Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Gifts of Heart: Sugared Cranberries, hot chocolate on a stick, granola jars, and fresh soap!


It's the season of creating new exciting cute things giving.  I have a small collection of adorable
  {made with love} gifts ideas for all the good people in your life.




Made-with-love gift list:
  1) sugared cranberries
2) hot chocolate on a stick
3) fresh soap
4) Granola in a jar


1) Cranberry sugars

These sugared cranberries are easy, cute, 
and the perfect mix of sweet and tart.


Soak in sugar bath, roll in super fine sugar, and ta da!


For gifting, I rolled them into jars and tied with lots of yarn to imitate a little warm scarf.




2) Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I discovered Ticket Kitchen's Hot Chocolate on a Stick a couple months ago 
and did the whole "fall head over heels in love" thing!  
Umm, wow.  Too adorable, creative, and still simple. 
I knew I had to have them!  
Ticket Kitchen sells a variety of unique and different flavors. 
(more on these in a future post!)


Hot Chocolate on a Stick is ideal for:
party favors at your Christmas and winter parties,
for gift giving, 
and for hot chocolate bars. 



This tray assortment includes 
Belgium Chocolate, French Dark Truffle, and Salted Caramel.
I tied them up with little strips of washi tape. 




3) Home Made Fresh Soap baskets

My friend from childhood, Sarah, makes the most incredible soap
I mean it. 
I actually love it so much that it is the only soap we use now.  
(I will be doing a future blog post on this too!) ;)
I knew it would make the PERFECT lil gift for my loved ones.


I used strawberry crates as baskets and stuffed them with this fresh-smelling goodness. 



The two scents I'm sharing are
Christmas Tree 
and Peppermint.



And this adorable round soap is gingerbread
...perfect for the littles.


Another fun gift I love to give is Philosophy products! 
They label their products with the most adorably creative names.  I just eat it up.

Cinnamon buns soap?! Really? 
awww :) 



The last {adorable and unique} idea I want to share
is an idea I found in Country Living Magazine.  
Putting good ol granola in jars for gifts!

4) Jars of Granola

I tied the jars with twine and added sweet tags from Vintage Paper Parade.
Cute, cute, cute.

You can take your favorite granola recipe 
and add in cranberries for a Christmas flavor or ginger and cinnamon for gingerbread granola.
There are MANY recipes online for homemade granola.  Pick your favorite recipe and get after it.  
If you don't like spending time in the kitchen, 
a lot of gourmet shops sell tasty granola flavors for the holidays.   



And, I am for sure my mother's daughter because 
I bake a lot of holiday cookies to eat give in December!  
More on cookies coming soon. 




Happy Gift Giving!




The government makes me say that I was compensated for this post.  However, all thoughts and opinions are my own, and always will be!

This post is linked to:Simply Sweet Home Inspired Room HomeStories Mantels, Holiday Home Link Parties TLCUnder the Table & Dreamin, Think Pink Sundays, Seasonal SundaysMet Monday, Making the World Cuter, Tuesday Tutorials and Tips, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy, Tip Junkie, Get Your Craft On, DIY Design, Works for Me Wednesday, Blue Cricket Design, Transformation Thursday, House of H, Tablescape Thursday, Show off Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff,   Show and Share Day, Foodie Friday, Frugal Friday, I'm Lovin It, Tickled Pink, Friday Flair, Design Dazzle, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Weekend Wrap Up  DIY by Design




WASHI TAPE PARTY @ craftaholics anonymous

31 comments:

Kristin said...

Love all your ideas! The soap is my favorite!

Blondie's Journal said...

Everything looks yummy..even the soap! lol! Love your pretty packaging, too!

Happy Holidays!

XO,
Jane

Anonymous said...

Great ideas..The soaps sound devine..I too use philosophy and have for many years..There products are heavenly..

Miller Racing Family said...

What wonderful gift ideas. I agree the homemade gifts are the best. I love the soap idea, the packaging is so cute. Have a great day.

Jane said...

There are some wonderful ideas here. Last year, I made the hot chocolate on a stick...and placed the chocolate on top of homemade marshmallow blocks...idea courtesy of the blogs.They were a huge hit with the great-nieces.

I love the cranberry idea...think I'll put them on the table for our party this weekend.
xo
J

Anonymous said...

These are all wonderful and cute ideas!! I LOVE LOVE the packaging and presentation of each one! Thanks for sharing! I will be pinning this page:D

Cat said...

Great gifts! I love the soaps and chocolate on a stick ideas!

Katie said...

That is such an awesome gift idea! Please stop by and link up with our Crafty Christmas Gifts http://raisingoranges.blogspot.com/2011/12/crafty-christmas-link-up-party.html

Maria said...

These are all absolutely beautiful!!! I love the little soap baskets, SO CUTE!!

Lauren @ mercy(INK) said...

Oh my what a LOVELY collection of very thoughtful gifts!!!! Thanks so much for sharing them! know you may not have time, but if you have a sec, would love for you to link up to the Spend LEss, give more holiday gift link up at http://www.summitstreetjoy.com/2011/11/spend-less-give-more-cheap.html I'm your newest follower, too, by the way :)

Aimee said...

Cute ideas! The hot chocolate on a stick is my fave.

Lisa @ Fern Creek Cottage said...

Such wonderful, thoughtful gifts! I just adore the squirrel and deer tags. They are so cute!!

Unknown said...

Ohh I love your gift ideas. Where did you find or order your strawberry baskets??? I've been trying to find some. Please email me if you can. Thanks
kritiann@aol.com

Craftberry Bush said...

thank you so much for the inspiration...so many wonderful ideas...hope you have a wonderful Holiday season...xo
Lucy

Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke said...

I love the look of the sugared cranberries!

annies home said...

great gift ideas all of them with special touches anyone would love
come see me at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

Liberty said...

Love this post! charming!
Blessings
http://bit.ly/tjXzWC

moonsword said...

Supercool ideas...thanks for sharing them so beautifully!
Arrived via TCB...Happy Cheery Holidays to you!

Ruby Jean said...

Okay I seriously need to be put on your List of giving gifts... These are AMAZING I am REALLY REALLY loving those Soap Baskets.... I would love for you to stop in and share them here http://shoprubyjean.com/2011/12/sew-crafty-tuesday-linky-2-and-highlights/
Also just signed up to follow.. :)

Elise said...

I have to try the sugared cranberries. I have a bag in my freezer left from Thanksgiving and those look great! And I LOVE the soap baskets!!

LaVonne said...

I really loved this post. I need more time in my day to do these things! I really liked the cranberries. Now that does sound easy.

Thanks for sharing!

Visiting from WFMW. Glad to find you.

Julie Bagamary said...

They all look wonderful!

Tonya said...

Really sweet ideas and so prettily prepared to give away!! Thanks for sharing. You've inspired me to make my gifts look more pretty! :)

Kara at Petals to Picots said...

These are such great gift ideas! I would love for you to share this post at my "Best of 2011" link party, along with any other posts you are most proud of from this year. www.petalstopicots.com
~Kara

Anonymous said...

Great ideas and they're displayed so nicely too. Thanks for sharing.

Linda@CraftaholicsAnonymous said...

So fun! Great ideas! I featured your pops here: http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/washi-tape-crafts-reader-roundup thanks for linking up!
happy crafting,
Linda

Safdar Ali said...

the wonderful gifts i have ever seen. so amazing designed. looking great.

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Shauna@Satori Design for Living said...

All great ideas, especially the edible ones!

michelle@decorandthedog said...

Great ideas! I love the packaging on all of them.

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