10th Day of Christmas

Today is yet another handmade gift post. The only person who can't read this is my sister :). This is an easy and super cheap idea, if you already have everything you need for the project (which, chances are, you will). The only thing that might be a little pricey is essential oil, but a little bottle of it will probably last you years. Other than that, this gift will cost you less than 5$ to make.

I'm talking about homemade bath salts. They're simple but they look (and smell) fancy and will last a long time. They are a great gift for anyone with a tub :)

You will need:
kosher or epsom salts- I used two large boxes of kosher salt to make three large jars and 1 small jar of salts. I had extra as well.
essential oils of your choice- I used lavender, jasmine, and "calm water" from the body shop.
food coloring
jars
ribbon for decorating
paper for tags

and that's it!

Start by washing out the jars you want to use.

Measure out the amount of salt needed to fill all the jars, and then divide the salts into however many types of essential oils you want to use.

To make the bath salts, add several drops of food coloring and several drops of one essential oil into the bowl of salts and stir until the color is uniform. When mixing colors (such as red and blue to make purple) mix the food coloring in a spoon first and then add it to the salts.

I decided to layer the different bath salts into the jars, but you could do one kind for each jar if you like.

9th Day of Christmas

Mom, Dad, Sis, Don't read :)

Alright. Today is another handmade gift post. It takes a small amount of work, but with a sewing machine it takes literally like 5 minutes. I sewed by hand and the whole project took me only about an hour. I'm talking about handmade handwarmers! They're perfect for the winter months when it can be sooo cold outside. They basically look like little bean bags that you microwave for 30 seconds and then slip in your pockets or carry in your hands. You can also just lay them over sore muscles for some relief.

Making them is simple. Pick some fabric that you think the person you are making these for will like. I went to Joann and bought three squares of discounted leftover fabric- there are usually lots of cute options.

Cut the fabric into bean bag size rectangles- two for each handwarmer. pin the rectangles together, patterned sides facing each other, and sew up three full sides and all but 1 inch of the fourth side. Invert the sewed pouch so the the stitching is on the inside.

Using a funnel and a measuring cup with a spout, fill the empty handwarmers with regular dry white rice. leave some room so that the handwarmer is easy to hold on to and not too heavy. After it's filled, stitch up the open inch of fabric.

To use, microwave the handwarmers for 30 seconds. They should retain heat for about 30 minutes :)

5th Day of Christmas

Don't read this if you are my mom, dad, or sis!

 Today is another homemade gift post. yay! This is a fun, creative, and sentimental idea that is perfect for close friends or family. Photo frame collages :)


I started by buying a few cheap frames from goodwill and walmart. 2 of the frames were 99 cents, one was 3$. I love cheap presents.

I made the collages right on the backs of the frames. that way, they were the perfect size :)


First, I found some pretty paper (scrapbook paper from craft stores like Michael's or Joann works really well) and glued it onto the frame backs.

Next, I glued little paper triangles on the frame backs to hold pictures- I made frames for my parents and my sister, so i used one picture of me, my mom, and my sis, one of me, my dad, and my sis, and a few pics of just me and my sis. Using triangle photo holders instead of gluing the pictures right onto the frame backs keeps the pic from getting messed up and makes it possible to change the pic down the road.

On my parent's collages, I also included a little quote from a book or poem that is special or meaningful. 

I filled up the rest of the space in the frame with glitter-glued names and pretty little details.

Overall, I think they turned out really well!

The frames cost me 5$, the scrapbook paper was 1$, and I had the ribbon, glitter glue, and pictures on hand- meaning, these three sweet, pretty gifts cost me 4 dollars total- 1.33 each! That's good spending, if you ask me- and homemade, sentimental gifts tend to mean more than really expensive gifts anyways. 



I'll be back tomorrow with some fun cookie recipes and decorating tips!
Happy holidays :)

<3
Em

2nd Day of Christmas

Don't Read this if you are my Mom, Dad, or Sister :)

 Welcome to the second day of holiday posts :)
This year, my family and I are giving presents that are either homemade or recycled (meaning something we already own or find at a thrift store). I'm a pretty good cook, so making homemade food items seemed like the most logical thing for me to do (hence the infused vodka from yesterday). I'm putting together a whole baskets of treats for my sister and parents, so you can expect a few more fun holiday-themed edibles. Today, I'm going to share a recipe for apple butter.

Preserves make a great holiday present, because they're food (and who doesn't love food?) but they don't have to be consumed right away- meaning that your gift will stick around for awhile instead of being eaten and forgotten about by boxing day. I don't know about you, but I'd rather get a jar of jam or salsa or tomato sauce over a plate of cookies any day.

A lot of preserves are surprisingly easy too, like this apple butter recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand already (I only had to buy apples and a couple medium sized jars from goodwill- about 7$ altogether for two gifts- that's what I'm talking about!) and the cooking isn't very involved- you basically just let everything boil on the stove until it turns into apple butter :)

The recipe below is for 1 batch, which is about 2.5 cup or so. I didn't measure, but it filled up one medium-smallish jar with some left over. Feel free to double the recipe if you need more- I ended up making it twice because I had to fill two different jars.

Apple Butter
Ingredients
2 pounds apples (a variety of types is best- I used granny smith and pink lady the first time and granny smith and braeburn the second time)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Instructions
Start by sterilizing your jars. Do this by putting the jars and lids in a large pot, filling the pot with water, and then putting on the stove to boil. Once the water is boiling, let boil for 10 minutes. Then, remove from heat but keep jars and lids in the water until you are ready to use them.

Meanwhile, peel, core, and chop up the apples.

Put the apple in a medium saucepan along with the vinegar and water. Let boil for 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally and mashing with a fork.

 When the apples are mostly a mushy applesauce texture with only a few lumps, add the remaining ingredients and stir. Continue to boil an additional 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the apple butter is thick.

For very smooth apple butter, allow to cool slightly and puree in a blender or with a stick blender. When apple butter is the desired consistency, remove jars from the water and fill 1/2 inch from the top. Put the lid on very tightly. Return the filled jars to the water and return to a boil. Boil an additional ten minutes.

I'm pretty sure that if you buy your own canning jars they will come with instructions as to how to check that your jars have been properly sealed. I bought mine at goodwill, so I have no such instructions... so, just to be safe, I froze my sealed jars and will thaw them in the fridge before I give them. This also means I don't have any pretty pictures of them al decorated to be given... but I'll fix that later :)

I'll be back tomorrow with another fun craft/recipe/something else holiday-y 

<3

1st Day Of Christmas

Yay!! I can finally start posting all my fun 12 days of christmas posts. Now, I can't afford to make gifts for a ton of people- pretty much just my immediate family, in fact. Regardless, I'm going to have to post disclaimers at the beginnings of some of these posts so that some people don't accidentally read them and find out what they're getting from me haha. So... mom, dad, sis, don't read this until after christmas!

Alright, let's get to it! One of the first things I decided to make this year is infused vodka. Originally I was going to make a whole bunch and give little bottles to all my friends and family, but I'm not made of money so I decided that just my immediate family and one or two close friends will be receiving these.

Aren't they pretty? By the way, please excuse the crappy photo quality in this and the next few posts. Like I mentioned a few days ago, I left my nikon d40 charger in prescott over thanksgiving, so I've had to resort to using stewie's little coolpix. needless to say, they aren't exactly equals when it comes to photography. please bear with me :)

Anyways, I wanted to make two different types of infused vodka. I knew I wanted to use rosemary in one of them, because there are giant bushes of rosemary growing outside one of the buildings on the U of A campus and it seems like a damn shame not to use some of it for culinary purposes.

I decided lemon would be a nice compliment to the rosemary flavor. When I started brainstorming about the second infusion, I knew I wanted it to be very christmasy/wintery/holiday-y. So, I decided to use cranberries, apples, cinnamon, and cloves. Kind of like a mulled cran-apple cider!

I started with plain old 10-dollar plastic handle vodka. I had about 1.5 handles. Now, I didn't want to give my friends and family crap vodka but I didn't have the money to buy something more refined. However, I saw on a Good Eats episode once that Crappy Vodka, when filtered with a run-of-the-mill charcoal water filter, becomes Good Vodka. Hooray! So, I just strained the vodka through my water filter a couple times and it did the trick. I mean, the taste didn't make me want to kill myself so I assume it did the trick. Obviously I threw out the filter after that. No vodka-flavored water for me, thanks!

I kept the vodka in the filter until I was ready to use it. For the first infusion, I used about 4 or 5 sprigs of rosemary and the peel of one lemon. I cut the yellow peel away from the lemon (rather than zesting it) and tried to get as little white pith as possible. I also added the juice of half of the peeled lemon and about 2 tbsp white sugar. I put all of those things in one of the empty plastic handles (I rinsed it out with very hot water first- that's why there is whitish condensation obscuring the view in the next few pictures)

Then, I filled it up with half the vodka- it came to about 3/4 of the way up. I put the lid on tight and shook the handle until all the sugar was dissolved.

For the second infusion, I used one pink lady apple (cored and thinly sliced) and about 1/2 cup cranberries, a slit cut in each one to release flavor. I also added two whole cinnamon sticks and about 5 or 6 whole cloves. Finally, I added about 1/3 cup white sugar- the sugar isn't to make the vodka sweet like a liqueur, more to just bring out the flavors. I repeated the process of filling with vodka and shaking.

I let the vodka sit for five days at room temperature, shaking up each handle a few times every day. I taste tested on the third day and check to flavors and then again on the fifth day before I decided to strain.

In preparation, I set out a large bowl (large enough to contain all the vodka), a mesh strainer, paper towels (coffee filters would work to), a measuring cut with a pour spout, and 8 2.5 oz bottles (cleaned beforehand with soap and hot water).

By this time, both vodkas had changed color. The lemon-rosemary was a nice, pale yellow and the cran-apple spice was a pretty shade of orangish-red. I had already strained the lemon-rosemary vodka when I took this picture, but you can get an idea of how both vodkas looked after sitting for five days:

To strain, I lined the mesh strainer with a paper towel and positioned it over the bowl. I poured the vodka into the strainer slowly, allowing it to filter through into the bowl. I then used a measuring cup with a spout to scoop up the vodka and pour it into bottles.

After everything was strained, I was left with 8 bottles of pretty, lightly colored, wonderfully scented/flavored and perfectly clear liquid.

I decided to decorate each bottle with a navy blue ribbon and a little recipe card for a cocktail that could be made with each type of vodka. Obviously I had to actually test the recipes I had come up with to make sure that they were worth making- and I'm glad I did! I think I came up with some really awesome holiday drinks.

The first recipe is for a Lemon-Rosemary Fizz. It reminded Stewie and I of a mojito- only lemon takes the place of the lime and rosemary takes the place of the mint! It's very simple, very refreshing, and very good. Here's the recipe:

1 oz lemon-rosemary vodka (I used one full shot glass to measure)
3 oz sparkling water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey, agave nectar, or simple syrup (I used honey- delicious)

Combine in a cocktail shaker with ice and STIR, do not shake (shaking with cause the sparkling water to build up gas and the cocktail shaker will explode on you. Trust me). Strain into a glass and garnish with rosemary or lemon zest, if desired.

The second recipe is a cran-apple spice martini. This one was my favorite (stew liked the fizz better I think). It tastes just like how the holidays ought to! Delicious, sweet, slightly tart, and full of warm spices. Here is the recipe:

1 oz cran-apple spice vodka
2 oz apple juice
juice from half an orange

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and then strain into a glass. Garnish with cranberries if desired.

yum yum yum! Well there you have it: cheap, delicious, and easy infused vodka. It's such a great gift! And, I posted it early so that there is still time to make it for holiday presents this year ;)

Happy first day of [blogger] christmas!

<3
Emily