The Nifty Foodie's Life

I was once an education major. I remember observing classrooms, watching teachers ultimately take a huge responsibility of about 20-30 kids on their shoulders, and getting little to no recognition for it.

I’m not a teacher nowadays, but I know teachers work very hard to provide great educational opportunities to our youth. I used to volunteer teach CCD to 1st graders. I can’t begin to explain how hard that was on me, but whenever a parent or coordinator said or showed their thanks, it meant the world to me.

If you’re a parent, I hope that you are telling your child/children’s teacher thank you. It goes a long way.

Of course, this doesn’t exclude a small gift of appreciation. I looked around Etsy to find some great finds for the teacher in your child’s life. Hope you like them!

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Charmie’s Online shop - This is a really cute shop featuring hand stamped personalized jewelry. Perfect for the teacher, mom or really, any lady in your life.

Heather Kent’s shop - Heather’s shop features intricate hand painted necklaces with all sorts of nature pictures and hobby necklaces.

Camille Bellet’s shop - Camille’s shop offers cute and simple stationary items.

Eli N Opus’s shop -Eli’s shop offers custom made name signs for kids and teachers. they are so cute and creative!

Do you have any teachers to buy gifts for this year? Have you thought of getting them something handmade?

I have been having a blast with this holiday series. This one is dedicated to my Mom. She’s a horticulturist by profession and has always had a bright green thumb that made the neighbors jealous. While I sort of have an idea of what I’m making her this year, I thought I’d help y’all out if you have garden lovers in your life.

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Sparkle Peach’s shop – This shop has SUPER cute jewelry items. Very cute vintage style, in my opinion.

VisuaLingual’s shop – This shop mainly carries seed bombs in different plant combinations, but also sells cute prints and ceramics.

Hammermann’s shop - This shop features antiques, vintage items, garden marker spoons, ornaments and much more! Very cute shop!

DressGreen’s shop - This is a cute bath/body shop that features bath/body products made from scratch with many scents for those with sensitive skin.

Don’t you think the gardener in your life would love one of these items? I’m especially in love with the spoons. What’s your favorite?

I have to thank y’all for the feedback with my Etsy shop. I’ve only had one sale so far, but hey, that’s way better than no sales!

The shop now has more Nifty Woofs in non-seasonal prints, and hey, there’s more boy bandannas in the shop too!

To give y’all a better visual of the sizing difference with the bandannas, I took this picture of all three sizes. To give you an idea, Millie is about 40 lbs. and wears the medium size.

Of course, I didn’t forget that Christmas is coming up. Those Nifty Woofs are coming soon as well as a completely NEW product to the shop! Stay tuned!

I just cannot believe that the holidays are so close. Thanksgiving in a few short weeks? WHAT?!

I was just getting used to writing 2010 in my date book. Oh boy..

Anyway, it’s that time of the year, and I thought it would be good to show y’all (new and old readers) the Surviving the Holidays series I came up with last year. Check out these great topics to help you with your holiday planning!

Budgeting

Edible Gifts

DIY Decor

Pay It Forward

Since this year, for me, is all about the handmade gifts, I thought it would be fun to do a Handmade Holidays series this year.  I’m going to be featuring handmade goods that would make AMAZING gifts for your loved ones this year.

If you have links of favorite shops or items, please feel free to comment or email me (niftyfoodie at gmail dot com). I might feature it in this series!

This week, I’m going to feature some great things for the cook or baker in your family. You ready?

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Rfrantzdesign’s shop - They have the cutest recipe card boxes. If you have a kitchen savvy person to buy a gift for, definitely consider buying this. The box is classic, but the dividers are WAY cute!

Boojiboo’s shop – Talk about cute aprons! They have so many great styles, fun fabrics and even carry plus sized aprons!

Candied Bath Bakery’s shop – Can you believe that cupcake is actually a bath bomb? How fabulous is that? Zero calorie cupcakes? Dreamy.

Cake Spy’s shop – How can I NOT feature Cake Spy’s shop? She makes original prints and cute notecards that are perfect for a lover of baking!

Don’t you just ::love:: these goodies?! What are your favorites out of their shops?

I woke up this morning with a clock saying “7:55″. Part of me panicked. Millie had a groomer’s appointment at 8am. Thank you daylight savings time. Seriously..I had another hour to get my happy pup ready!

While she was at the groomer, I got some things done this morning….

I’m sure you can guess what those are.

My baby meyer lemons are ready to be picked. I wonder what I should make with them.

I also decided that our gardens look terrible, so a visit to Lowe’s and a few 6 packs of dianthus later, my garden is looking better. At least the backyard one is…front yard is for another day; more specifically, Veterans’ Day since I’m off!

Of course, it’s Sunday. I have to stalk my Fantasy team. The Saints’ defense is KILLING it so far. Can the rest of my players step up? I’m seriously going to lose to Geek In Heels today.

How is your Sunday going?

I still have to go grocery shopping, since tonight is steak and potatoes night. I also need to return some library books and on the way home, ::hope:: that TCBY has their pumpkin pie yogurt. YUM!