ICE CREAM SUNDAE GIFT BASKETS

I made these gift baskets for some friends for Christmas, but they would be appropriate at any time of year I think.

Here's what's in them.

 Apothecary type jars of sprinkles, toasted pecans, and mini M&M's.

Homemade strawberry, pineapple, and hot fudge sauce.

An ice cream scoop and 2 bowls with a vinyl ice cream sundae cutout, I made with my silhouette.

I was going to add 2 bananas, but when I bought them they were green and looked good. After a couple of days ripening, they started looking crappy, with brown bruising areas on them, so I figured the baskets would look better without them. 

The baskets were up in my junk room and I cleaned them up, whitewashed them with some thinned down acrylic paint ,and sponged some gold paint on for accent. One of the baskets was an old Easter basket, so I cut the handle down and glued it into the weaving with super glue. The pink and green showed through the whitewash a little, but I think it just gave it more character. I added some frayed fabric in the bottom of each basket, filled them with the goodies and wrapped them up. The cellophane wrap is some that I bought more than 5 years ago at a white elephant store. I got a whole roll for $1.00 and usually use it at least once for a gift each Christmas. I still have at least half of it left, so I'm good for another few years. The ribbon was left over from my middle daughter's wedding.

They turned out pretty nice, but I'm not sure how long the vinyl is going to last through washing.

Have a sweet day!

BLOG CHANGE

I changed the template of my blog. Whadda think????

TEAPOT RECIPE HOLDER

This a crocheted  recipe card holder to put on the fridge or other metallic place. I made this for a dear lady who is the mother of a friend of ours and makes us kringles several times a year. They are delicious, and I have been unable to duplicate her recipe.

I got my inspiration for the base from this teapot coaster.

I just used the coaster pattern, but it is meant to be part of a square for an afghan. The directions can be found at this forum, but I'll reprint the coaster directions here for simplicity. 

Sorry, but the lady who developed the pattern decided she did not want me to reprint the pattern after all, but link to it on her forum, so you can find the pattern HERE. I am nothing if not cooperative.

The pattern is

“Vicki’s Teatime” 

12” Crochet Square 

And Teapot Coasters 

Copyright © 01-29-06 All Rights Reserved 

Kathy Hudgins, Designer 

This is how I made the rest of it:

I took apart a spring type clothespin and painted the wood part with acrylic paint. - I used the color linen. 

Then I wrote RECIPES on the front section and drew a little flower with a paint pen.

I threaded the metal spring into the teapot coaster and then reassembled the clothespin, with a wooden section on each side. 

I glued a small magnet to the back with tacky glue. 

That's it. Easy Peasy!

Have a tasty day!

FEATURE, FEATURE, HOORAY IN THE BLEACHERS!

My Stacked tables Plant Stand is being featured this afternoon on

 polly want a CRAFTER.

So head on over and check out my project, HERE.

Thanks, Cassity, for the feature!!!

While you're there, poke around a bit and see all the wonderful crafts and DIY projects you can get inspiration from. 
You'll be glad you did.
Be sure to make a comment on some post and tell Cassity, I sent you over.

CHRISTMAS GOODIES

These are the tools I got for Christmas.

I got the Dremel trio, which I hope works good and doesn't break bits, like I've read in some reviews. I will  have to settle with reading the user manual for now, since it's too cold to work outside or in the garage. I will be so prepared, that when the time comes, I can get to it and use that baby!


I also got  a Double Edge Pull Saw. Not the one I had on my Amazon list, but that was just for reference anyway. Doesn't matter to me the brand, just the fact that it has a flexible blade, so you can cut stuff off flush and not leave scarring on the project. This is an Irwin and the blade removes from the handle for storage. Very Cool!


See that big thing in the back I used as a background? That's the fancy schmansy router table I bought for Gary! I can't wait til we can set it up and use it. I say we, 'cause I've watched so many woodworking shows and it looks so cool that I want to try my hand at using a big router. On Gary's cheapy table I bought him years ago, it just didn't seem to work as easily as they show on TV. Even he didn't care for it. Funny thing, a few weeks before Christmas, Gary needed to rout something and of course, didn't want to use the one he had, so he called his brother and asked if he had a router table. Luckily he did, so I didn't have to pony up Gary's Christmas present ahead of time.


I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can use them. It's times like these, I wish we had a full basement.