A Handmade Christmas

Merry Catmas!

Last year, I focused on making as many of my gifts as possible. Most of them were well received (though some I gave to the wrong person). I've re-posted the page that has links to all of the instructions, including the massive failure of the candied pecans.

A Handmade Christmas

Enjoy!

Handmade Christmas: Caramel Popcorn Mix

I was a little frightened of this recipe, which called for me to make my own caramel - something I had never done before. Turns out, it's easy-peasy, and the results are delicious!

This recipe is adapted from YumSugar.com.

Handmade Christmas: the Easiest (and Healthiest) Gift

Go-goji Trail Mix, from Bulk Barn

After I added up the cost of making the Santa Hat Party Mix, and the cost of throwing out an entire pound of almonds, I decided that it might be wiser for me to just BUY the danged gifts.

So that's what I (sort of) did. I bought so Go-goji trail mix.

Steve snacks on granola and trail mixes by the mugful, so these were a special treat for him. This particular mix is a far cry from the good ol' raisins and peanuts (GORP) that we all grew up with, without adding candy to fancy it up.

Handmade Christmas: Sugar & Spice Pecans

Unlike my disastrous experience with Crockpot Almonds, this recipe is tried and true. I've made these spiced pecans at least half a dozen times.They are tasty, crunchy, won't damage your dental work, and they don't take five hours.

Here's the not-so-secret recipe, which I found on Pinterest. As the original blogger suggests, I use these on my strawberry-spinach salad. I have to stop my kids from eating the entire jar of nuts while my back is turned, so I figured it would be a well received gift. ("Really, Mom? I can eat them all myself?")

Handmade Christmas: "Santa Hat" Party Mix

Christmas 2012

One of the nice things about handmade gifts is that you can tailor them to the recipient. In our case, our daughters both have gluten and dairy sensitivities, which makes a lot of snack foods off limits.

When I saw this adorable recipe with Santa hats, I decided to give it a shot, especially for Katie who has always had a love of Santa hats.

Handmade Christmas: Hot Chocolate

Baby, it's cold outside! Why not come sit by the fire and drink some chocolatey yumminess?

Having recently discovered the joy of real hot chocolate, I thought it would be good to give some of the men in my family a home-made, real, hot chocolate kit. You can buy this kind of package in any grocery store or gift boutique these days.

Handmade Christmas: Facial Mush

Feeling pretty confident after my foray into Pinterest-inspired gift-making, after successfully making a lemon body scrub, I decided to keep steaming along and make the moisturizing oatmeal facial mask, which I am calling facial mush.

In our household, cooked oatmeal is always called "mush" because of the book, Goodnight Moon, which makes reference to "a comb and a brush and a bowlful of mush and a little old lady whispering 'hush.'" The revised name turned out to be quite appropriate as you will see.

Handmade Christmas: Lemon Body Scrub

Earlier this month I told you that I was planning on making a number of our Christmas gifts this year. Now that some of those gifts have been given, I can share the stories.

I always start with a clean kitchen, so I've got room to manoeuvre, and I prefer to have a sink full of hot, soapy water, so I can clean and reuse utensils as I go. In this case, I also had a number of brand-new containers to clean, so this is how I began.

And more containers . . .

Finally, I was ready for the fun part!

Handmade Christmas: Fizzy Bath Bombs -- UPDATED

I can tell you that after handling the powder, my hands felt silky.

Many recipes include how much prep time and how much cooking time are required. Very few give a "patience" rating. In this case, the patience factor led to an almost fail. It's the one ingredient I couldn't pick up at Bulk Barn.

The Bath Fizzies recipe on Martha Stewart looked so charming and simple, I had to try it.

Handmade Christmas: Crockpot Cinnamon Almonds - FAIL

Pinterest: we have a failure. Signal the "womp, womp, womp" sound effect.

I'm a sucker for recipes that use slow cookers, because they always imply that the machine is doing the work. So when I saw a recipe for Crock Pot Cinnamon Almonds, I was game to give it a go.

A Handmade Christmas: More Time than Money

This is our tree-topper angel. The tree is not up yet at our house.

Quitting my job just before Christmas was probably not a great idea if I planned to spoil my loved ones. However, it does mean I actually have time and enough spare energy so I can make at least part of our gifts.