The Nifty Foodie

Holiday

My First Operation Baking Gals

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This past month, I decided to participate in Operation Baking Gals for the first time. Baking is one of my favorite hobbies, and now that I’m on a diet, I’m trying to find opportunities to bake that don’t require me to have a pan of brownies housed on my counter for a few days. Too tempting!

I knew I was going to bake three items: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, Halloween M&M Biscotti and The Chewy, which will all be featured on the blog.

I first went to the Dollar Tree and bought three packs of disposable containers, along with packing supplies. I also got the flat rate APO/FPO shipping box for free at the post office to do this. If you were doing this to send to someone NOT in the military, go ahead and just get a flat rate box. You’ll be glad you did…my box of goodies ended up being 7 lbs.!! Flat rate rocks!

First, I followed the directions on the OBG website, which said to line the containers with paper towels and place a few pieces of apple peel in the fold nearest where the baked goods will be placed. Then, I loaded up the containers with baked goodies, put another paper towel with apple peel and taped the container shut, just in case!

Then, I put in one layer of baked goods in the box and squished in grocery plastic bags around them to make the boxes as immobile as possible. The trick here is to make everything in the box stay absolutely still, so if they are shaken, they won’t get super crumbly before reaching their destination. I’ve shipped two boxes of decorated cookies using this method with GREAT success!

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Then, I added a second layer of baked goods. I ran out of containers, so I lined two ziplocs with a paper towel and apple peel and filled them up. I wrapped them tightly in bubble wrap as well. I’m not quite sure how these will fare, but hopefully, since they ended up being packed in pretty tightly, I’m hoping they will be ok!

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I also added a note to tell them how much I appreciate what they do for our country. 🙂 Then, I added a bunch of plastic grocery bags to surround the second layer of boxes/bags, as well as on the very top, put two layers of bubble wrap, so they don’t accidentally cut through the goodies when opening the box!

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All in all, this was a fun way to show appreciation to our troops! I paid maybe $20 (including $11.95 shipping) to do this, and I know I’ll definitely be doing this again!

I’m thinking, if I have enough Internet buddies interested, of hosting a team for December’s shipping dates. It is the holiday season after all, and who doesn’t like baking with fun holiday sprinkles?! 🙂

DIY Fall Wreath

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Since it’s now September, I decided to venture off to Michael’s and get inspired for the Fall season.

I didn’t really have a plan, but when I saw plain vine wreaths, I immediately thought that I needed to make a wreath for our door.

This is my first time ever making a wreath, but I saw a bunch of inspiration in the floral section, where they were charging $50 plus for a wreath! Eep…that’s a little pricey, especially in hindsight, knowing how much I spent on supplies! (see receipt below)

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Supplies you will need:

  • 2 bunches of fall flowers
  • 2 bunches of fall leaves
  • hot glue gun (I prefer low temp)
  • hot glue sticks
  • vine wreath
  • scissors
  • 1.5 in. ribbon (2 yds.)

When it comes to buying supplies, I find that cheaper fake flowers/leaves are best. They will get rained on and are seen from a distance, so there is NO need to splurge here! Each bunch for me was on sale for $1.79.

What you first need to do is separate all flowers and leaves from the bunch that they are in, using scissors, leaving a little bit of stem space for you to glue with.
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Then, just start placing leaves and flowers on the wreath until you find a pattern that you like. The great thing about vine wreaths is they have little openings for the stems to fit in perfectly, making arranging super easy.
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Once you figure it out, start hot gluing the stems to the wreath, making sure that they are securely glued. Go all the way around the wreath, leaving a small opening wherever on the wreath you would like for a bow to be placed.

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Now, take your ribbon and make a wreath bow. Once it’s finished, hot glue it in the gap.

Ok, ok. Here’s a good YouTube video on how to make bows. 🙂

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70gvnlixO04]

When you’re done, let it set for a few minutes. Then, hang on your door and allow your neighbors to get jealous of those wreath skills!

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Pardon our door. We are in the process of painting our house hehe!