Day Three Hundred Fifty Seven: Pretty Recycling

On Saturday I'm celebrating the second birthday of a very sweet little girl.  I decided to use Martha's Recycled Bows to top her gift.  To start, you'll need one page per bow.  It works best if the page is mostly one color.

First cut the page lengthwise into nine 3/4-inch-thick strips of heights shown:  three at 11 inches, three at 10 inches, two at 9 inches and one at 3 1/2 inches.

Twist each strip to form loops at both ends.  Make a circle out of the smallest.  Secure the ends with a piece of double-sided tape. 

Layer and stick, starting with the longest strips.  End with the circle in the center.

 It's sweet....if slightly lopsided.  Thank goodness she is like most two-year olds and unlikely to notice.

Day Three Hundred Forty Eight: Nutty About Chocolate

On Monday I made Martha's Dark Chocolate Nut Clusters to include in my birthday favor bags.  They are a handful of almonds held together with rich, dark chocolate.  Sweet and salty. Perfect for late-night snacking.

First you melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  I'd like to point out that I followed the chocolate-melting guidelines and my chocolate melted beautifully.

Ta-da!

(Note:  I was so excited the chocolate melted correctly, I did a little dance for the stovetop.)

To make the nut clusters, just drop a few teaspoons of this yummy chocolate on a non-stick surface.  Drop a few almonds on the chocolate base and finish by drizzling with more chocolate on top.  Put in the refrigerator to harden.

The result is not only pretty, but so good, you'll find them hard to keep out of your mouth.

Day Three Hundred Forty Six: Personalized Gift Tags

Friday is my birthday and my husband has set up a little dinner with a few friends.  Like us, they all have children and I know it is a sacrifice of time and money to celebrate with me.  As a thank-you, I'm going to make each of them a little basket of goodies to enjoy after the party.  

I'll be showing you what I make for the snacks later in the week, but I started last week by making personalized tags for each gift.  I used Martha's clip art from a wedding favor idea and had a personalized stamp made.  It has a vintage car on the top and says "Snacks for the Road" underneath.  

I stamped the design on a 4-inch square card stock.  In pink.  Because it's all about me.

They are really too cute.  I can't wait to attach them to the gift boxes.

Day Two Hundred Eighty-Eight: Make Toffee, Not War

(To the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas):

On the Fourth Day of Christmas, I made for my kids' teachers:  Martha's Chocolate Toffee....


Hmmm...I don't think that one will catch on.

Nevertheless, because the Chocolate-Hazelnut Toffee was so yummy, I made another batch of a similar toffee with pecans.  (Confession:  much of the Chocolate-Hazelnut Toffee was eaten by myself and my kids, and never made it into any teacher gift.  Thus the real reason for the second batch of toffee....)

I don't know why more people don't make toffee for Christmas gifts.  Forget the cookie exchange.  Make toffee.  This toffee is like those miniature candy bars you get at Halloween, only better and without a wrapper.

After it cooled, I put it directly into the teacher gifts and hid it from my kids.  I had a few pieces.  Just for quality control.

Day Two Hundred Eighty-Seven: Easy Hazelnut Toffee

It's my third day of making Teacher Christmas Gifts.  It's like my own personal Twelve Days of Christmas, except everything is edible.  And there will be no Lords of Leaping anywhere in the vicinity.

I wanted something that wouldn't quickly dry out, so I made Martha's Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee.  I've never made toffee before, so I was happy to discover that it's easier than making a box cake.  (Way easier than applying false eyelashes, if we are working on a scale.)

If you can read a candy thermometer, you can make this toffee.  It's a crisp brittle on the bottom and a nutty candy bar on top.

This is the reason fitting into your high school jeans is hard.

Day Two Hundred Sixty-One: Hostess Gift for House Guests

Thanksgiving.  What a fun day.  I had the good fortune of getting up before dawn to pack my suitcases, drag my children out of bed and fight the other holiday revelers to the airport on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Yay!

Actually, the airport was pretty quiet at 6 a.m., so I can't complain too much. (But if you want to feel sorry for me, I will accept your sympathy.  I'm sure you were still snug in your warm bed at 6 a.m.)

We spent Thanksgiving and the following weekend with my lovely sister-in-law and her adorable family.  As a thank you for having my family invade her house for the weekend, I brought her a little hostess gift.  Martha suggests giving your hosts a Breakfast Kit complete with coffee, jam and a simple muffin mix.  It's a nice alternative to a bottle of wine and perfect for a weekend stay.  Since my hosts are not coffee people (and because I had limited space in my bag) I chose this little package of pumpkin bread mix and pecan-pumpkin butter.  The pumpkin bread is simple to make and will surely make a nice breakfast after the house is empty...

...And hopefully ensure that I receive another invitation.

Day Two Hundred Sixty: Clever Bottle Wrap

Last week was Thanksgiving and I had the good fortune of going to someone else's house for dinner.  Being a good dinner guest, I brought the obligatory bottle of wine.  I actually wanted to bring more than one bottle so I used Martha's Bottle Wrap idea to wrap them together in one adorable package.

Seriously? How cute is this?

Just take a piece of fabric and lay two bottles on their sides, bottoms facing each other.  Roll them both up in the fabric and tie at the top.  Decorate them with a couple pinecones you nicked from your friend Sybil's yard and you have a unique presentation of a not-so-unique gift.

Day Two Hundred Fifty-Seven: It's a (Translucent) Wrap

I celebrated the birthday of a good friend on Monday.  I wanted to do something special in the wrapping-department so I decided to try Martha's Translucent Wrapping Paper.  Start by wrapping a present in brightly-colored wrapping paper.  Next, take a piece of tissue or glassine and make random folds in the paper like so:

Then wrap the present in the folded tissue to create something chic and interesting.  These are Martha's colorful gifts:

Gorgeous, aren't they?



This sad one is mine:

:yawn:

Not quite the pretty product I was expecting.  Luckily, the present inside was pretty cute.
:excellent gift-shopper:

Day Twenty-Four: Bob and Weave: Woven Ribbon Wrap

I had breakfast this morning with my adorable friend Christine, who is blessing the general pool with her gorgeous genes by having her first child.  Such jubilation requires a suitably adorable gift and an equally charming presentation.  The gift is easy, but what sort of presentation?

I'm trying to give up using gift bags because I have a suspicion that gift bags are like fruitcake:  there are really only a limited number of gift bags and those are used over and over.  I love the concept of these Wine bags that take pride in being re-gifted.  Maybe I'll start doing that with regular gift bags too.  Until then, I've made a commitment: no more fruitcake gift bags.

So I wrapped these baby gifts, but needed Martha to jazz it up.  Her Woven Ribbon Wrap is super cute, and allowed me to attach the two boxes together.

Gifts and ribbon:

 Wrapped in one level of ribbon:

 Second level:

 ...and again...

 Ta-Da!

Christine will have to unleash her inner Houdini to reach the gifts inside, but at least it looks cute.