A Home Made Christmas

Each Wednesday from now until Christmas I will be blogging about a gift idea that can be made at home and I would love it if you would join in each week with your own contribution to "A Home Made Christmas".
I am sure that there are great projects to make, goodies to make, bake and bottle and ideas that you all have to share. I look forward to reading all about the things you make and being inspired by your ideas.

If you are worried about ruining the surprise feel free to post about something you have made in the past, something you saw or something you have received.

When planning home made gifts you need to consider a number of things:
How long the item will take to make? How far ahead do I need to plan?
How long will it keep?  What is the shelf life?
Does it need time to mature like Christmas Cakes/Puddings?
Can I make more than one at a time and give them to a number of people?

This week I want to talk about Hampers.  I debated whether or not to include hampers as "home made" but in the end hampers are no less home made than something you sew or bake with store brought items.  Plus all hampers are made up of a range of things some of which you can make.

Picture from here

I have no idea where I found the following list of hamper ideas but I think it was on a forum somewhere.  Anyway the list of hamper ideas is pretty long so instead of putting the whole lot in this post I have added a page to put the entire list on.

1. Garden Basket: gardening gloves, packets of seeds, hand tools (trowel, rake, etc,), gardening book or subscription to a gardening magazine, bottle or box of fertiliser, gift certificate to a garden supply store, garden clogs, a small house plant in a pretty pot. Try these variations:

Flower Kit: Use a large terracotta pot. Fill with small hand tools, seeds, small bag potting soil, liquid fertiliser, etc.
Vegetable Kit: full-sized spade, rake, and cultivator. Tie a cellophane gift bag to the bottom part of each tine with twine. Fill the bags with vegetable seed packets, fertiliser, garden markers, marking pen.
Decorative planter, hose, hose adaptor, stepping stone kits, sprinkler, etc. Great for a new home owner.

2. Pasta Bowl: in a large pasta bowl add a package or two of gourmet pasta, tongs, package of sun-dried tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, spices (oregano, basil, garlic powder), pasta cookbook, pasta tongs. Line the basket with fabric and top off with a bottle of Italian wine, a loaf of Italian bread, and/or a chunk of Parmesan cheese.

3. Golf Bucket: golf tees, golf balls, cap, golf towel, sunscreen, ball marker, glove, a subscription to a golf magazine. In lieu of a basket, use a small fabric cooler to hold all the supplies. Can do the same thing with Tennis. Skip the tees, add tennis balls, and a tennis towel.

4. Cheese and Cracker Basket: In a large basket add a cheese spreader, small cheese ball, a variety of small cheeses, several different crackers, napkins.

5. Puppy Basket: food & water bowls, squeaky toy (s), dog biscuits, collar & lead, brush/comb.

6. Kitten Basket: Catnip seeds, toys, collar, Kitty pillow, etc.

7. Writing Box: note cards & stationery with envelopes, assorted cards, letter opener, book of pretty stamps, return address labels, nice pen.

8. Pamper Baskets: gel eye-packs, aroma therapy candle, soothing CD, bath gloves/buffers, sisal mitt, sugar scrub, bath salts or gel. Then customise the assortment by adding products you know the recipient will enjoy. A plastic bath tote /basket with a handle is a nice change.

9. Child's Activity Tub: In a plastic tub a pad of recycled paper, package of coloured paper, crayons, markers, coloured pencils, glue sticks, scissors, colouring books, stickers.

10. Sundae Bucket: ice cream scoop, gourmet sauces, sprinkles, assorted nuts, and other toppings, maraschino cherries, sundae glasses and long handled spoons, sugar and flat-bottomed cones, gift certificate for ice cream.

11. Baby Bath Bucket: Use a plastic sand bucket. Add a hooded towel, face cloth, sleeper, baby shampoo, baby lotion, baby powder, nail scissors, rubber duckie.

What kind of Hamper would you like to receive?  Do you like to give hampers?

Calling It Quits

Over the weekend I pulled out all of my brassicas.  They grew healthy and strong but never formed heads, and after hoping and praying they would amount to something, anything I had to cut my losses.

All was not lost as our cows (Freezer 1 and Freezer 2) were treated to a salad feast.  And they sure did seem to enjoy their meal.

Today after building up the soil and putting some nutrients back into it I will be planting our some summer veg.  Lets hope I have better luck with those.

Watch Your Step

This is the view out of the door that leads through the shade house to our garage.  It's the main door that we use to come and go from the house.

But the other day when I went to go out I got quite a surprise as I went to step out the door.  This 1.2 m Red Belly Black Snake was having a nice little sun bake right in front of the door on the door mat.

 He/She did not stick around and headed off into the garden.

However when hubby went to put on a load of washing later on it had decided to get out of the heat (38 degrees) and have a sleep behind the washing machine.  We had to spend the day keeping an eye on it but eventually when it cooled down it went back out side.

Any ideas on snake proofing your house?

A Home Made Christmas

Each Wednesday from now until Christmas I will be blogging about a gift idea that can be made at home and I would love it if you would join in each week with your own contribution to "A Home Made Christmas".
I am sure that there are great projects to make, goodies to make, bake and bottle and ideas that you all have to share. I look forward to reading all about the things you make and being inspired by your ideas.

If you are worried about ruining the surprise feel free to post about something you have made in the past, something you saw or something you have received.

When planning home made gifts you need to consider a number of things:
How long the item will take to make? How far ahead do I need to plan?
How long will it keep?  What is the shelf life?
Does it need time to mature like Christmas Cakes/Puddings?
Can I make more than one at a time and give them to a number of people?

This week I want to talk about something really quick and easy to make, that can be made at the last minute and is great to team up with a selection of imported beer for the man who is hard to buy for.

Spiced Beer Nuts

   

These would be great teamed up with the recipe so that the recipient can make them for them selves in the future.  They only stay fresh for about 3 days so are really a last minute make.

1 kg Raw Nuts (Macadamias, Almonds, Brazil, Peanuts, Cashews, Pecans)

100gm Pumpkin Seeds

100gm Sunflower Seeds

3 Tbs Olive Oil

3 Tbs Runny Honey

3 Tsp Sea Salt Flakes

3 Tsp Cummin Seeds

2 Tsp Paprika

1 1/2 Tsp Celery Salt

1/4 Tsp Freshly Ground Black pepper

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees and while it is heating grind you Cummin seeds to a course grind in a morter and pestle.

Line a large baking tray with baking paper and set to the side.  Put the nuts in a large bowl and drizzle with the oil and honey.  Add the spices, salt and pepper and mix to coat them evenly.  Tip the mix onto your baking tray and bake in the middle of your oven for about 10 - 15 minutes stiring every 2 mintes.  When they are golden remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before packaging.  

Classic Car Show Success

Well it is all over for another year and I have had a chance to relax and reflect following this years event.  I have learnt a lot more about managing an event and about myself as well.  And I am really glad I took two days off following the event because not only did I need the time to unwind, but there were press releases to write and send, certificates of appreciation to make and surveys to send out.

The second annual Kilcoy Classics on Wheels, held on 14 October 2012 proved to be a hit with the motoring enthusiasts and public alike.  There was a turn out of over 100 cars and motorbikes more than double last year’s event.  We hope to grow the number of entrants further each year, although there will be a limit to the number we can manage.  With the beautiful weather the public had the opportunity to get up close and personal with some beautiful old cars and bikes.  The event is a fundraising event run by a team of volunteers that I lead and proceeds from this year’s event will go towards the local chaplaincy.

This year saw a number of clubs come along with large numbers and there was some stiff competition for the “Best Club Participation” trophy.  We are really aiming for the event to be about a fun social day out not a strict show with concourse standards. 

One of our judges was our Mayor Graeme Lehmann who has been involved in motor sports for many years.  He and our other judge were kept busy judging the entries.  The public were also encouraged to participate and vote for their favourites.  

Planning is already under way for next year’s event where it is hoped there will be over 200 cars.  But until then here are some snaps from the day taken by my best friend Sandra who kindly volunteered on the day.