Edible Napkin Rings

I love, LOVE getting a brand new set of dishtowels, tea towels or napkins. Its the little things-and my little thing is clean, bright, starchy brand new towels or napkins. I have several family members that feel the same way, and a cozy kitchen basket with new towels and maybe a couple of cookie cutters and little sweet measuring spoons would be adorable. Here is how you can make it special:

First of all, find a nice big seasonal cookie tin leftover from a previous year, or a neat basket--anything that is shallow but roomy and would make a cute base for your project. I have several baskets I got from the thrift store. Sometimes they even give them away because they get a lot of these. Take advantage and be creative! Next, if you can sew, you can buy a yard of white cotton and sew some napkins/tea towels or you can buy them premade. The difference is a few dollars and if your trying to save money-do it yourself is always the better deal.

Now, you can give these plain, or you can decorate. Take an apple or a pear and cut it in half lengthwise. Dab dry with a cotton cloth or paper towel. Make sure to make it as dry as possible so it does not interfere with your paint-yeah! Paint! Acrylic paint is very affordable (a dollar a tube or less) and is permanent. Choose a color and paint the surface of the cut pear/apple. Choose a darker version of the base color and paint the lower edge of the pear/apple to give the illusion of shadow, and stamp straight down and firmly into the corner of the towel. Lift straight up so as not to smudge and you should have a really nice fruit print. You can go in after it is dry with black and pain small black seeds-then, when the paint is completely dry (give them a good 24 hours to be safe) lay an old dishcloth over your painting and iron to help set the paint. If you are doing napkins, you can also do this to plain white place mats to match.

Okay, so you have your napkins/towels and they are adorable. You have your cute basket or tin and its a matter of putting them together-here's where we can make this really special:

Make a simple yeast roll recipe and half it. One half stays plain while ground fennel seeds or poppy seeds are added and mixed with the other half. Roll all dough into long, narrow strips, like snakes. Take one plain and one flavored "snake" and twist together into strands, then make rings.

When they are baked, use your bread "rings" for napkin rings on your fancy new napkins, or you can wrap your bread rings in one of the tea towels and tuck the others around the package. CUTE!

Add a festive bow and a silk poinsettia blossom and you have a really sweet and yummy gift.

Holiday tip for the movie buff

Good Morning!!!

Today I thought I would suggest an cute and easy gift for the movie buffs in your life.

If you are anything like me, a movie is a quick and easy and relatively inexpensive buy for your last minute gifts, but rarely are these ever bought as a main present, but more of a stocking stuffer or a movie in addition to...here is how you can make that one movie a main event that your favorite movie buff will love.

First, dig out that flat cookie tin you got for Christmas a few years ago. You know the ones, everyone gets them, but after the cookies are gone the tin sits around taking up space because it's just too darned nice to throw out. Yeah, that thing. Make sure it is a nice flat one. You are going to spray paint it silver to make it look like a movie reel case. To make it super pretty, sprinkle some fine glitter dust over the top while the paint is still wet. Next, you want to wrap your movie in black paper, then embellish it with a collar, a white triangle for a shirt front and a black bow tie to make the whole case look like an usher's shirt. Its a matter of triangles and a couple of black dots for buttons. Experiment-this is where anyone can be creative.

After the tin is completely dry ( I would wait a good 24 hours) fill it with some home made gourmet pop corn. I love to buy the extra super butter microwave corn, pop it up, sift all the unpopped kernels out (those are never any good) and coat the whole works in white chocolate. YUM!!

Put your creation in the tin, lay your usher's shirt (movie) on top and tie off with a black, wide satin ribbon that you drew silver dashes on the edges to make it look like movie reel. TA DA! A super cute presentation for a super great gift! Enjoy!

A little holiday help

I thought as a little addition to my blog, a few helpful gift tips might help get you in the spirit this holiday season. If anyone knows how to get through this happiest, but stressful of seasons without spending too much, it would be me. I am a maker and a lot of the time the gifts that I give are made by myself, but that should not stop you from cutting costs without cutting the snaz this season. Here is a good example of a really easy and lovingly made gift:

Home made bread in a bag:

It sounds silly right? but coupled with a bottle of wine or maybe some home made dipping sauce, you have yourself a great gift here. If you can sew, all the better because then you can make the bread bag yourself. I go to the local Wal Mart and buy the fat quarters for $1.00 a piece. I choose 2 contrasting squares and whip up a simple bag. I use the scraps for sewing a simple draw string and voilà! You have a bread bag your friend can reuse over and over again. You can also cut up that blouse that hasn't fit you in years, but has such pretty fabric-oh yes you can! In the age of new, new, new I am a HUGE advocate for a good recycle. It does not make the gift any less special, if anything it's even more.

Now, if you can't sew, do not despair. The local dollar stores have very pretty wine bags that work just as well. During the Christmas seasons they are very festive, though the choice in fabric are not my favorites (velvet and satin) so when you place your bread inside these bags, I would put your bread in a plastic bag first. I only suggest this because velvet and satin are not as easy to clean as cotton.

If your not too keen on that idea, I have another suggestion: Buy a nice big cotton dish towel from the dollar store. and wrap your bread gift on the diagonal. You can even decorate your plain white towel with fabric paint. Use your imagination! You only have 1$ invested so far!

As for the bread, there are a ton of wonderful bread recipes on line that are very doable. Pick something out of the norm and braid it into a pretty log before baking, shape it into a long baguette or keep it a round loaf. Whatever you do keep it out of a bread pan and keep it rustic and hand made. It will add to the charm of your gift.

So, you have your bread, wrapped in your tea towel or tucked into your bread bag. With a cute tag, that could be enough. Like I said though, I'm a maker and I would probably add some dipping sauce, either home made (again, the Google gods know all about home made) or you can buy some for only a couple of dollars from the store. Try to buy some in a glass bottle and if your not in love with the label, with some warm water, a razor blade and some Goo Gone, you can take it right off. Tie a bit of raffia around the top of your bottle with a pretty tag stating what it is and your gift is still sweet as pie. If you have a basket laying around, put everything in there on top of an extra tea towel or 2 and add a couple of tiny glass dipping bowels (again 4 for a $1.00 at the dollar sore) and the most you have just spent for this sweet gift is 5-$6.00. The recipient will LOVE it. She can reuse the towels, basket and bread bag so it will be the gift that keeps on giving.

And you thought you weren't crafty!!! Happy holidays!