All the homemade Christmas people over here please, lets share our ideas :) - SECOND EDITION :)

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

OLD THREAD

We were all on about pinterest, jars, and where we are up to in our christmas planning :)

Lets go...

[LiamW]

Zeeky - They're really nice, the only downside is that they're not 100% air tight (some of the lids are a little loose), but they do come with tamper proof seals that you "melt" on using a hair dryer. We've put some Bath Salts in some of them and the rest will probably get Sugar Scrubs or something similar. We're currently torn between keeping them as they are with the current lids and picking up a cheap pack of the seals you can buy for jam, etc.

[Thzumbiewitch]

Liam, I have to say that measuring them and saving them as a Custom Label was usually the way I dealt with non-listed ones. You only have to do it once then, and they'll be there in the list for whenever you need them again.

If you go into the label lists, then select New Label, it will allow you to do all the measuring but of course it will still show as square labels. I've just had a look for an Avery code for round labels, and while they do one, it's not listed in MS Word as an option, so you'll have to stick with square and just make sure that your words will fit into the circle.

Good luck!

[CupOfBrownJoy]

DoIlook if you've added about a pound of sugar per pund of sloes I wouldn't add any more. Its tempting to go overboard but if it goes too sweet its really sickly....

I don't taste mine at all mid-way so I can't help you with what its su[pposed to taste like I'm sorry...

[Zeeky]

piggley I think I would stick to fudge or biscuits if I were you. The gumdrops look like an awful lot of faff & personally I don't like that kind of sweet. Also, make sure you let the teachers know that your little one DIDN'T help make the fudge/biscuits, as a lot of teachers I know feel a little nauseous at the thought of all the dribble, snot etc that may have made their way in from sticky little fingers!

[ScreamingHeebieCJs]

Found you!

I have ground to a bit of a halt, basically because I'm dithering over where to buy jars . I need 250-300ml ones, and I've looked on the websites but somehow just can't bring myself to click and pay ...

On the upside, I've got a huge box of Amaretti biscuits which I'm going to scatter in hampers once I've made them.

Need to go out, but just marking my place so I can come back and Get Serious.

[Kveta]

oh dear, a friend has just linked me some pictures of the IKEA christmas range, noooo! they will be my downfall! they have some gorgeous tins, cookie cutters, and bottles for homemade stuff. And napkins, table mats, etc etc. I've never had a house to decorate for christmas before, so may get a little carried away this year!!

[RueDeWakening]

How far in advance can you make fudge? I'm dying to get started and still have some tins of condensed milk in the cupboard from last year, so could make it right now if it will keep...

[FlubbaBubba]

Rue I don't know, but would imagine it keeps for a long time due to the high sugar content (and I've already made two jarfulls, so hoping it will last!! ) but some answers range from a month to 6 months on yahoo answers :(

[RueDeWakening]

Thanks, maybe I'll try a batch and just keep an eye on it - no hardship if we have to eat it ourselves,really :o

Another question though: I was planning on making some gifts in a jar, and have saved our Douwe Egberts coffee jars which look quite nice and should do. But, what's the best way of getting the smell of coffee off the lids? The jars themselves are fine, just put them through the dishwasher. But the lids are part plastic and seem to hang onto the smell.

[chirpchirp]

Finally got around to making my Christmas pudding vodka today, Have three 2 litre bottles made up so there will definitely be some left for Christmas should I not be able to resist a wee dram before then.

Got my Christmas cards through from Photobox and they look great and have also taken thumb print from DH and DS to make the reindeer/robin cards.

Had another trip to Ikea and picked up one of the candle lanterns that I'm going to fill with baubles and lights as a cute christmas decoration (as seen on Pinterest). So have also had quite a productive day!

[sazzermol]

Hi chrimbles! Got started today- skittle, fruit salad, and vanilla vodka all stewing nicely. Found bargains in Asda today whilst wasting time waiting for hubby : candy canes £1 for 12 peppermint, 3 pack 550ml Kilner jars for £3.45, and 1 litre kilner jars for £1.45 each. Just need some baby sized ones and some pretty flip top bottles for the booze now! Very productive Wednesday afternoon

[WhatWouldLeoDo]

I'm currently working my way through the last thread and taking lots of notes, so sorry if this has been covered but I had a question about sterilising lids. We don't have a dishwasher and the lids on the jars I've bought from ikea for my cinnamon honey butter are a bit plasticky I think so I can't sterilise them in the oven. Would a really hot soapy wash followed by cold water sterilising with milton suffice do you think?

[RueDeWakening]

I always use Milton to sterilise jam jars etc when I'm doing jam, don't see why that wouldn't work for your lids.

[WhatWouldLeoDo]

Great, thanks.

[MartyrStewart]

Hello you creative beauties.

This has dropped off threads I am on

So far have made -

xmas pud brandy
Crayon roll
Sock monkey
Mincemeat

I am currently making the hair clips on my Pinterest board for my niece's birthday.

I will make it my mission to upload photos next week, have been lurking and loving, I promise!

[Ittybittysmum]

RueDeWakening have you tried pouring a bit of baking soda on the lids and letting them sit for a day or two to get the coffee smell off?

[FlubbaBubba]

I made my first three crayon rolls (have a lot of nephews and nieces) last night and am dead chuffed with them (realising that the expression 'dead chuffed' gives my age away so I can no longer claim I'm 21 :o)

Couldn't find any of those red storage baskets in my local Wilkos yesterday though :( so am still trying to work out what to present this all in without breaking the bank. Somebody suggested fruit & veg pallets? Anyone actually done that? Or any other good ideas?

[DawnOfTheDeementedDead]

Flubba - if you want me to pick you one up and send it you, i'd happily do so? Perhaps i should take a phot first, just to see if you like it?

[MyLifeIsStillChaotic]

Hello all

I've been lurking for a while and chipchirp kindly invited me to pinterest so I've lost many hours on there now and am loving my first attempts at/inspiration to do 'homemade Christmas'

I tried making the mustard yesterday that was linked earlier on the thread but it doesn't seem to have worked Ho hum.

I made a Christmas card holder (for my house rather than a present) last night and am really pleased with it. I hate having cards all over the place, partly as it's ds1's birthday in December so I have cards up for most of December. Very simple yet I love it.

I'm also hoping to make bunting with names on and personalinsed pictures (first leter of name type stuff) for the kids I would normally buy plastic tat presents for. Although I'm a bit behind on my timetable Am childfree tomorrow so hoping to get some stuff started.

I think I'll have a stab at flavoured spirits this weekend too - they sounds like great presents!

[sazzermol]

Flubba I've been toying with the idea of plain jute bags with some christmassy decoration gluegunned on the front? Relatively cheap and reusable for carting pressies around etc.
This is mainly after i'd done some searching for old fruit boxes on Ebay (great minds think alike!) and found that they are now so cool that people want £10 each plus for them ?!?

[chirpchirp]

No good at poetry but did see these fun gift tags that you could make :)

[FlubbaBubba]

Thanks ladies. Just found this seller on ebay here

[FlubbaBubba]

Ooh, and they get cheaper the more you buy, and free postage. Think I'll go for that. :) 5 inches is deep enough to put things in isn't it?