Under $100 Gift Ideas

Are you a last minute shopper? Here are 7 gift ideas that your loved ones will like. Shop online in the comfort of your home

1. Oster Electric Wine Bottle Opener
   
2. Bella Juice Extractor
   
3. Turtle Beach Ear Force Stealth Gaming Headset
   
4. Cuisinart 14-Piece Deluxe Stainless-Steel Grill Set
   
   
   
5. Rachael Ray Oven Lovin' Non-Stick 5-Piece Bakeware Set, Orange
   
6. Bormioli Rocco Selecta 7-Piece Whiskey Gift Set
   
7. Zojirushi Stainless Steel Travel
   

Ornament Wreath

I went shopping for an ornament wreath to hang over "The gifts" table but didn't find any to match the colors I wanted. In addition, an average ornament wreath was $100. I decided to play to search online for tutorial on how to make mine and I stumbled across LiveLoveDIY's blog. Not only was her tutorial great, it was the the exact color scheme I had in mind.
I took her advise and went to The Dollar Tree to buy my ornaments. I also went to Hobby Lobby to get the green and smaller ornaments. They were all under $30 .  I really love how it turned out. Waiting for the hubby to hang it up .

Click HERE for Tutorial

Bread In a Jar

I had a shower and did not know what to give so I decided to look for a jar gift. This gift is very similar to Cookie In A Jar. Visit Short and Sweets for tutorial on how to make yours .

Sugar Scrubs

 

Got Pic from here 

Couple days ago, I was watching Shark Tanks and I saw Simple Sugars which  inspired this post. If she started making these products at age 11, I am pretty sure I can. Her prices are reasonable compared to FRESH but, why do I have to spend all that money when I have everything in my kitchen. Plus, I know what’s really put in.

Lemon Sugar Scrubs

·         2 Cups of Granulated Sugar

·         4 drops of Lemon Essential Oil

·         ** ¼ cup of preferred Carrier oil 

**I used 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, 2 tablespoons of almond oil, and 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil) Feel free to mix your oils. Apricot oil is pretty good but, I don’t have any at hand

Get a bowl, add your sugar, and slowly add carrier oil and blend until you get your desired consistency. Lastly add 3-4 drops of Essential Oil.

Get a cute jar, pour in contents, add labels and that’s it. You've made your own scrub! I usually leave mine refrigerated. 

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub

·         2 Cups of Brown Sugar

·         ¼ cups of Granulated Sugar

·         1 tablespoon of Pumpkin Spice

·         ½  teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)

·         ¼  teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)

·         ¼ Cups of preferred carrier oil. 

You can make your own pumpkin spice using the following ingredients

·         3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

·         1 tablespoon of Ginger

·         1.5 teaspoons of allspice

·         1.5 teaspoons of cloves

·         ¾ teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)

Mix all ingredients together and you have your homemade Pumpkin Spice. You turn this into a gift of its own by putting them in a pretty jar, add some labels, and bows and gift to friends/family.

Back to the Pumpkin Spice Scrub, get your bowl, add your sugars, and slowly add carrier oil and blend until you get your desired consistency. I added 2 drops of cinnamon essential oil to mine.

Wintergreen Sugar Body Scrubs

·         2 Cups of Granulated Sugar

·         3-5 drops of  Wintergreen Essential Oil

·         1/3 preferred Carrier Oil ( I will be using just olive oil for this one) 

Follow the same direction as above.

I hope you have as much as I did while making mine.  Keep in mind that you can add food coloring to get a particular color or used non-artificial substitute.

Orange – Carrots

Red/Pink – Beets Juice

Yellow- turmeric powder

Purple- Red Cabbage

Green- Kale or Spinach juice. 

Lemon Extract

Hi everyone, today I finally bottled my lemon extra. I left it on top of my the fridge cabinet and totally forgot about it until today .  Homemade gifts always make great Christmas gift and are usually inexpensive. I made lime, lemon, cinnamon, and orange but I ran out of bottles 

What to do:

Add lemon peels to sterilized jar, pour in the vodka, stir a little to mix, and seal jar.  Store jar in a dark place for at least 2 weeks. After two weeks sieve into your desired bottles. That's all!!! How simple!

Labels

Feel free to print and use.

1. Last Night Out
2. Cookie Labels
3. Simple Black Labels
4. Lemon Curd Labels

DIY Photo Coasters With Tiles.

 The Holidays are fast approaching. If you are like me, then you start wrapping up your Christmas gifts as early as August. I went on Pinterest to look for affordable gifts for the family. As a newlywed, I thought it will be cool to make photo coasters with our wedding pictures and give to family members ( if you're one of my family members, you will be one of these as a gift).

These are what I used:

·       Brush

·       4*4 photo from Wal-Mart or any other store that prints pictures

·       4 * 4 tiles from your local hardware store or HERE

·       Ribbon

·       Mod Podge from your local craft store or HERE

·       Clear Acrylic Sealer from your local craft store or HERE,

·       Scissors

·       Felt (not shown in the picture).

Coat a thin layer of Mod Podge, center pictures, and let dry for 15-20 minutes. Repeat another layer, and let dry for another 15-20 minutes. Lightly spray with sealer and leave to dry completely.

Cut 4*4 felt. Apply some glue to the back of tile, then center cut felt sheet to the back of the tie and leave to dry.

When completely dried, tie with ribbon and viola!

Recycled Braclets

     

I received these bracelets and frame from a friend of mine . What's so cool about his company is that all his products are made from completely recycled wires, which makes them sustainable. The fabric in the frame is from Africa! He also employs the deaf to help make his jewelry .

Go check out his store at  Eekonomy Jewelry or Facebook Page . 

Puff Stitch Scarf

          Today, did not go as planned. I cannot say that I am excited about how this scarf (which I have named Jezebel) turned out. I ran out of yarn and had to use a different color for the tassels, my camera was acting weird,  therefore the low quality picture. This is the reason why Jezebel looks unhappy. 

        I am not thrilled with the end result, therefore I did not attach a tutorial  for the creation of Jezebel. If you're interested I'll gladly send you the pattern on how to recreate her.  I used 4 skeins (weight 6 yarn) and a size N crochet hook. 

Cookie in a Jar (How to)

As promised, here are what I used to make cookie in a jar . I got my inspiration from HERE. 

I used:

1.   1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour.

2.   1 teaspoon baking powder.

3.   1 teaspoon baking soda.

4.   1/4 teaspoon salt

5.   1 cup of oats (I used Great Value brand).

6.   3/4 cup m&ms candy corn. I found them at Walmart.

7.   3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

8.   1/2 cup brown sugar, packed.

9.   1/2 cup white sugar.

10.1/3 chopped pecans (optional).

Fill up the jar from 1-10. Pecans (if you decided to use) will be at the very top. I used a paper funnel to fill up mine. When you get to step 8, be sure to pack the brown sugar tightly. This will prevent the white sugar from slipping through.

I bought my smooth jar at hobby lobby for $3.59 and found them 2 days later at the dollar tree. 

I got my fabric at Walmart for 97 cents.  I also used a twine from a burlap fabric I found at home.

For the from label CLICK HERE. I used the blank labels. For the back label with the ingredients I used one from bakelove.com. I punched my labels with a 2 inch scallop punch 

Cookie In A Jar

Mother INLAW came into town yesterday. I wanted to give her something ... Since she's always the one doing the giving

I will update later on how I made this and where I got the cookie labels from 

Stay Tuned !!!

CLICK HERE for how to tutorial

The Best DIY Wedding Photo Booth...

I have seen so many wedding photo booths out there but I think mine is my favorite. I wanted to involve my parent in-laws in the wedding and asked for them to make a photo booth for me. My mother in-law was so worried that it will not turn out the way I wanted BUT it looked way better than anything I hoped for. I also loved that she framed pictures of us as kids with both parents wedding pictures.  It looked so professionally made that most of our guests thought it was part of the wall. Our photographer said it was the best he’d ever seen. 

Click HERE to see my wedding gown

My Wedding and What I Liked Best

I recently got married and loved everything about it. While some things did not go exactly as I wanted, I was perfect.  

Wedding Gown

          My mom, sister, and I went shopping for my wedding gown a year before my wedding. I was moving to another state and did not know when I would have the opportunity to go shopping for one. We went to Bridals by Lori, we picked a couple of gowns. On our way to the dressing room, I saw this gown and immediately knew it was ‘THE ONE”. I tried it on, and it was a perfect fit. I stepped out to show my mom and sister the gown… we all started crying. My sister asked me to try others just to be sure, and I did but it was nowhere close to the first gown. I did not try any other. The lady helping us asked me, “Will you say yes to the dress?” and I did. Unlike many ladies, it took me few seconds to find my wedding gown 

 To be continued …

My First Homemade Apple Cider with Crock Pot

For some reason, I've been thinking about Apple Cider and so I decided to buy some apples on Saturday at the grocery store. Well, I bought everything except the apples. Awesome right (NOT!!!). Anyway, I had the option of going back to my local grocery store to buy one the next day Sunday or wait till a weekday.  If you lived where I do, you will understand why I opted out that Sunday and decided to go sometime next week.

          Back to my apple ciders, these are the ingredients I used:

·       8-10 apples

·       1/2 cup of brown sugar (you can use more)

·       2 sticks of cinnamon

·       1 TBSP whole cloves

·       1 TBSP whole spice

·       2 oranges

Wash apples and oranges , chop apples and orange into large chunks.

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker with enough water to cover all of the apples. Turn on high and allow to brew for 8-12 hours. Enjoy

Corner to Corner Baby blanket

I decided to work on something different this past week and wanted to share with y'all. I love crocheting but not the best at it. I learned how to crochet at a young age but never really perfected the skill. For this project, I will be crocheting a "corner to corner" blanket.

Here is a closer look at the stitches.

This blanket is probably one of the easiest I have made. I found an easy tutorial on YouTube by The Crochet Crowd CLICK HERE.  I chose yellow, white, and pink yarn. With mine, I crocheted pink and yellow in three rows interval and the white in one.  For a tutorial on how to decrease the corner to corner blanket, I found another video tutorial on YouTube by Dana Hueston  CLICK HERE. 

I will post a picture of my finished work hopefully next week. 

GOOD LUCK in yours !!!