Last Minute Gifts

Kids are finally sleeping and I'm enjoying some quality time with my husband doing what we both love to do...him drinking some wine and me baking/crafting.

It's so nice and peaceful right now so we're taking advantage that the kids are sleeping to wrap up the Christmas gifts and making some chocolate covered pretzels with red, white and green colored sprinkles. These are the final touches to the mugs I wanted to add. Easy peasy!

I decided to go to Michael's today and purchase a porcelain pen so that I can personalize the mugs. The directions on the pen state that you write on the mug and then you have to wait 24 hours for it to dry and then you put it in the oven at 325 degrees for 35 minutes.

Knowing me...and knowing that I am a procrastinator...24 hours of wait time before baking just doesn't work for me. I decided to give it a whirl and wait at least 3 hours. I let the stove preheat and then added the mug. This is a sample of one that I did for me as a sample. Then I ran it under cold water to test it and it was perfect!

I was a little disappointed however at the fact that I had originally bought a black porcelain marker and it was the only one available in the store and it did not work! Frustrating!! Guess I have to take another trip to Michael's to exchange it for a different color, perhaps red?!

Red Damask Coasters for the mugs.

White Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Milk Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Blank Mugs from Dollar Tree

My Mug "*Lisa*"

I have to take some pictures of the complete package when it's done.

I have 3 more gifts left to buy. It gets harder and harder each year to purchase gifts for the teenagers. They're all so different and like different things. What do you get a teenage girl? Well if you have any ideas, please let me know. I am trying to avoid the whole gift card thing because they're so impersonal. We'll see what we find tomorrow.

So have you finished your shopping? Are you missing any last minute gifts?

Red Damask Coasters

I have a fancy idea of what I would like to give to my employees for Christmas. I want to make something unique, fun and perhaps something they would enjoy. Since we all need a little jolt of energy in the mornings to get us through the day, I figured a coffee something or another is how we would start.

Then I got to thinking how our desks are quite sensitive to the hot/cold of drinks and always leave stains, so I figured that some nice little coasters would work for this gifting idea. I decided to make mine using fat quarters I found at Wal-Mart that were pretty inexpensive. I purchased them in red and the damask style to make the ruffles.

**Tip: You can create the ruffles by setting your sewing machine to the longest stitch and the highest tension to create easy ruffles.**

With that in mind, I decided to add a little flair to the coffee mugs I plan on giving them. The whole thing is going to be a coffee mug, some baked treats or something edible (maybe even like pretzels dipped in chocolate with green/red sprinkles or hot cocoa dippers made with marshmallows partially covered in chocolate and sprinkles), the coasters (of course), cellophane and a pretty ribbon of some sorts to top the whole thing off.

I have been looking online for some ideas and found this awesome idea to use some porcelain paint to add a little personal message or design to each mug. Therefore, making it more personalized for each employee as an individual. Perhaps different size and shaped mugs would also make this a little more fun as well.

Let's see what else I come up with? Let me know what you think?!