Make Play Dough in Holiday Colors

A gift that everyone with kiddoos will love is homemade play dough.
Today is Halloween and you could start by making batches of this play dough in orange and purple if you like, and in December for the Christmas holidays, in green and red.
My sister, Sky, sent me this play dough recipe years ago, and my sons and their friends enjoyed the results.
1 cup flour
one half cup salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
Mix the dry ingredients, and slowly add to the water.
Cook over medium heat, stirring until it becomes stiff.
Let it cool on wax paper. When cooled you can separate it into several sections and be creative by adding food color, glitter, and / or a few drops of vanilla or peppermint extract.
Kneed it until the consistency is right.
You can store play dough in air tight containers, even old cottage cheese containers or whatever you have at hand. For gift play dough you could buy some inexpensive plastic containers with air tight lids. It keeps very well in the refrigerator for two weeks.
I would love to hear about your play dough creations, so go ahead and leave a comment here to inspire us.

Have Homemade Gifts on Hand for Drop-in Guests

Unexpected guests are as much a part of Christmas as the angel atop the tree. To minimize your surprise—and being caught empty-handed—I have a few ideas to have on hand to reciprocate with those kindly folks who drop in unannounced, bearing cool gifts. Both of these inexpensive, yet thoughtful gifts came from my friend and fellow baseball mom, Michelle Moon.

Rosy Water Facial Toner/Astringent

Mix witch hazel with equal parts rose water (available at health food stores or online); add six drops glycerine. Fill an inexpensive corked bottle (available at craft stores or dollar stores) for a lovely homemade astringent. Decorate the bottle with a gauzy ribbon or faux jewels on the stopper.

Decoupage Cross

Purchase raw wood crosses at a craft store. Use Mod Podge® or another decoupage glue to attach small, torn bits of leftover gift wrap, Christmas or otherwise. When the design is to your liking, coat the final product with one additional layer of glue. Let dry and attach a picture hook to the back, if needed. For a variation, add a Scripture verse—printed off the computer onto quality paper—to the center. Easy to make, easy on the wallet.

Not For Human Consumption

my faithful readers! Being it's Wednesday, my day to post, I want to share with you two terrific homemade gifts on this "hump day."


Warning, this is not for human consumption. Ever read that on an obviously not food bag at the store? In past posts, I've shared many recipes. The two I want you to know about today are my homemade doggie biscuits and the one for sugar face scrub. Rather than repeat them here, scan back through my Wednesday posts and find those recipes. Enjoy!

by Brenda Nixon

Favorite Homemade Christmas Gift - Trish Berg

I love making homemade Christmas gifts. they just seem so personal. And you can always make some extras to keep around the house for those drop in guests who bring you a gift.

These also make great teacher gifts.

And, making homemade gifts can save you a ton of money.

One of my favorite homemade Christmas gifts is BATH SALTS:

NORTHERN LIGHTS BATH SALTS

Ingredients:
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup baking soda
3 drops Pine balsam essential/fragrance oil
2 drops cinnamon essential/fragrance oil
2 drops cassis essential/fragrance oil
2 tablespoons of liquid glycerin (skin moisturizer) (optional)

Directions:

Mix ingredients together blending well. Break up any clumps.

Note: Liquid glycerin used as a skin moisturizer, is a by-product of soap making. Glycerin can be found at health food stores, some drug stores, or major department stores depending on where you live. Its also readily available on the internet as well.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

Whether you've watched The Christmas Story or not, you'll recognize that phrase in its relationship to a BB gun. I love watching the DVD of the movie, The Christmas Story (followed closely by Lampoon's Christmas Vacation). It reminds me of the Christmas my brother got his BB gun and yes, the caution every time he took it outside was, "Be careful you don't shoot an eye out!"

The movie was filmed in Cleveland and used the old Higbee building that now stands fairly empty except for some offices, I believe. It was a big deal to get dressed up and go shopping, see Santa, and then have lunch at the Silver Grille. For dessert, there was always a scoop of ice cream with chocolate syrup and whipped cream topped with a cherry and decorated with a paper parasol. Even at an early age I was intrigued by mysteries. When you took the parasol apart, there was Chinese writing on the paper that was made into a roll that slid up and down to open the parasol. I imagined it was secret code.

Suburban malls have taken the place of that Christmas shopping experience where the lights of the city, the window decorations and that special lunch were something that made memories.

What movies spark childhood memories for you?

(If you go to this site and scroll down a bit you can see a picture of Higbee's at Christmas in 1952. I would have been five, dressed in something velveteen, with little white gloves, if I remember my mother's tastes. Okay, do the math--I'm old.)

Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story

Oh my, this is a funny and touching movie, with many scenes in it that are seared into my memory.

Some are quite horrible, in fact. The boy whose tongue freezes to the flagpole, Ralphie with the bar of soap in his mouth, the younger brother so swaddled in his snowsuit that when he falls down he can not get up on his own.

Amazing scenes, and then Ralphie's desperate craving, nay need, to own a Red Ryder carbine action BB gun, and Ralphie hearing "you'll shoot your eye out" so often from every responsible adult.

The dad is called The Old Man and he has a whacky pride in the bizarre lamp that he won.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of the zaniness herein.
Sit back and enjoy.

Brenda Loves Il Divo

Oh baby, wanna get my blood brewing? Wanna look at some eye candy? Then, check out the Christmas CD by Il Divo.

If you haven't yet heard of this group of four classically trained young men, put together by Simon Cowell of American Idol fame, then you must give them a listen. Oh, their music is soft and soothing, but strong and romantic and their voices blend together at times that you think you're listening to only one.

I have Il Divo downloaded to my computer and when I'm writing articles or working on a book, I listen. Truly they have inspired me and my words at times. Il Divo CDs are also in my car so I can drive the distance while being comfortably serenaded.

What's your fav Christmas CD?