New, New Thirfty Gifty for Christmas and All Ocassions 2011..Santas Challenge...

susan42

Hi everyone

mary - glad mr mary home, he will be feeling abit irritable i would think mary as being in hospital wears you out

elysia - i made jam last year and after all the effort was wondering if it was better to buy it. I know home made better but if i hadnt got the berries free, OH picked them I probably wouldnt have made them. I live in a cul-de-sac of 4 houses. One neighbour has a plum tree and has given us bags full this year as he had a bumper crop. Our other neighbour has a tree full of apples and I asked him politely if he`d like to sell me some and he said he`s keeping them all. Last year I watched them fall on the floor and rot........

sugarspun - 36 deg, i wouldnt be leaving the house.....

angela - i have high chlorestol they think its generic 8.2 they try to control it with tabs, i changed my diet and its alot better

fedup - i like the sound of those hampers

rufus - i love my charm bracelet, must admit i rarely wear it only for `occasions` as it has such big sentimental value, i`m sure your DD`s will love them

cdsmiler

elysia - thanks for that - I have two small punnets in the freezer that need using, so it might only make a very small jar full, but hey!

mary - you're amazing. Nuff said.

Sugarspun - well done on the new kitchen!

Quick question to you all. I'm goign to be making some reindeer food for a friend's charity sale in October. the food itself is easy enough, but I wanted some advice on the EASIEST containers/bags for it. I'm thinking little drawstring bags (but not the cheapest to buy) as they'll be the easiest. I'll be a bit short on time as I've other things to make so I don't want to be making boxes or anything. Also maybe thinking cello bags, but no idea on right size..... Anyone made any and what did you use?

Thanks!

Clare x

NickyBo_2

cdsmiler wrote: »

Quick question to you all. I'm goign to be making some reindeer food for a friend's charity sale in October. the food itself is easy enough, but I wanted some advice on the EASIEST containers/bags for it. I'm thinking little drawstring bags (but not the cheapest to buy) as they'll be the easiest. I'll be a bit short on time as I've other things to make so I don't want to be making boxes or anything. Also maybe thinking cello bags, but no idea on right size..... Anyone made any and what did you use?

Clare x

I made some with my class last Christmas, we made 100 or so to sell at the school fair. We used the cello bags that you put cards in as the were the cheapest and easiest option. I then printed this tag http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/magic_reindeer_food.htm and mounted it on card. The card was folded over with the fold at the top. I then put this over the top of the cello bag opening and stapled it closed. They were really easy to make and looked effective

fedupandskint

Just back from a 2hr fruit scrump walk with my dog and collected rather a lot of crab apples that I'm now going to attempt to turn into something tasty!

First up is crab apple vodka then crab apple jelly then see how many are left to turn into apple butter and so on....

Anglea

Hi all

Elysia in the recipe I've got eg for strawberry jelly - you need 4 cups of fruit, 4 cups sugar, half cup lemon juice, 1 teaspoon arrowroot, pinch salt, 2 unflavoured gelatin sheets.

Prepare jars as normal. Dissolve gelatin according to instructions, add to other ingredients, boil and stir.

Using Sweetener instead of sugar -

Add it AFTER you boil the rest of the ingredients for about 3 mins and take off the stove, then pour into jars which should have been boiled in water 20 mins just before using.

You don't need to worry about getting enough juice because it's done with gelatin.

In that blackberry jam I did last week (equivalent fruit to sugar), the idea is to chuck in whatever fruits you have in the house that might be on the turn, so you could end up with a mix fruit jam.

Nicnax

[QUOTE=
Quick question to you all. I'm goign to be making some reindeer food for a friend's charity sale in October. the food itself is easy enough, but I wanted some advice on the EASIEST containers/bags for it. I'm thinking little drawstring bags (but not the cheapest to buy) as they'll be the easiest. I'll be a bit short on time as I've other things to make so I don't want to be making boxes or anything. Also maybe thinking cello bags, but no idea on right size..... Anyone made any and what did you use?

Thanks!

Clare x[/QUOTE]

We make this at school every year and use a couple of tissue paper squares tied with some curling ribbon, HTH

mrs-moneypenny

sorry havent been in for a while hugs to all sorry your DH has been back in and out of hospital mary.

will catch up better once the kids are back at school. must get started on my hm christmas pressies ive got lots planned and brought kits just need that wonderful stuff called time to complete them all

mary-op

Hello all :j
Think OH is a bit brighter today......pain still there but his moods better.
Cleaner took me shopping and we got what he asked for so he can't moan and say there's nothing in the freezer now.
Had sort out in spare room, amazing what was lurking up there so its sorted into piles of 'who' and 'when for' (birthday or Christmas). Still more to add to it but I'll see how I get on and how OH gets on more to the point.
Picked up roll of wallpaper from charity shop for 95p....complete roll so could cover loads with that............lol It's cream with a dark blue stripe so think my ribbons if they're silver or dark blue will be ok...............ooh, sounds quite tasteful really.......lol

Been lovely day and got OH in the garden for a bit till the wind got up and blew the newspaper everywhere.........lol

Hope you're all ok

Monkeynut

Am wondering whether anyone can give me some crafty inspiration...
I bought some little glass bowls, only about 3-4" diameter (the sort you would put sauces/dips etc in) as they were reduced to clear in Tesco from £1.50 to 15p!! Couldn't think what to do with them, but have the aim of trying to make them into some sort of present for someone!
I've got glass paints from various projects, so could decorate them in some way, but can anyone think of any other ideas that they could be used for. i did think of making like a little personalised ashtray out of one for someone? But didn't know if that seemed a bit lame?
Can't think of what a little bowl that size could be used for???

fedupandskint

8 jars of cider apple butter made this afternoon from free bramleys then 600ml of cider and just over 1kg sugar

Costs £2.60 / 8 = 33p per jar

Crab apple vodka in the cupboard brewing away now

Tomorrow is spicy crab apple jelly then see how much are left over for some herby jellies and use up rest of bramleys into a chutney - rapidly running out of jars now!