Stocking Stuffers

I love stockings.  I think they are such a great tradition and give people the opportunity to buy fun gifts.  However, stocking stuffers can wind up being quite expensive and it's easy to get carried away buying a few $10, $15, or $25 items.  Next thing you know and you've bought the equivalent of another really nice $50 or $75 gift!

I think $25 - $30 is an appropriate amount to spend on filling a stocking, but you can also do it for far less (example: a box of oatmeal cream pies costs $1.92 and will fill up an entire stocking).  I would try to avoid gag gifts or things that just aren't going to be useful or enjoyed.  Money is still money even if you are only spending $5...if it's not going to get used, then it's been wasted.  My strategy for stocking stuffers is to buy one item that is in the $10-$15 range and then fill the stocking up with food items.  Men seem to universally like summer sausage and beef jerky.  My dad loves Werther's Originals and Lifesavers candies.  For women, herbal teas, coffee, and chocolates are always a good choice.  My mom loves chocolate oranges and they fit perfectly in most stockings.  I find a lot of these items at Trader Joe's, Home Goods, Marshall's, and TJ Maxx (you can often find high end food brands at these discount stores).  For people who are on a diet or have health concerns, think about buying small, useful gifts like hair clips, cute socks, or a pack of pretty pens.  For children, I would suggest crayons, markers, stickers, or coloring books. Chances are Santa or you have gotten plenty for the little ones already, so go with items that they can use but are still fun and exciting (I don't know any child who doesn't like a set of new crayons or a pack of stickers). 

If you have to buy for the entire family, I think the best resource for stocking stuffers is Amazon.  They have lots of cool "add-on" items that you can get for a really low price if you are ordering $25 or more from Amazon.  You can also save money by buying gifts in multi-packs.  

Here are a  few of my favorite things that are all $20 or less so that you can finish filling up your stockings with the items I've mentioned above:

Premium Nail Art Quality Manicure Crystal Glass Nail Files Set of 5 by Cheeky
$10.99
Image Source: Amazon

Briana gave me a glass nail file as a part of my bridesmaids gift and I will never go back to your average emery board.  Split up the multi-pack to save money (put them in with gifts you are giving to other girlfriends or if you have multiple women in your family divvy them up in the stockings) or give the whole lot to one person.  I know Briana likes to stash hers all over the place so she doesn't have to hunt one down when she needs it.

Party Starter Brush Set
$16
Image Source: Sephora

These makeup brushes are by far the most fun and fab I've seen.  These would work for women of all ages from your teenager to your fantastic granny.

Mediterranean Essential Mini Tin
$9
Image Source: Illume

I love the pretty design on this mini candle.  It's made from natural beeswax and essential oils and has 25 hours of burn time.  The whole website is filled with beautiful and reasonably priced home fragrance gifts, so check out Illume for more ideas.  They are also offering free matches and a sample with any purchase, free shipping for orders over $100, and 20% off of any order of $40+ (use code GIFTS13).

Metrokane Rabbit Aerating Pourer
$19.99
Image Source: World Market

Perfect gift for a wine drinker - an aerator that you can put into a wine bottle rather than having to pour a bottle of wine into a decanter.  We use ours all the time.  It's much easier to clean than our decanter.

Sphere Ice Molds
$10.95 for a set of 2
Image Source: Sur la Table

These ice molds make a great stocking stuffers for men.  Mr. 3 has two different types of ice molds for his fancy pants triple old fashioned glasses, but he may be getting these as a future gift.  I love the way they have put orange peels and mint in the spheres - fun and yummy!

Kuhn Rikon Plaid Pairing Knife
$11.95 each
Image Source: Sur la Table

These knives are another great option for men stocking stuffers.  Mr. 3 and I bought a three pack of Kuhn Rikon paring knives and we absolutely love them.  We liked them so much we bought my Dad a set as well and we are adding to his collection this Christmas with a small serrated knife and a small santokus because he raved about them after last year.  I love the plaid and think they are extra fun while still being manly...but you could certainly give them to women as well (I know I would love a cute green one!).

Bow Key Clip
$16.50
Image Source: Banana Republic

Super cute leather key ring with a bit of glam gold and a great price for durable leather (Banana Republic has been consistently running a sale every day this Christmas season, so you should be able to save money on this one).  Especially great if you are lucky enough to be getting a new car for Christmas!

Cookie Stamps
$7.98 for a set of 2
Image Source: World Market

Cute gift for anyone who likes to bake and give out cookies. These are made from ceramic and say "Homemade" and "Made with Love."

What do you think?  Splurge or save on stocking stuffers?  Let us know if you agree or if you've spotted anything else small and awesome!

Melinda's Homemade Gifts

If you follow me on instagram (and you should!), you may have seen some pictures from the Christmas brunch I hosted this past Sunday and the treats I made for my guests.  We have some really close friends that we give small gifts to (like Mr. 3's best friend and his wife) and also some really good friends that I would love to give gifts to, but we just can't afford to do it (I'm a big gift giver...I love the whole practice of shopping, searching, and wrapping up gifts in beautiful packaging).  Since we were hosting the brunch, I decided that what we could afford to do was pass out homemade gifts as a favor for the party.  

I really enjoy trying new recipes so I found a recipe for making homemade toffee in a cast iron skillet  (the skillet is amazingly easy to clean out and heats the toffee evenly).  I have had one failed attempt at making candy before (didn't use a thermometer...which is when I learned the lesson that one can't "eyeball" the cooking temperature of candy), so I was a bit apprehensive about how it would all turn out.  Over the summer, Briana and I also found a Southern Living recipe for different types of fudge sauces that looked relatively simple.  I started by tracking down the supplies for both recipes and wound up buying the ingredients from Walmart and Safeway.  The packaging supplies came from Amazon and Michael's.

Both recipes were super easy to follow, but the biggest issue was that it's not like throwing a cake in the oven, with these treats you can't leave the stove because they require constant stirring. Check out the links above to find the recipes, but I wanted to give the cost break down for each treat.  I made two batches of toffee (which made about 15 treat bags) one with nuts and one without and two batches of bourbon hot fudge sauce (which made 10 jars).

Skillet Toffee Cost Breakdown
Butter - $5.92 for 2 lbs.
Sugar - $3.18 for a small bag (which I also used in the fudge sauce)
Pecans - $0 (Mr. 3's mom gave me a few small bags at Christmas for snacks.  I toasted them with some cinnamon by tossing them in a small cast iron skillet and putting them on low heat.  Make sure to stir frequently so they don't burn.)
Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips - $5.92 for two bags
Vanilla Extract - $0 (already had)
Salt - $0 (already had)
Total: $15.02 or about $1 a bag

If you don't have the nuts or vanilla extract, I would imagine your total would be closer to $25.

Here's my really off center pre-packaging shot!

Bourbon Fudge Sauce Cost Breakdown
Unsweetened Ghiradelli Chocolate Baking Squares - $10.06 for 16 oz.
Butter - $1.46 for two sticks
Sugar - $0 (used left over from skillet toffee)
Bourbon - $0 (already had)
Vanilla Extract - $0 (already had)
Salt - $0 (already had)
Total: $11.52 or about $1.15 each

If you don't have bourbon on hand, run to the liquor store and buy a mini-bottle from behind the cash register.  That should cost between $2-4.  You only need a little, so one bottle should do it.

As for packaging costs, I bought most of my items from Amazon.  I used these jars for the fudge sauce:

Ball Jar Crystal Jelly Jars with Lids and Bands, Quilted
$7.19 for 12 jars
Image Source: Amazon

I liked them because they are quilted, a good size, and a great price.  Make sure to wash them before you use them, they had a funny smell when I opened them up.  I also bought cellophane bags to put the toffee into for $2.99.  I also bought some silver bag twisties for 99 cents to tie off the bags.  Finally, I bought a set of gift tags from Michael's for $1.49 and I ordered this red baker's twine to add a festive touch to both treats.  I hand wrote "Merry Christmas!" on all the toffee and I also labeled the fudge sauce and wrote reheating instructions on the back of the tag.

Bakers Twine by Hemptique
$4.49
Image Source: Amazon

Packaging Cost Breakdown:

Cellophane Bags - $2.99

Jelly Jars - $7.19

Baker's Twine - $4.49

Tags - $1.49 

Twisties - $0.99

Green Pen - $0 (already had)

Total Packaging Cost: $17.15

Here is a picture of how the toffee turned out.  I think it looked super cute!  I don't have a picture of the fudge sauce as I spent the first 15 mins. of my brunch party tying on the tags and didn't get a chance to snag a picture of the finished product.  Whoopsies.

Final Product!

 Total Cost Breakdown for my Homemade Gifts: $43.69

I gave a bag of toffee and jar of fudge sauce to every couple and single person which was about 19 people total.  I also gave an extra bag of toffee to my unmarried friends who don't live with their significant other and I had one bag of toffee left that I slipped into a friend's present that I shipped out this morning.  I also have two leftover jelly jars and a good sized roll of baker's twine...which may come in handy for Valentine's Day presents for Mr. 3.  Timewise, not counting shopping, I spent about 3.5 hours making and packaging the gifts, mostly because I didn't have pans big enough to do both batches of toffee at the same time.

Overall, I really like how the gifts turned out and it wasn't expensive or too difficult to make.  Our guests also seemed really excited to get treats to go too!  Are you making any gifts this Christmas?  What treats are easy to make and fun to give out?  Let us know in the comments section!

DIY Monogrammed Wreath

My Christmas decor theme this year is using what I already own. Fortunately, I still have a lot of my wedding decor and even better, the reception colors go with my apartment colors. Since it was a December wedding and Michael's always has 40-50% off coupons, I went a bit crazy with the glitter last year. When I got done decorating the apartment, I asked J if it looked like Christmas and he said sure, if Christmas looks like purple and silver glitter.

I made this wreath last year to hang at my reception. Thank goodness J's parents had admired it earlier and caught the clean up crew before they tossed the wreath. Otherwise, I would have a very bare wall between my kitchen and bedroom door. This project was very fast and easy to do. It was actually a last minute decision 10 days before the wedding. Even J got in on the fun!

You need a monogram (ours is from Initial Outfitters, but you can find all sorts of options online), a wreath (ours is grapevine from Michael's that my sister had lying around), spray paint for the wreath, some ribbon, mod podge, and your favorite shades of fine glitter. Y'all know how to spray paint, so I am just going to explain how to glitter the monogram.

First you have to decide which letter needs to be at the front of each intersection. I decided to make the R totally in the front, but you could intertwine your letters, too. You can see in the top picture, when I say the R is in the front, that means the R color is going to be the one you see every time the letters overlap. Before I started glittering, I sketched out the shape of my R at all of these tricky spots so I didn't have to think about it while flinging mod podge. You can see the pencil lines where the R and the J touch at the top. If I wanted to put the J on top, I would have sketched the J curves instead of the R. 

Mom and I used broken tea cups to hold our mod podge, but any container will do. You just don't want to contaminate your mod podge bottle with glitter, so it is always a good idea to pour some out for dipping purposes. Just mod podge where you want that color glitter to go. I worked in phases, as you can see above. Use whatever system works for you. It really isn't that difficult, it is just glue and glitter. Once your top letter is dry, you can start on your other letters. This is the time to fix your previous glittering mistakes. I love that I can glitter over glitter and you can't hardly tell that I covered something up.

Ooh, sparkly! Now, all you have to do is take your ribbon and attach the monogram to the wreath. This project too an evening, including drying time. And if you get tired of the colors, you can always reglitter a few years later!

Beating Winter Weight Gain Update

Just wanted to give y'all a quick update after writing my Beating Winter Weight Gain article.  I've successfully survived two Thanksgiving weekends with family (the first in NC for real Thanksgiving and the second during the following weekend in southwest VA...all we do is eat), one business holiday luncheon, tons of meals out while on the road and during my Christmas shopping, and my own Christmas brunch that I hosted yesterday (which you may have seen Instagram pictures on that, but more details to come later in the week).  I haven't gained any weight...hurray!  Now it's time for the home stretch....a week traveling to southwest VA, NC, and back followed by New Year's Eve.

How's everyone else doing?  Any luck or tips or tricks they have picked up?  Let me know!

Update: I maintained my weight through out the season! Read about which of my original ideas worked for me and which ones I abandoned here.

Low Budget Christmas Decor

This is my first year decorating for Christmas. Last year, J and I were only in our Las Vegas apartment for about 9 days of December and none of my stuff had arrived yet, so I did not even bother. And this year, we are living the lives of new entrepreneurs, which means I didn't want to spend much on Christmas decor. This is the beginning of how I spent about $10 total on Christmas decorations.

First of all, we decided to go without a tree. I had no desire to give up any floor space in our teeny tiny apartment, or any table or counter space. Instead, I took inventory of all the general decorative stuff I have and themed my Christmas decorations accordingly. 

Mom had bought me a bunch of purple pieces last year and Josiah's grandma gave me two monogrammed julep cups for my bridal shower. Since I also had a ton of purple and silver glittery stuff from the wedding (more on that later), Apartment Rosmarin is having a very purple Christmas. One of my few purchases are those two red silk flowers. I needed to add a bit of contrast to the desk top, and also fill it out some so that the electronics on the far right were more hidden. I bought the flowers during a 60% off store sale along with an additional 25% off coupon. I just clipped off the leaves and cut all the stems so that I could arrange the blooms and leaves together. That flower on the right keeps giving me trouble, but I have more or less taped it into place. Use what you have, right?

I will be back throughout the week sharing the rest of my Christmas decorations!