The Nifty Foodie's Life

Once upon a time, I helped to host a quilt block swap.

Soon after…way too soon after, since time flies and all, I had a bunch of ::awesome:: squares in my hands. I knew/hoped all of the participants would be happy, because I sure was!

Then, a little idea popped into my head.

I printed grid paper, used most of my mechanical pencil’s eraser, but my little idea ended up on paper.

I started sewing up part of a charm pack that I bought months ago to start making my little idea a reality.

My little idea is starting to look good.

My little idea isn’t a quilt, though.

As you can see in the bottom left corner, I did the math wrong, but I fixed it in Picnik.

Surprised?

I hope you don’t mind.

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 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 found myself at Target today to get a couple of things for lunch. I was absolutely stunned to see that the store was completely decorated for Christmas! It’s that time of the year again, for sure!

The decor reminded me SO much of the quilt block swap. I’ve been so excited to assemble these block packages for the swap. It was sort of like a little bit of Christmas to me, opening those packages of blocks.

Sadly, a few participants decided against sending blocks, which sort of stinks. . Good news though…there are some seriously adorable blocks that were mailed, great quilts to be made and I cannot wait to see them all! Can you?!?

I got this super cute card in one of the packages. Just adorable.

I really loved the fabrics that were mailed in. Everyone’s were different…some traditional, some modern, some whimsical. Just awesome.

I’m just posting slight previews, because I don’t want to giveaway how the quilts will come out!

And I’m not going to give it away, but….

…take a wild guess at which of these pictures include the fabrics I submitted!

I simply cannot wait to sew up these little blocks of Christmas cheer! I hope everyone loves their fabrics too. I tried to sort by giving everyone a variety of block colors.

Is it a little too obvious that Beyonce is on my playlist right now? Man, her music makes me get up and dance around. The dog is usually scared at this point…she probably thinks I’m ill or something.

I still can’t believe how fast the holidays are approaching. I plan to send my holiday cards in less than a month…eek! I started sending Christmas cards to family in college. I propped my Canon SD200 on my chair, sat down next to my little 3 foot tree in my dorm room and smiled…alone.

The picture turned out super cute. In fact, the hubs still has that Christmas card in his cubicle. I ordered the cards from Shutterfly, and everyone who received one thought it was a sweet gesture since I wasn’t really near my family in college.

This year, our card will have me, the hubs and sweet Millie in it. Not so alone anymore!! Of course, Shutterfly came to mind when I started browsing for our Christmas cards. Boy, have the designs gotten awesome! I remember having about 40 choices 4 years ago….this year, they have HUNDREDS!

Here’s a few cute ones that caught my eye….

Images Source

As you can see, they cover religious, modern and traditional card types. After a good bit of browsing, I am totally getting this.

Image Source

I just love how fun this card is…from the fonts to the colors. It’s classic, but fun and a bit modern, don’t you think?

These are very simple to make too. All you have to do is upload your picture(s) and place it in the card! Then, wait anxiously in the mail for your holiday goodies to arrive.

Also, if I were hosting a Christmas party this year, I could see myself mailing these invitations out. Easy peasy and very cute…just sayin’.

Now, if you blog like me, Shutterfly is generously offering 50 free photo cards if you blog about what cards you would send this year! Just fill out this form and wait for the email confirmation about the details for what to include in your post!

If you don’t blog though, these cards are extremely affordable, and sometimes, Shutterfly even has coupon codes to make them even more affordable!

Do you send out holiday cards?

FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, but opinions about the brand are my own. I will be receiving 50 free photo cards from writing this post.