Teachers Gifts~ Under $5.00

Well it's that time of year...School is coming to an end. This was Freckle's first year doing part time home school in a class room setting at a Classical Christian School. It was a great experience in which we have decided to go ahead and enter her next year for her High School years. This year she was blessed with some really great teachers. We thought a little token of our appreciation to end the school year was to put together some gifts for each teacher. We wanted our gifts to be fun yet frugal...Since we were buying for five teachers, it can add up. We went to The Dollar Store for this project. We were thrilled to find these clear tumblers with lids and straws....We then thought to fill them up with some goodies and candy. We picked up a package of cute ball point pens, paper pads, sticky note pads, colorful paper clips, glow sticks, gum, M&M's and Smarties. 

We picked out something a little different for her Physical Ed teacher knowing that she is health conscious...We didn't want to put a bunch of candy in the tumbler...We wanted to pamper her with some nail polish and nail manicure goodies. Perfect!

We bought 5 tumblers for $1 each

A package of 4 sticky note pads for $1

A package of note books for $1

2 packages of Smarties candy for $1

4 pack of Trident Gum for $1

4 containers of M&M's at .89 cents each

A pack of 4 cute ball point pens for $1

2 nail polishes for $1 each

A package of  4 butterfly nail files for $1

A package of nail manicure kit stuff for $1

A pack of 4 glow sticks for $1

I had the little chalk board labels in my craft stash at home

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After dividing everything up and filling five tumblers.

 I estimated the cost of each filled tumbler at $5.00 or less.

We tied on a little tag for each teacher. It looks cute! 

And everything inside is useful.

Hopefully these will bring a happy smile to their face!

It was an awesome year!!!

Making Candy Cane Syrup & Homemade Pancake Mix

I pulled together a couple homemade gifts from my kitchen for a few friends this year. There is nothing like a sweet, thoughtful homemade gift to give to a friend. Thought I would share the recipes for an easy, inexpensive gift. Most items you would probably already have on hand in your pantry.

For Candy Cane Syrup:

Combine 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water to a saucepan. Stir well and cook on medium heat. Add 6-8 broken pieces of candy cane to the sugar mixture until dissolved. It will turn a nice pink color. Stir frequently. Let it come to a boil for about 2-3 minutes and turn off heat allowing the syrup to cool in the pan. Once cooled, pour into a jar with lid for storage.

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I saved my glass maple syrup containers through the year to use for such things. Syrups are easy to make. You can make different flavors and give them to friends or family for any occasion. If you don't have a maple syrup container. A jar will do.

For Homemade Pancake Mix:

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

4 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

Mix well together and store in a large mason jar. You can double this recipe to make more!

I made a card and wrote in the instructions to make them:

 Add fabric, twine, tag etc...to personalize the gift to the receiver. Use your clever quips and be creative! Have fun with it!

You can double or triple the recipe for making the pancakes here:

Add 1 cup of mix above

1 egg

1 cup of milk

1 tablespoon melted butter or oil

mix together well.

Preheat greased griddle on medium to high heat.

 pour 1/3 cup of the batter and cook until pancake bubbles on top,

 flip and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Enjoy pancakes with candy cane syrup for a nice

 Christmas breakfast treat.

Enjoy!!!!

Vintage Tins~ Gift Ideas

I recently ran across a post on one of my fave blogs about gift wrapping ideas. This is nothing new I am sure. I have been using tins/gifting for years. And perhaps you have too. I thought about some of my own gift ideas and gave it my personal spin....Perhaps you will find some inspiration to this clever gift giving in vintage tins yourself. Tins are fun to use. I use them in my home for everyday uses like, holding pens or crayons, craft supplies, sewing needfuls and buttons, foodie items, and jewelry The possibilities are endless, especially if you find a cute tin. I like vintage tins. You can find them in all sorts of shapes and sizes and prints, some very colorful or plain...However you like it. I spend between .50 cents~$1.99 on tins in thrift shops or garage sales. You can store them away fairly easily and keep them on hand when you need to give a gift on a whim. I came up with three delightful tin gifting ideas for three sorts of people. 

The Seamstress/Quilter:

I found this sweet quilty looking tin, making it the perfect tin for that special seamstress/quilter. I am a regular in thrift shops so, many of the items I used are finds I had on hand. These sorts of thins are great to purchase and set aside for fun gifts such as this. I added in a couple vintage spools of thread, a vintage tomato pin cushion with needles/pins, a measuring tape, an old thimble, an old pair of sewing scissors, a wooden peg doll, vintage fabric yo yo's and a string of old buttons. Everything nestled perfectly inside with a stack of quarter fabric bundles. I used old tissue from dress patterns. And made a dress pattern tissue flower to top the tin with.

 I pick up old patterns thriftng. Makes great gift tissue! I tied some yarn around the tin and added a tag with a fun little vintage bird in a basket...along with a word card that says QUILT. 

The Tea Lover

I found this tin and had to get it. With it's vibrant colors and sweet picture...It was the perfect tin to use for a tea lover like myself. It was big enough to hold a dainty antique tea cup. I added two different teas and sweetener, a little sugar spoon, a tea house strainer and a little gift book all about tea! It is a lovely gift for the lady who enjoys a nice cup of tea at noon as she reads Jane Austin novels.. Tie a piece of scrap fabric around the tin and add an antique picture or postcard with an oragami bird. Truly a thoughtful gift indeed.

The Writer

For this tin, I kept my daughter in mind She is not only a writer but an avid reader and enjoys painting her nails and doing scrap booking crafts...So... I found this Country Winter themed tin and added vibrant, fun things inside, any writer would enjoy. I added a stack of different note cards and envelopes, a little journal note pad, a vintage reproduction ball point pen, a pencil, library stamp and little lists to fill in, washi tapes, a little gift book about Father Christmas Letters, some nail polish...Because you know your fingers have to look good when you are writing....And let's not forget the hand sanitizer...You don't want to have sticky fingers. I suggest even adding things like lotion for the hands and even some lip gloss...Some writers tend to stick their tongues out when they are writing...So it comes in handy.

These gifts are OOAK and perfectly suited for that special individual. Who wouldn't love a gift that was thoughtfully put together and themed, with you in mind? Make the gift unique by using vintage items and a little bit of this and that inside for fun!

For the little things:

I find things such as washi tapes and stationary cards in Michaels, Target, Dollar Tree and Daiso. Everything is very inexpensive. It will just take a bit of imagination and clever thinking on your part to make this gift. Like I said before the possibilities are endless.

You can do one for:

 The Baker

The Cook

The Artist

The Student

The Kid

The Candy Lover

The Cookie Monster

A baby shower gift

The Neighbor

The Hostess With The Mostess

Have fun creating!

 Stop by and share your ideas!