Poem

This is the kind of stuff I love to make!!

I would like to say that I am "crafty"...but that's pretty much only in my imagination.

But when it comes to gifts, I love to come up with just the right thing!!

So when I was getting my haircut last week, my friend, Jody,

told me she was going to a 50th birthday and didn't know what to bring as a gift.

I was throwing ideas out for her, and got on Pinterest on my iPhone.

She asked if I would just whip something up for her...

of course I jumped at the chance!!

I have a whole Pinterest board with gift and wrapping inspirations!

My Pinterest Boards:  FOLLOW ME HERE! :)

I found the original poem for this on a blog called  Work in Progress Kits {the blog} 

I shortened it up a bit, and switched it around, but thanks to her I had a good starting place! 

the finished product

This was before I wrapped it.

Candy a plenty!! (GOOD & PLENTY even...)

This is the poem that I used and attached to the front.

I used a lined basket, that could easily be re-used.  

Who really wants another fish bowl right??

I filled it with shred, and put some of the candy in the basket, and attached some of it to bamboo skewers to prop it up here and there and give it some height.

I tied it off in animal print ribbon to match the tag.

Ta-Da!!

Great gift!

the poem



Here is another one that I did for another birthday gift.
This one I did in a little clay planter.

Brighten Someone's Day with a Box Full of Sunshine!!

Box Full of Sunshine

I made these last year for the twin's teacher's gifts at the end of the school year.  By the time I got around to posting them, it was summer....so I figured I would save it for this year.

Of course, I forgot about it until I was cleaning out my camera roll on my iphone! ;)

Good thing it's only January, so you have time to make these!!

labels made with scrapbook paper

I knew I wanted to make these, so for about a month I started collecting

things that were yellow!

packaged in a cake box I got at Hobby Lobby

my inspiration came from a Pinterest post, the picture was from happymoneysaver.com

I filled the bottom of the box with yellow tissue paper, added things like lemonade, Juicy Fruit gum, a sunshine cookie cutter, a yellow gingham dish towel and dish cloth,  yellow tube of bubbles and flower seeds...in what? yes, yellow.

I packaged it up in a cake box and tied it with yellow tulle.

Added the tag I made on the printer and mounted on scrapbook paper, added a few glittery foam flowers....

and Volia!

Teacher gift for SUM...SUM... SUMMERTIME!!

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes in a Mason Jar Mug

Can  you say teacher gifts?!?

Pretty much all of my kids' teachers know I love to cook.  A lot of them even follow my blog.

So I feel like I should treat them to something made in my kitchen whenever I get the chance.

For our specials teachers this year, I used my friend, Candi's recipe from her blog for hot chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow butter cream.

I found these mason jars with handles, and bought the canning lids to go with them.

I baked up her recipe for the cupcakes, and it made exactly 24 cupcakes.  

(I made 11 jars...lucky me!!)

I cut the tops of the cupcakes off, and put one in the bottom of the jar, 

the squeezed some frosting, topped it with these pretty pink peppermint marshmallows that I found, added another cupcake, more frosting, more marshmallows and some chocolate chips.

I made some little tags, and attached them to a packet of peppermint hot cocoa, strung a ribbon through and tied them on the jars.

Tie a spoon on with the ribbon, and make it look pretty!

Gift away!!

The kids said their teachers really liked them, 

I hope so!! 

Because our family appreciates each and every one of them!!

Get the recipe!!

Click the link right here to be taken to my friend Candi's blog, The Devilish Dish

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes from The Devilish Dish

Merry Christmas!!