Teacher Chalkboard Embroidery Hoop - DIY Teacher Gift

At the end of the school year last year I wanted to give the kids teachers a gift, but my cash flow was low, so I took to my messy, but convenient work room to see what I could come up with.  Though, this is what I came up with, as I was making it (It did take some time!!), I was thinking how much easier it would have been to buy a gift card...

Teacher Chalkboard Embroidery Hoop Gift

Materials Needed:
Embroidery Hoop (Pick a smaller size than I did, it will take less time...)
Chalkboard fabric
White Embroidery Floss
Needle
Chalk
Pen

Step One:

Place your embroidery hoop on top of your chalk board fabric and cut out a larger circle.  Leave enough slack to go in between the embroidery hoop frame.   Then, place your fabric in the frame.  I'm not going to lie, this was the hardest part.   It took some work.  Next, prepare your chalkboard fabric by covering it completely with chalk.  Then, take a paper towel and wipe clean. 

Step 2:

Print up your saying how you'd like it placed on the fabric.  Place a book underneath the fabric (which is attached to the embroidery hoop) and take a pen and copy the quote, pressing through the paper, not actually trying to write on the fabric, but leaving an impression.  

You can see the imprint of the quote here

Step 3:

Thread your needle with embroidery floss and go to town!  I start at the bottom so that my hand doesn't erase the imprint of the quote when I start from the top. 

Step 4: 

Let your child use the chalk to customize their chalkboard frame.  This was Mallary's:

Now you can make your child's teacher one!  Or just buy them a gift card. 

If you are interested in one for a Christmas gift for your child's teacher?  I can help you... Send me a message!  :)

Sourdough Bread

Some people may think I have weird items on my bucket list, but one of them was to make my own sourdough bread from an actual sourdough starter. I had tried to make my own sourdough starter twice. It didn't quite turn out very well. I got a starter from my friend's mom, and brought it back across the United States in a cooler. I made it one day, and totally loved it! I had to play with the temperature some, I think due to altitude, so some of my first batches were a little dry, but I think I got it worked out. It's so exciting to knock stuff off of my bucket list! I have to admit there are a few things on my bucket list that have to do with cooking...

I think it would be great to make your own starter, and give as a gift. Make something from the starter (i.e. bread, muffins), include the starter, directions and recipes. I would love a gift like that! A gift that keeps on giving!

Valentine's Day Breakfast

Planning breakfast in bed for your Valentine? Here's some ideas:

I made some homemade bagels in the shape of hearts. (There are a lot of recipes online, make sure to choose one that you boil the bagels first before baking them. I read that those were the best kind.)

I made three spreads to go with the bagels.

Cinnamon Spread: Beat 4oz. cream cheese 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1 1/2 T. brown sugar.

Honey Almond Spread: Beat 1/4 c. toasted almonds minced, 4 oz. cream cheese, 1 T brown sugar, and 3 T. honey.

Raspberry Spread: Use the cream cheese filling recipe below.

My husband's favorite was the cinnamon spread.

I made doughnuts with a chocolate sauce. I tried a new recipe, but didn't love it enough to share it. You can use most doughnut recipes that you shape the dough. I rolled out the dough and used heart cookie cutters to shape them. You can make your favorite chocolate sauce recipe. I just adapted my fondue recipe to make a sauce.

Now, for my new favorite breakfast recipe! My own special creation... It has a few steps, but well worth the time it takes to make!! Let's just say my husband asked for it two days in a row.

Gourmet Stuffed French Toast

1 large loaf of french bread cut into wide slices (you could also use Texas Toast, but french bread is a sturdier bread)
Raspberries for garnish if desired

Peach Sauce:
1 bag of frozen peaches
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. corn starch
1/2 tsp. almond extract
generous pinch of nutmeg

Cut up peaches in smaller pieces. Put them in a small saucepan. Mix together sugar, corn starch, and nutmeg and pour over peaches and mix well. Add almond extract. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture is to desired thickness. If you want your peaches in smaller pieces you can take a potato masher and mash the peaches in the sauce. Set aside.

Raspberry Sauce:
1 bag of frozen raspberries
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. corn starch

Put the thawed raspberries in a small saucepan. Mix together sugar and corn starch and pour over raspberries and mix well. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until mixture is to desired thickness. Strain seeds. Set aside. (You can use raspberry jam, but I prefer making my own sauces. If you use raspberry jam that has seeds, heat it so you can strain the seeds out as well.)

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese

1/4 c. + 1/8 c. raspberry sauce

(You could also add 1/4 c. powdered sugar, but there is plenty of sweetness in the rest of the recipe that you don't really need it...)

Beat cream cheese and add raspberry sauce. Beat until well combined. Set aside.

Using a sharp knife, cut a pocket in the bread, and fill it with the cream cheese filling. (You could also sandwich two pieces of bread together with the cream cheese in the middle, but I think the pockets are cooler.)

Egg Wash Mixture:

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla (if you love the almond flavoring you could add 1/2 tsp. of that as well)

1/3 c. half & half (you could use milk)

dash of nutmeg

Whisk all ingredients together in a wide shallow bowl. Holding your piece of bread flat, dip each side of the bread lightly in the egg mixture, just getting the top and bottom wet, not the sides. DO NOT IMMERSE.

Cook on a greased griddle or in a greased pan until done to desired done-ness (not really a word, I know). Do not flatten with spatula as it will cause the filling to come out. On a plate, top french toast with peach sauce, and garnish with raspberry sauce, sweetened whipping cream, and fresh raspberries if desired.

TIPS: You could make all the sauces, and filling ahead of time - even two days or more ahead. All that needs to be heated up before serving is the peach sauce. You could even slice and pocket the bread the day before hand, and put it back in the bag. Also, for an added touch for Valentine's Day; when garnishing, you could pipe the raspberry sauce in shapes of hearts on the serving plate.

Valentine Gift Idea

My gift to my husband this Valentine's Day is a week of love. Some people like to give fun personalized coupons for holidays, or buy those cute pre-made coupon books, but really, in my experience, no one ever cashes those in. So, instead, things or items that I would have put on a coupon, I am just going to give to my husband one day at a time for a week. It's something he can look forward to every day. His week of love from me. This is so easy, and inexpensive, but I know he'll love it. You can customize it for your significant other.

I made heart shaped envelopes, and put a heart shaped card inside. I hot glued a ribbon on the back of the card to enable him to get the card out of the envelope easier.

Ideas for your cards:

Breakfast in bed
Day off from any fatherly duties (I gave my husband a week off from doing dishes)
Favorite dessert (home made or store bought)
Foot Rub
Back Rub
Movie night of his choice
Favorite Dinner
Surprise him at work with lunch
Free reign of the remote control for a night


I plan on giving my husband his week of love cards at different times of the day to keep him on his toes.

During the week of love you can leave other love notes for him to find, and surprise him with Hershey's hugs and kisses to find in random places.

Tomorrow I will post some Valentine breakfast ideas (you could use for his breakfast in bed), including my new favorite breakfast recipe!

Valentine Pastries

For family night last night, we made cherry cheese turnovers in the shape of hearts. (We talked about love). My two year old had fun playing with the scraps of puff pastry, as did my five year old. The recipe:

Cherry Cheese Turnovers

1 box of puff pastry dough
1 can of cherry pie filling

For the cream cheese filling: Beat together 4 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

For the glaze: Whisk together 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 1 1/2 T. milk, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla.

Follow the directions on the box for the puff pastry (don't let it over thaw, then it is a little more complicated to work with, and I've found it puffs up nicer if the dough is a little firmer). Cut out desired shapes. Spread on cream cheese filling and top with cherry pie filling (stay away from the edges). Put a top layer of your dough on top and press around the edges with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees 15 - 18 minutes, until slightly browned and puffy. Drizzle with glaze. (With the left over scraps that my children didn't play with, I made funny shaped turnovers, and baked any smaller pieces of dough by itself.)

I wanted to do an open heart to show the filling, so I cut a smaller heart in the middle of my larger heart.

My husband didn't have any faith in my open heart, and thought the cherries would run everywhere, so he and my son made full covered hearts.

Here are some other fun things you can do with pastry for Valentine's Day:

I made a Blueberry Raspberry Pie, and covered it with hearts.

You could also make a chicken pot pie and do the same thing, or make individual chicken pot pies with a single heart like I did.

Lots of fun things you could do with pastry dough for Valentine's Day!

Marshmallow Recipe

This was my second time making marshmallows, but this was a new recipe.

Powdered Sugar

2 packets unflavored gelatin

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. light corn syrup

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Red food coloring, (optional)

1. Grease an 8" square baking pan. Dust HEAVILY with powdered sugar. In a mixing bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 c. cold water, and let set 10 minutes.

2. In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/3 c. water. Bring to a boil and dissolve sugar, then boil 4 minutes more.

3. With mixer on low speed, pour hot sugar syrup into gelatin. Continue beating until completely mixed. Turn mixer on high and beat 10 -15 minutes more, until mixture has doubled in volume and is completely white. Beat in vanilla and food coloring if using. (MY TIP: It did not take me anywhere close to 10 minutes to beat this until it was done. I do have a very good, powerful mixer, so that might make a difference. I figured mine was done when the mixture got really thick and started rising on my beaters.)

4. Spread mixture in the prepared pan. Wet hands to smooth top. Let set 3 hours or overnight. (I did 3 hours) Turn onto a cutting board dusted with powdered sugar. Cut into squares with a SHARP knife. Toss with powdered sugar to coat all sticky sides. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

These are really, really yummy! If you like marshmallows, that is...

A few ideas: You can cut these out into shapes with small cookie cutters, but I would put them in a bigger pan, to make thinner marshmallows, to make cutting them into shapes easier. You would need to dip your cookie cutter in powdered sugar between cuts to help with the stickiness. These would also be fun to make for a baby shower with a pink or blue theme. Also, instead of dying these pink, leave them white, and instead of rolling them in powdered sugar roll them in fine colored sugar. I don't ever have to buy Peeps again, I can just make these and roll them in sugar!

**I think I cut this out of a Family Fun magazine, but I'm not really sure**

Citrus Spice Cranberry Sauce

I love cranberry sauce. LOVE it. We never really had cranberry sauce growing up with our holiday meals, except at our Grandma's sometimes when she would open up the canned jellied stuff. I was afraid to try that - something in the shape of a can??? ICK!! Plus, I thought it was beets; one of the few foods I do not enjoy.

Anyway. Sometime as an adult, I started making my own cranberry sauce, chutneys, and relishes, and I've been experimenting ever since. I canned my cranberry sauce this morning. Who would have thought canning could be so much fun?? I plan on doing more, so I will have it all year. Plus, I'm planning on using it as gifts, and I think it would make a pretty fun hostess gift as well if you are going to someones home for a holiday meal. (Though technically, etiquette says bringing food gifts can be a bit tricky because a hostess feel obligated to use it for the meal, and they might not want to, and it can create more work for a hostess - finding a serving bowl, etc. That etiquette stuff can be a bit confusing at times...)

Now, do I clean up my canning mess, or wait for my husband to come home and do it?

Hmmm...

Thanksgiving Place Cards

I love place cards! You can use them to assign seating, or write the names of the food you are serving for buffets or other parties.When you are at any kind of buffet type setting, it is nice not having to guess what kind of food you might be putting on your plate. Place cards can definitely add spice to your tables! Pier One usually has fantastic ones for almost every holiday. This year they had some great fall place cards, but I knew my husband wouldn't be excited if I bought home more "unnecessary" place cards (and I'm trying to have a little more self control) - though they are totally necessary in my book. I was at Michaels a few days after being at Pier One, and I got the idea to make my own Thanksgiving place cards.

Totally cute, and TOTALLY cheap. I think the ones I wanted at Pier One were $12 for four place cards. The ones I made were about 30 cents each.

Here's how you make them:

Choose from the assortment of Holiday picks at your local craft store. (You could do this for any Holiday- they have Christmas ones with gift boxes stacked on top of each other like these pumpkins are.) These were originally 1.99 each, but I got them on clearance.

Take some flat nosed wire cutters and clip off the wire pick.

You'll have a little piece of your pick still sticking out, and it won't let your pumpkins stand straight. Take the top of your cutters and press the pick up into the pumpkin.

I bought 18 assorted pumpkin stacks - still cheaper than the ones at Pier One.

Type up your name cards and tape under your pumpkins. (For my parties, I like to use the same font as I use for the invitations, favors, etc., to keep everything uniform. Only once, in all my parties, has someone noticed - and it was a guy - loved it.) You could also place your name cards above the plate to the left if you are putting your fancy folded napkins on the plate, or place them next to platters with the names of the food.

There you have your own snazzy home made place cards.