Linda's Month of Birthdays

 

 

My beautiful DIL, Dawn, her mother's birthday is on December 25th. So we decided that on Thanksgiving day we would give her a card to tell her that three of us (myself, my DIL and DIL's Nana) were going to mimic the advent calendar idea but it would be a countdown to her birthday instead of Christmas.  Having your birthday on Christmas day means you always get the "duel" gift, just not fair.  I became (maybe a little too much) so enthusiastic with this today that I just ran with idea.  Made the card on 8 1/2 by 11 card stock and put a photo of a car from the year she was born & some interesting statistics from that year, inside the card is the announcement about the birthday "days."for her. Took a graphic from http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/p/search.html and used for the "Queen Bee" sticker on the oversized envelope. Then as luck would have it I found my first inspiration from some chalkboard graphics from http://www.nestofposies-blog.com/ and with a (half off, of course) Hobby Lobby frame made the gift for my first day..

IKEA Bottle

 

For a nice and inexpensive gift how about a bottle of sparkling water and a lovely bottle of lemonade?  My IKEA had these bottles marked down to $3.99 over the weekend.  I found a graphic label that looked French - it was Eiffel Tower Lemonade, and made a decal label for the bottle.  To fill the bottle make simple syrup (=parts water & sugar) and fresh lemon juice.  This should be very concentrated.  To make a very refreshing lemon drink, add some of the lemon mixture to a glass with ice and then add the sparkling water!  Yum!

Treats on a stick!

Rice Krispy treats on a stick. I used the marshmallow creme recipe and put the treats into an 8x8 pan to harden. Then cut in half and then cut into treats.  Insert the lollypop sticks and dip the treats into melted chocolate (I used white chocolate) and then sprinkle with you favorite sprinkles, let them cool on the Silpat or wax paper and then put each one into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon. Changing to the dark chocolate and different sprinkles, ribbons, etc. will take these from Easter to another holiday and the kids (big kids too) love these.