Holiday Gift Guides!

I am always looking for a good gift guide to give me ideas for what to get people. Sometimes I know exactly what to get someone, but usually there is at least one or two people on my list that are hard to find the right gift for. So I have rounded up some gift guides.

Shopping local and handmade is always a great way to get a gift that will also give back to your community. If you don't know where to find local gifts or can't find anything you like, you can always check out Etsy.

Gift Guides:
I marked my favorites with an asterisk *

*The blog, Huckleberry Love, has a holiday gift guide that lists individual, unique, and handmade - perfect for gift giving!









For the creative or artsy person: Michael's Gift Guide
They have activity kits, stocking stuffers, jewelry supplies, wrapping paper and supplies. There is also a section for DIY gift baskets, which might be useful if you are going to give a gift to a group of people, a family, or at work.

100 gifts under $100 by the LA Times. This guide has sections with different price ranges: under $5, $5.01 to $10, $10.01 to $25, $25.01 to $50, and $50.01 to $100.

Real Simple has a quite a few different gift guides that includes gifts for tech lovers, best books to give as gifts, and edible gifts for foodies, unique gifts for women, and gifts for men. They have a lot more too if you feel like browsing through more gift guides.

Stuff has a nice selection of gadget guides here which include gadget gifts for coffee addicts, gadget gifts for photographers, gadget gifts for campers, wanderers, and explorers, gifts for food lovers, and more.

Pinterest has just come out with a gift guide section for him, her, kids, and all.

*Design Sponge has some gift guides from 2012. They haven't added 2013 yet, but they have an interesting No-Buy gift guide.

Dodoburd has a pretty big list of best toys and gifts for kids.


Stocking Stuffer Guides:

• ***Made in America! Support our economy while buying products that are well made and safely made.

• Jenna's Journey is a blog that has a huge list of 450 stocking stuffers for everybody.

               #51. Temporary tattoos  #65. A cast iron tortilla press  #116. Dum Dum lollipops

• Real Simple 35 cool stocking stuffer ideas and creative inexpensive stocking stuffers.

• The Michael's Gift Guide I mentioned earlier has a guide for stocking stuffers.

 

• Uncommon goods has a list of unique stocking stuffers.

• *For the DIYers out there Buzz Feed has a list of 50 Tiny and Adorable DIY Stocking Stuffers

I will keep updating this list as I find more.


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Football Sunday - the game, baking cookies, and sewing ornaments!

I was never much of a football fan before I met my boyfriend 3 years ago, but now I am obligated to be a 49ers fan. Although I still don't love football, I do enjoy watching the game with him. It is pretty entertaining to watch him get so excited and yell at the TV, and I do get a little excited too when there is a great play or a touchdown.

We are pretty big multitaskers though, so we don't only watch the game. I decided to keep up with hand sewing upcycled Christmas ornaments while I watching the game.

My swatch pile that I am turning into ornaments!

If you are gonna make some at home, make sure you don't sew it together with the 'wrong' sides together... When you try to turn it right side out it, the pretty pattern will be on the inside!

This is what happens when you don't pay attention! Doh!

While watching the game, my boyfriend made 'aggression cookies' which helped him when he got mad at Kaepernick haha. The cookies are supposed to help you get your aggression out while you mash and kneed the cookies. Although after a while, the cookies were making him more aggravated because they took too long and weren't holding together like he wanted. So, after the game, I got roped into help him finish them, of course :)


Here is the recipe he used:

Aggression Cookies (Oatmeal and peanut butter)
This will make about 7 dozen depending on if you make them small like the recipe suggests.

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 and 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cups butter
• 1and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1 cup peanut butter (This wasn't in the original recipe, but we decided to experiment!)

Put ingredients together in a bowl. Mash, knead, and squeeze with hands until there aren't any lumps of butter.
 

Mix ingredients together!

Form into small balls not as big as a walnut. (We wanted to make bigger, thicker cookies, so we made the balls a little bigger than walnuts.)

Make into balls and put on cookie sheet

Put on ungreased cookie sheet. Butter the bottom of a small glass and dip in granulated sugar. Flatten each ball of dough, dipping glass in sugar each time.  

Smash with cup that is covered with butter and dipped in sugar

Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on cookie rack.

Straight from the oven.

A little crumbly, but still delicious.

Our cookies were a little crumbly, perhaps we need to tweak the recipe. We also didn't use a cooling rack >.> that could've explained it as well... However, the cookies are delicious! They go great with milk (what peanut butter, oatmeal cookies don't) but they also go well with coffee. 

We didn't use all of the dough to make cookies. We put the rest in a plastic storage container and put it in the fridge for now. We are going to use it for cheesecake crust! I will let you know how that turns out :)

This Book is Overdue!

Before I moved to the Sacramento area, I never drove long distances regularly. My work was about 15 minutes away and most stores were within that as well. I never really got into books on CD because I could never finish them in the car, and I didn't really listen to them in my home. Now, my work is 45 minutes away, but I only make it in that time when there isn't much traffic. Some days it can take an hour or so. Luckily for me, I work at a library and am a frequent user of it and the other library near my house. And now that I have started crafting and making jewelry, hopefully I will get into the habit of listening to them at home as well.

So... what am I reading or listening to now? Here's a look...

This Book is Overdue!

I work at a library and am planning to get a Master's degree in library science. I figured I had a duty to read it! I must say that I love the cover. Super hero librarian to the rescue!

The book focused on the role of the librarian and how it is changing with the invention and progression of technology. The author tells lots of great stories about libraries she visited and people she encountered. 

The main thing I came away with after this book was not to take librarians for granted or think they are easily replaceable even with the emergence of ebooks and online libraries. I was never one to think this, but it made me realize their importance even more. They do a lot more than just sit at a desk answering questions and looking up book titles. 

 You can read a description of the book here on Goodreads or add it to your list: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6702303-this-book-is-overdue

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake!

I've never read a memoir before, so this was a first. I was leaving work one day and realized I had an hour drive and I finished my last BCD. I quickly browsed through a stack and grabbed this book which looked interesting. I had heard of the author, but never read any of her books. 

At first I wasn't too sure about listening to a memoir, but after a little ways into the first disc I found myself smiling and nodding as I listening to her stories.

Although many of the things she talked about haven't happened to me yet (I am only 23), I could definitely relate to many of the topics in her book. I also thought there was some great advice that will help me in the future.

You can read a description of the book here on Goodreads or add it to your list: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12752313-lots-of-candles-plenty-of-cake

I just finished the last disc of Lots of Candles... so I am on the hunt for a new good read! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Swirl Earrings

I bought these mother of pearl beads online on a whim, but when I got them I had no idea what to do with them. I wasn't sure if I even liked them. They were kind of chunky and didn't coordinate well with the other beads I had. I did like the colors that I got and the luster finish. Finally, I decided to just use them alone and practice some wire spirals.

Here are two pictures of the front. They are nice and smooth.

And here is a picture of the back. Kind of bumpy, but still shiny.

I like how they turned out, and because they are simple they match really well with a lot of my outfits! I even made them in some other colors.

I sold the green and white ones, but the pink ones are still in my Etsy shop.

Check it out if you'd like: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JustJaunty/