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I'm making a personalized astrology chart for my best friend! I'm gonna make it all fancy with illustrations (I love to paint and draw) and whatnot. I hope she likes it.

I always make, foot spay, milk bath, bath salts, rice bags, breads and cookies and sugarplums. Also I'm gifting some of my handmade Santas and trees.

blondie attached this image:


Last edited by blondie at 07-Dec-2004 08:27[/font]

I started on scented sock baggies last night, you know, those lavendar baggies? they are looking pretty swish




For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Trys they are amazing.

<wish-ga reasseses her lumps of salt dough>

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Trys they are beautiful... mine were make by a 10 year old

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If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.

You're welcome wish.

Thanks for the cinnamon ornament idea Light Bright I made some and here's how they turned out:



They smell AMAZING [/font]

yesterday I made some chocolate and cinnamon meringues. Today I am going to dip their little bases in chocolate.

I think meringues store well as some will be given when I see people after Christmas.

Thanks for all the great ideas Trys. I will think about giving the dip spoons a go also.

Stained glass cookies, Have always wanted to give them a go. I have a recipe but will check your link out too. They look so cool in the photo I have in a book of christmas recipes. Today may be the day to give it a try.

<wish-ga wanders off to draw up list for Coles>

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Yeah that's what I do babel, sometimes you can find some really great stuff for 50 cents.

I also love the look of a lot of old kitchen items, some of it is really unique. I found an old coffee mug at a flea market once and gave it to my grandpa (he's a well known scuba diving veteran), with starfish and whales and dolphins and other sea life embossed on it one year for 25 cents.

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silly mugs, etc.

A cute idea tryst! Around here we have goodwill thrift shops and they always have lots and lots of mugs and such, I check their tableware for intersting pieces to use during photo shoots :%).

^_^ [hr width='40%']Stay Tuned For More [link=Info]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Aquascaping/44382.html?200412022138" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link]

Salt Dough Recipe

I still have some old Christmas decorations I made as a little ankle biter out of that stuff, it is a great craft for preschool children as you don't have to be concerned if they eat the dough. I like using it to make "Sugar Cookie" decorations with fabric paint icing.

I'm fairly certain that the apple sauce you put on pork chops is the same thing as what they use in the USA. . . we use it for both here. In a pinch you can peel and chop some apples, toss them in the microwave with a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup and cinnamon until they're mushy and then finish them off in the food processor. Actually sometimes I make my own applesauce that way just because it tastes better and I know it's 100% preservative free and I can control how much sugar goes in. Homemade applesauce is another great recipe for small children, if you put a few candy sprinkles on it they think they're getting a really special dessert.

Here are a few online recipes for now, I'll post some of my old fashioned recipes this weekend as I dig the cards out:

Oreo Mini Cheesecakes I thought they look cute and yummy, going to try them out this year.

Good cookie list]http://www.kraftcanada.com/controller?cmd=ARTICLE_VIEW&lang=EN&aid=66934&sid=66933&ctx=21000[/link]: A lot of those look pretty yummy to me, I think I'm going to make [link=Stained Glass Cookies for sure.

I have some traditional recipes for Scottish Shortbread, trifle, brandied/rum cherry cake, gingerbread, etc. that my grandma gave me that I'm probably going to be making this year, I'll post them up too.

Yes, I make a lot of desserts and baking, most of them (especially the cookies) are wrapped up with coloured plastic on christmas plates from the dollar store and given to friends as gifts.

Another cookie site]http://cookie.allrecipes.com/[/link] and [link=another one

I also make my own pot pourri (however you spell it :%)) and put it in little lace baggies that I make to give away as sachets or aromatherapy pillows, etc. depending on what I put in them and what kind of container I make for them.

I have a LOT of differet recipes for those, one that I like to use for xmas:

Cinnamon sticks
Dried orange rind strips
Cloves
dehydrated/dried apple slices
dried pine bark
any dried fruit
dried ginger
"filler:" dried flowers, etc.

Then I just mix them all up with a few drops of essential oils (cinnamon, orange, apple etc.). Sorry I can't really give directions, I usually just throw everything together.

Scented pinecones are also nice, I take big pinecones and put essential oils on them to make them smell pretty and leave them around the house in baskets.

Sometimes I mix dry ingredients for cookies, brownies or quickbreads together and then put them in big jars with baking instructions and give them as gifts. I set them up so they just have to have water and maybe some milk and eggs added and bake them.

Vanilla and other flavoured sugar sugar makes a nice gift for tea and coffee lovers, just put some vanilla beans or cinnamon sticks or candied/dried ginger, whatever in a jar of sugar. tie it up with some ribbon and let it sit for a few weeks. I usually put it in a basket with a cute christmas mug and some tea or coffee.

I make homemade milk bath mix, it's just powdered milk and essential oils in a jar. Sometimes I'll layer the milk bath mix with store bought bath oil balls and bath salts to make a pretty bath mix in a jar. Then I buy a nice looking spoon or scoop from the flea market and put a nice topper on the jar. To use the bath mix you just grab a random scoop of it and dump it in the bath. Dried flowers are also nice added to that. I love that one.

Sometimes I make hot cocoa mix in a jar and give that as a gift with some chocolates or cookies.

Also, you can pick up inexpensive spoons from fleamarkets or dollar stores and dip them in melted chocolate to make coffee stirring spoons. I have even used plastic spoons and wooden coffee stir sticks for that. If you want you can roll them in coarse sugar after you dip them to make them sparkly. Bitter baking chocolate is the best for that so it's not too sweet. I usually just bundle them up with some ribbon to make them look nice and put them with something else for a gift.

Sorry if I'm boring anyone, you learn to get creative when you don't have a lot of money at christmas time.

I'll probably think of more, I make a lot of xmas presents instead of buying them.

EDIT: Forgot to add, a lot of cookie doughs can be made ahead and frozen until you're ready to bake them or you can even freeze most cookies until christmas day. One of the best cookies to make ahead is biscotti because it's pretty easy to make, you can make it in all kinds of flavours and it stores really well.

Ooooh after writing this I think I'm going to be giving "hot beverage baskets" this year. Cocoa mix, biscotti, coffee stir sticks, flavoured sugar, silly mugs, etc.

I also like to make dog cookies for people with petys sometimes, you can find all kinds of recipes online.

Last edited by trystianity at 03-Dec-2004 07:27

Last edited by trystianity at 03-Dec-2004 07:31

I got my 1.5 cups of cinnamon at the bulky food store...they have bins of spices and you use a scoop and bag how much you want.

___________________________________________

If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.

I'm making double layered fleece blankets for Jorge's sisters-in-law. They're SO easy and you don't sew them. You fringe all four sides and tie the fringes together. So soft and cozy too

><>Dani<><

That is applesauce for having with pork chops. I thought the American applesauce is eaten as a dessert and is something different. It has a different consistency ???

Salt dough... recipe anyone.

Calla your avatar is way cool!

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

You could always try salt dough, its a big craft craze

And you can get jars of applesause, its near the chutneys and the like... but 1.5 cups of cinnamon? um, the industrial packs at the fruit shops maybe? even then you would need about 5



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Light bright - thanks for the recipe link. I have printed it out. I don't know that it translates to Australia because we don't have a canned product called "applesauce" here. I am not sure where I would get that amount of cinnamon, where do you buy 1 & 1/2 CUPS of cinnamon?

Trys...any recipes that can be made ahead would be good too.

Does anyone have a tried and true recipe for decorative dough that you glaze?

Thanks guys...



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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I am finishing some decoupage.

Have embroidered some tank tops for friends.

Anyone else making stuff?

I might cook some panne fortes for gifts too.

Anyone got good recipes for making gifts (that can be made ahead and stored?)

eg I sometimes make almond bread (you bake it in a log and cut thin wafers, delish but almonds are so expensive)

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Calla is asking about a sheet set I was embroidering for a thank you gift. I made a design with a special iron on pencil, then I was going to embroider over it.

The iron had to be hot to get the pencil to work but the sheet was poly/cotton. Poly mix can't take as high a heat as pure cotton & the sheet scorched.

Needless to say the set is now just a bottom sheet and two pillow cases. Rats! So disheartened. It was looking good up to that point. It was a celtic design, my friend loves celtic things. But probably not into scorched sheets.

The scorch isn't dark but the fabric is a bit texttured & wobbly at the scorch.

I will use the sheet to cut down and use it as a backing for a quilt or cut down for a cot sheet for a friend or something. Embroidered napkins?



Last edited by wish-ga at 02-Dec-2004 15:46

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

where's the chat emus?

I'm not personally making anything.

My wife has been knitting scarfs for a couple different family members and friends though...

Uhhhhmmm... and what is a chat camel?

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