Favorite Homemade Christmas Gifts From the Kitchen

Its beginning to look alot like Christmas!!!

One of my most fav homeade Christmas gifts to make are homemade Kalua, and homemade Baileys to give out! Everyone just raves about getting them especially since in Cnada they are over 35$ a bottle to purchase!

Here are my 2 favorite recipes, but there are many to try over the internet!

Here is my handmade Kalua Recipe:

Simmer the following 3 items until it turns slightly syrupy about 20 minutes

 1 cup instant coffee(not decaf)

3 c.sugar

6 cups water

Remove from heat & Add:

 4 Tablespoons Real Vanilla

When cool stir in 750ml vodka

Pour into Sterile glass bottles for gift giving. I save real kalua bottles for reusing!

This recipe makes 3 bottles aprox, and is a large batch. You can cut in in half for less if you like.

 

Here is my Mock  Baileys Recipe:

The crazy part is its soooooooooooooooooo easy!!!!!
In a clean sterile blender, mix:

2 c. Creamo or Real whipping Cream(not light)
2 can condensed milk
2 tea instant coffee(not decaf)
4-5 T choclate syrup
2 1/2 tea real vanilla extract
2 tea almond extract
3 1/2 cups irish whisky
 Bleand on high for a about a minute and pour into dark bottles. Must be refrigerated. Lasts about 2 months in fridge.

Also love this great idea from Domino sugar:
Cake in a mug recipe & tags!

and tags:

http://www.dominosugar.com/giftideas/pdf/ChocCakeInMug-Gift-Tag.pdf


and they have other cute ideas:

like this pecan cookie mix in a jar!

And check out this easy microwave fudge from Taste of Home here:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Microwave-Marshmallow-Fudge

Have fun!

xox

 

The Big Cook

I had the opportunity to have a really fun night with a friend at the same time filling up the freezer!

 By the time I get home from work I'm so tired my brain can't even think of what to make for dinner, let alone search the cupboards for ingredients!  There are so many wonderful recipes out there online, but i need to really meal plan in order to make much! I live out of town too, so when its time to shop its usually a big one or the fridge is empty!

Have you ever heard of the big cook?

Wow, is all I can say! Depending on how big your freezer is you can prepare & freeze from 4-50meals in one night!! My friend Nicole & I created 25 meals each , filled up our freezers,drank some brown cows and had a blast!! She had the book, i picked my favorite recipes and we went to town!

Sorry about the dark pictures, but hey-we started at 7:00 and had 50 meals made by 11:00pm!

Check out the amount of cheese we grated and veggies we chopped!

We chopped 6 bundles of celery, opened over 40 cans of food (and washed them for recycling)

and grated over 10 pounds of cheese!

What we ended up with was so worth it! I cant believe how it all came together in the end!

Every recipe goes in a freezer bag and into the freezer in a cardboard box all neatly organized for easy access,once its thawed it goes either in a casserole dish, or crock pot & walla!!

All you need are some plain old side dishes like rice,buns,salad,etc...too easy!

Images courtesy of the Big cook recipe site!

 Later I will post the  total of one months worth of dinner meals and how much it cost to make this with some price breakdowns.  Remeber some night you can eat leftover, as well as lunches! What company is coming over-no worries pull out 2 bags!

What a relief!

xoxo

Free Animal Paw Printable Gift Tags

Yippeee!!

I made some really cute doggie shampoo soap bars, and they needed  some king of cute tag, they looked like they needed some cuteness! I created these little animal print tags to go with them, and I thought I would offer them out in case anyone else was creating any Doggie or pet Christmas Items that might need a tag! Feel free to use these for any projects or items to sell! I left my website off these so they could be used by anyone. Here is my cancer pink ribbon awareness gift tag too:

and for my mini sewing soap sets, and giant coffee bean soaps

and for the kids caterpillar soap:

I had so much fun making these soaps & tags, it gets kind of addicting!

Here is the free animal print tag file:

http://www.box.net/files#/files/0/f/55229671/1/f_535713125

Have fun!

Early Stocking Stuffers

makes me crave a gooey cinnamon bun & hot latte...

The first yummy batch of the creme brulee soap bars are ready & getting all packed up to be shipped out!

They are so big, yet delicate & delish, I thought they would just make the perfect stocking stuffers!

 Shop:

http://www.artfire.com/users/WhippedClean

Vintage Fall Fabrics

New! Vintage fall fabrics available at my other shop:

http://www.norththreads.etsy.com/

I seriously am starting my sewing quest soon for the upcoming fall & Christmas fairs, or Im going to have empty tables!!!

Handmade Herbal Deodorant, and A Free Gift!!

Ok Guys! This is it! You could be the first 3 people to get a free trial size sampleof our

new Herbal deodorant trial mini's. I myself have been using it now for 5 datys straight & cant believe how great it is, and Im a super sweater! I havent been running marathons with it, or anything just normal daily living but Im still really thrilled & pleased! It seems deodorant is kind of left in the dust compared to all the important "fun"stuff. I never found any kind that i really ever liked and cant handle all the chemical stuff so here we go!

 

First 3 people to comment  will recieve a free  trail mini!!

Thanks guys!

New Mini Shop display set up!!

im super excited to fianlly finish setting up the mini-displays at the new little store! Its so tiny im in a little corner of the world all alone i think...its kinds fun. Now for the walk in traffic.... So pumped about selling online now, so please let me know if you go to the shop http://www.artfire.com/users/WhippedClean 

 to browse and your local:)  Because I can remove the shipping & you can pick it up at the shop!

Heres  a couple pics of the cute display on one side of the room  we worked on, almost done:

organic soaps & bath bomb scoops

corner view

I had fun decorating with my old fashioned vintage dairyland milk crates gramma gave me.

Luv ya Grama!

Art Fire shop!

Im having such a great time setting up my new artfire shop! Even dince I found it Ive been super pumped to make some new goodies, and upload all my pics of all the stuff I already have here sitting in the mini shop!

There are so many cute things on there to browse, guilds to join, and people to meet...

Sometimes I avoid learning something new, but its laid out to clean & nice, I just love it, and dare i say its nicer and more user friendly than Etsy???? Oh yes, I still have that shop but Im really excited about going pro & paying a small flat rate rather thanall those listing fees, and renewal fees, and % off the top. This is much more simple to worry about!!

So here I am now online , not just in-store:)

Come visit me and tell me what you think!!

Shop : http://www.artfire.com/users/WhippedClean

wedding winter soap favors!

Sissy's Wedding Shower Ideas!

So my only baby sister got married a little while back. i thought I would share some of the pics that i took of the shower that I put on for her. The colors were black, white, hot pink & a touch of lime green, so I tried to incorporate all those into my ideas!

* Cute covered water bottles in damask....

*A handmade paper cake box cake.

 On the top I attached a beautiful burnished silver bird necklace that was my gift to her.

This is my little one enjoying her pink punch!

Potluck!

 I blew up a bunch of her photos in black & white and scattered them around in  cute white frames.

What would be a wedding shower without chocolate!!!!

How many questions can you get wrong before youve chewed an entire 4 pack  of hubba???????

Gifts area & Personalized Wedding Banner!  So in a nutshell it was a beautiful day, full of fun, sun. What else do you get when you shove a bunch of crazy women all together in a confined space for 2 hours!!!!

Have a great weekend!!!