BF Crafty Corner: Last Minute Homemade Gift Ideas

~~posted by Jen

Well it's the night before the day before the night before Christmas, and all is frantic in my world. Even though my family is 1300 miles away, I have lots of local friends who are like family that I spend time over the holidays with. One of my best friends from work very graciously invited me to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with her family this year. She has 2 little boys, and a large, boisterous Cuban American family, so it will be a fun time.

Of course, my budget for gifts is pretty slim since I missed so much work this year, but I came up with a couple more ideas if you have some "last minute" gifts you need to come up with in a hurry on the cheap.

Idea #1. Another version of the "Romantic Dinner In A Basket" idea. It has a bottle of wine ($2.99 at Trader Joe's), wine glasses ($1 each at Home Goods), a bottle of flavored olive oil ($4 at Aldi), and the jar is a risotto mix ($1 at Stop n Shop) layered with sundried tomatoes and dried mushrooms. The whole deal? Less than $20 (including the basket, jar, and towel) and a very nice gift for 2.

Idea #2. A Snack Basket or Movie Basket (if you add a DVD). It has several packs of various flavors of nuts and trail mix (39 cents a pack at Aldi's), a box of cheese straws (I put them in a jar, but you could just stack the box in the back. $1.99 at Aldi's), a bag of microwave popcorn, and it makes a nice sized basket of snacks. Again for less than $20, you could add in a DVD and make it a gift for a whole family.





These packets of nuts and trail mix are 39 cents each at Aldi's





The completed basket, without DVD

If you're really pressed for time and don't have a few minutes to put these things together, a gift card to the movies or a favorite restaurant or store is always very much appreciated. If you don't even have time to stop and buy a gift card, hop on Amazon and get an e-gift card you can print out. By the time you get your shoes on to leave, it will be printed out and ready to give! Merry Christmas!







BF Crafty Corner: Simple Holiday Wreath

~~posted by Jen

The finished bow wreath hanging on my front door

Don't laugh at me about this, ok? I know it might seem a bit ghetteaux fabulous to some folks,  but I thought it was cute. It's definitely an inexpensive decoration, doesn't take much time to make, and it would be a great project the kids could help out with.

I had one of those humongous bags of leftover Christmas bows (the kind with the sticky stuff on back). Lots of people save these after the gift-opening is all done. If you do, this is a great way to reuse them. More and more lately I find myself getting into the whole "reduce, reuse, recycle" thing and trying to make something new out of things I have around the house.

It's kind of a challenge sometimes to see what I can come up with. Yes, maybe I do have too much time on my hands, thanks for noticing. Anyway, all you need to make this pretty wreath is some bows, straight pins, and a styrofoam wreath form. I used curling ribbon for the "bow." (Again, recycled from my gift wrapping stash.)

halfway through the process

All you do is pin the bows all over the wreath form, in whatever pattern you like. You may want to use a green foam wreath form so that any small blank spots blend in, or you could wrap ribbon around the whole wreath form before adding the bows to it. I came to this conclusion after mine was made, of course. But at least I know for future reference.

Once the wreath form is completely covered in bows, add the curling ribbon at the top or bottom, wherever you like. Then hang it on your door, wall, or wherever else you'd like. This would make a neat teacher gift or even for a neighbor. If you wanted to make it seem like something "more", you could always tie some small amount gift cards to it, like for Starbucks, 7-11, WaWa, or whatever stores they like.

Cheap & Cheerful! 

BF Crafty Corner: Romantic Dinner In a Basket Gift

~~posted by Jen

Basket: $2 at Michael's, Towel 50 cents at Walmart, pasta 66 cents at Stop N Shop, sauce $1.50 at Aldi, Candle $4 at Michael's, Baguette $2.50 at Panera Bread Total $11.16

This is a pretty tough financial time for most everyone, and it doesn't help that the holidays are upon us. So many people we need to give gifts to, yet so little money to spread the love! I'm a fan of homemade gifts, as y'all probably figured out from my "Gift In A Jar" post the other day.

So I decided to think up a few more creative ideas that will hopefully help get you through the season of giving without breaking the bank. Yesterday I was at Stop N Shop on a quest for whole wheat panko (you'll hear more about this in a future post), and I saw this new line of pasta from Ronzoni  called "Garden Delights" that has 1 serving of vegetables included in every 4 ounce serving of pasta.

Well I don't eat pasta in my post-op weight loss surgery life, but my boys love pasta. Any way I can sneak in some extra nutrition without their knowledge, and I am there. This pasta was on sale for $1.65 a box, not bad for "specialty" pasta. Plus it had a 50 cent coupon on each box, which Stop n Shop doubles, so that brought it to 65 cents a box. At that point there was no way I wasn't leaving the store with at least a couple boxes of it.

On the drive home, it occurred to me that this would be another great gift idea. So I put together a pretty basket with the pasta in a jar (this is a pretty jar I saved from olives I got at Costco, ran it through the dishwasher and voila), a jar of marinara sauce, a baguette, and a pretty candle. For less than 12 bucks (including the basket and the towel) this makes a nice "Romantic Dinner In A Basket" gift for that special couple you know.

You could also include a cd or dvd, or maybe a bottle of wine if you wanted it to be a larger gift. If the couple has kids, you could include a note offering to watch the kids so they can have some time alone as part of the gift.

Of course I cooked the pasta and sauce for dinner for the boys, so I included a picture of the finished product. I think this would be a nice gift, definitely one I wouldn't mind receiving. This would make an ideal hostess gift, or even a nice gift for your boss. Happy Holidays!

BF Crafty Corner: Holiday Gifts In A Jar

~~posted by Jen

9 Bean Soup in a Jar

My older sister Angie is a military wife, her husband Mike retired from the Marine Corps a few years ago, and they have lived all over the country. Christmas has always been a very special holiday in my family. Our late Momma always absolutely adored Christmas, and talk about decking the halls!

Momma decorated every corner of her house at Christmas time, right down to the shower curtain and rugs in the bathroom. Maybe that's where my unnatural love for seasonal decorating comes from, who knows.

I know lots of our readers and fellow Pouchers are also military wives (or husbands), so y'all know how difficult it can be to not only be so far from home on Christmas, but lots of times finances are very tight. One year in particular comes to mind, speaking of tight holiday budgets.

Mike had been deployed for most of the year, and with 2 growing kids at home, he and Angie were working hard to pay off their bills so that when he retired they wouldn't be in debt. That year, they decided instead of spending lots of money that could pay off debt on Christmas gifts that, let's face it, not many of us really needed anyway, Angie and the kids would make homemade gifts for everyone.

View from the top

Can I just tell y'all that was one of the coolest Christmas gifts I ever got, and it meant the most because they took the time to make it themselves? One of the things they made for me was a hand-painted pickle jar that had bean soup mix in it. They spray painted the lid and took paint and made little beans all over it and wrote "Beans" in paint on the side of the jar.

In my many moves over the past few years, I have misplaced the jar. But it sat in a place of honor in my kitchen for many years after that Christmas, and it made me smile every time I looked at it. I kept refilling it with bean soup mix over and over for I can't even tell you how many years.

The point of this story is to say that, in these trying economic times, you don't need to spend lots of money to show someone you love them. Sometimes a simple homemade gift means more than the most expensive latest and greatest.

The top layers

To inspire you, and in honor of my sister and a very sweet memory, I made up this Soup In A Jar gift. This would make a nice teacher gift, or for a special neighbor, or even your own sister. If you want to make it seem like something "more", put the Jar in a crockpot or soup pot with the can of tomatoes and a box of ham seasoning, then wrap the whole thing up as a gift.

This is very simple to do, the kids will love helping with this also. You don't have to be Martha Stewart or even the least bit crafty, I promise! All you need is a clean quart jar, a scrap of pretty fabric, a little card stock to write the recipe on, and some ribbon. Just layer the ingredients neatly in the jar, put the lid on, top it with the fabric (secure with a rubber band) then tie the card to it with the ribbon.

The bottom layers

I'll be sharing a few more of these with you over the next couple of weeks as Christmas draws nearer. Since Hannukah is celebrated for 8 days, this is the perfect gift for one of the 8 days of Hannukah also.

The soup is called Nine Bean Soup, here are the ingredients that you layer in the jar, along with a nice little "Fruit of the Spirit" I found that tells what "gift" each layer's ingredient symbolizes:

Split Peas = Joy
Black Beans = Peace
Red Beans = Patience
Pinto Beans = Kindness
Navy Beans = Goodness
Great Northern Beans = Faithfulness
Lentils = Gentleness
Blackeyed Peas = Self Control
Pearl Barley = Love ****Note: If this is a gift for a WLS'er, I'd omit the Barley, I left it out of the soup that's cooking now. You could always say the Blackeyed Peas were love. LOL****

Here's the recipe for the soup that you include on the gift card:
Wash beans and remove debris before using. Soak beans overnight, then drain and rinse. (If you use a Crockpot, omit the soaking step.) Put beans in a large pot or Crockpot and add water to five inches above beans. Add ham hock or other seasoning meat, you could also use ham base or beef base if you don't have ham. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste. Add 1 (16 ounce) can crushed tomatoes and a diced onion if you like. Simmer for 4 hours on stovetop or on low for 8 hours in the Crockpot.

I have the soup simmering in the crockpot now for tonight's supper, so I'll snap a pic of it once it's done and update this post to show you the finished soup.

As promised, here's the soup once it's cooked. I made a vegetarian version with my homemade vegetable stock and 2 cans of tomatoes with the juice, instead of all water. For seasoning I added salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and 1 pack of Goya Sazon with Saffron. The boys love it, and so do I! We'll definitely have this again.

Last Minute Thanksgiving Tips

~~posted by Jen

Individual or Side Table centerpiece: wine glass with pinecones, pumpkins, & gourds inside and a few fall flowers around the base. Pretty and EASY!!

Well guys, this is it! Tomorrow is the big day! (Or if you're on the East coast, today is the big day!) I don't know about y'all, but I have been running around like a maniac all day trying to finish up my last minute errands and get the big part of cooking prep out of the way.

Are you worried and fretting over how to handle a holiday foodfest since having weight-loss surgery? Nik and I remember that feeling very well, but we've got you covered with her BF Survival Guide to Thanksgiving. As usual, Nik has some very practical advice and tips that work well for any stage of the weight loss surgery journey.

If you're still wondering what to cook or making some last minute menu plans for the holiday, we have our WLS-friendly Thanksgiving posts all linked together here along with a Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce Recipe (both whole berry and jellied versions). I updated that post at the end to include a link to all the desserts we've posted for Dessert Week.

In case you missed it last night, I posted some easy yet elegant centerpiece ideas to make your tables look gorgeous, and I included a couple more here that are even faster and easier using some of the same components.

Nik and I are thankful for all of our friends, who also happen to be readers of our blog. We wish you a safe, happy, and healthy Thanksgiving!

Floating candles are inexpensive and beautiful on the table. This one is in a martini glass with a fall flower and gourd at the base of the glass. Group several together in an arrangement for your main table to create a beautiful centerpiece.

BF Crafty Corner: Thanksgiving Decorating Ideas Part 1

~~posted by Jen  


"Hello, my name is Jen, and I am addicted to seasonal decorating. I hit rock bottom when I had a temper tantrum at Christmas Tree Shoppe in Freehold, NJ because they only had 5 matching placemats for my tablescape and I needed 6."

Yes, I admit it. No shame here. I love for my house and yard to be decorated for every season or holiday. There is a very good reason my neighbors used to call me the Martha Stewart of Cliffwood Beach! Sadly, I don't live in Cliffwood Beach anymore.

What I am calling home these days is not "my" house, but in my inimitable fashion, I have stepped up to the challenge of making it mine. Not that the actual homeowners are always on board with that plan, but fear is a powerful motivator in small doses. Especially when it's coated in a sweetly irresistible accent. Not that I ever use that to my advantage or anything ***eyelash flutter***.

ANYWAY...since I know many of you share my love of making things look pretty, we decided to add a new feature called "Crafty Corner" to share holiday decorating ideas. We typically show some easy ideas at our regional Pouch Party™ events, like the Holiday Preview we just did in Baltimore. So it only made sense to share a few with you here on the blog as well!

My decorating budget is considerably less than what it once was, but I still like to make things look nice. It's important to me and, most of all, it makes me HAPPY! So I put together a few simple and inexpensive ideas for centerpieces for your Thanksgiving table.

If your Thanksgiving set up is anything like mine typically is, there will be several tables with food in addition to the main dining table. I like to place a small decorative item on each table, with the main centerpiece on the larger table where we'll actually be eating.

The cheaply chic crafter's best friend is a trifle bowl. It's more cost effective to get the set of several, that way you have plenty for both decorations AND delicious desserts like my Chocolate Trifle. I promise we will share many, many ways to utilize said trifle bowls in the future! Hey, maybe I should write a book....1001 things to do with a trifle bowl. No? Just a thought.

S'anyway, here's a pretty and simple idea using things you most likely already have or that are easy to find.
Layer small pine cones, baby pumpkins (real or plastic), and some autumn-colored flowers in a trifle bowl until it's full to the top.

Shown here on a cornucopia table runner ($5 from Dollar General) with plastic pumpkin topiaries on each side ($2 at Michael's). This entire set up cost $18 including the trifle bowl.

This looks very pretty on your table AND doesn't cost a fortune! Don't have a trifle bowl? No problem! Use the same items in a gold or brown basket. Bonus with the gold one, you can use it for Christmas also.

Basket was on clearance at Michael's for $3, so this whole set up cost $12 and looks quite elegant.

Now a couple of ideas for the actual buffet tables, or maybe even at individual place settings if you have a more intimate gathering for dinner. I love the challenge of finding things I already have in the house and re-purposing them for holiday decorations. These vintage green glass ice cream dishes have been in my cupboard just gathering dust, but they make a beautiful autumn votive holder with a green or gold candle burning in it. I placed a couple of the small items around it just to dress it up a bit.

The votives are great if you want to make sure your guests can see each other clearly over the centerpieces. You could also do a grouping of these together to make a larger "centerpiece."

Much like we tell you to play with your food and come up with your own twists on our recipes, mix it up and get creative with the things you already have to make something pretty and impressive. Tomorrow we'll share a few more ideas for quick and inexpensive decor.