Pallet for Home

I stress now & can not stress enough... Packaging & Presentation.  You MUST NOT skimp on these with your homemade gifts. Yes, what is on the inside counts but your presentation/packaging hold their attention. Intrigue, pulling them in with desire & appreciation for the time & effort you put into a gift JUST for them. It is what sets your gifts apart from the rest. 

 Think local & natural for a theme in your gifts.

 I came across an *article sharing "More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't exactly what the bees produce", according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety news.

Food Safety News decided to test honey sold in various outlets after its *earlier investigation* {Honey Laundering} found U.S. groceries flooded with Indian honey banned in Europe as unsafe because of contamination with antibiotics, heavy metal and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.

YIKES! And that is just with Honey.Once you have had Raw, unprocessed honey from a true bee keeper, you will forever be spoiled to the taste, color and texture.It is DiViNe! Either buy from a LOCAL beekeeper, or if you have your own hives, PACKAGE them up GOURMET STYLE! Truly people. The simple method is fine for selling to keep cost down. But should you GIFT them... Put more effort into it. If you from a local, there is nothing wrong with making a more gift worthy label. Just be sure to add the beekeeper information in respect to their work as well as giving the recipient a way to seek out where their gourmet honey can be purchased.

I LOVE the amazing Graphic Fairy and all she shares of antique/Vintage graphics. I pieced together bits I found on her site to create my own Gourmet Honey labels to adorn the Hexagon jars I grabbed up at The Flower Factory {12 jars for less then $7!}. The labels were finished up in Pic Monkey after a simple edit program for combining. Printed out at the local office supply store which I had done on the white linen resume paper, costing twice the normal printing cost for colored. Great for gifts but the not so much for paper labels in LARGE quantities. I found a natural twill cotton ribbon but do not favor it's thickness. It leaves me not so thrilled. It will do for now, but I am on the hunt for a cotton ribbon less "bulky".

  I discovered some great gift & special occasion recipes from a book entitled *Gifts from the Kitchen by Annie Rigg.*

I'm eyeing the Limencello recipe for an after the New Year treat. {This is a lemon infused vodka ,only the outer zest is used to produce the lemon essence. Have storage containers handy so as not to waste the excess lemon juice.- I highly recommend using a nice smooth Vodka. I have tasted many varieties from low to high end and have found Seagrams Extra Smooth Vodka with the dark blue label to be very fine.It is distilled 5 times from the finest American grain . My preferred cocktail Spirit. I pay $10 for the 750 ml- 80 proof bottle.}

 My kids LOVE Nutella. Personally I had never heard of this chocolate hazelnut version of Peanut Butter.  Thankfully Aldi's has their own {much less in cost} version. Now if I can only find a local source for Hazelnuts, I can eliminate the store version ingredient questionable's. This is not a healthy food. It is an indulgence of taste best for occasional eating.

Whip this up {double/triple etc to your needs} and use spring latch or unusual shape jars with lids for packaging. Add some *Homemade Graham Crackers* ,maybe *Raising Janes {Mary Jane Butter's daughter} recipe here* English Muffins, a small similar shaped tin of homemade nibbles or pretzels for dipping into the spread to the top of the Jar{s}.I LOVE me some Alton brown and recommend  should you wish to make some impressive Hard pretzels, try *his recipe here*. No need to make them into sticks. Just play with twisting to fit in a smaller tin. Secure your jar & tin with a pleasant ribbon or natural twine. Don't forget the label as well as all their recipes so they can make more themselves!

Makes One - 1 pound jar

1/2 Cup Blanched Hazelnuts

3 1/2 ounces DARK chocolate{72% cacao content}, chopped

1/3 Cup & 2 Tablespoons sweetened Condensed Milk

1-2 Tablespoons Hazelnut Oil

pinch of salt

3-4 Tablespoons Hot Water

Preheat Oven to 350 {F} degrees. Place Hazelnuts on cookie & toast 5-7 Minutes until pale golden color. Remove & let nuts slightly cool.

Put warm nuts into food processor & chop until almost smooth Paste texture.

Gently Melt Chocolate, condensed milk & hazelnut oil in saucepan over low heat.Stir until smooth & ADD TO the Hazelnut paste in food processor.

Add pinch of salt & blend. Add hot water & blend again until thick & spreadable consistency.

Spoon into Sterilized/clean Jar{s} & let cool. Place on lid & store in refrigerator.

This will keep in the fridge up to 2 weeks.

Do you prefer something long lasting? Maybe your just not feeling crafty. Then I HIGHLY encourage you to buy up a few of these* Cast Iron bread pans*. The exact same ones My Captain bought for me a few years ago. I'm not sure if they offer the custom engraving for the bread pans as he had done for my cast Iron Pie pans. But if they do, why not have it personalized while your at it. I refuse to bake my breads in anything else. What a difference they make and once you try it, you'll know why I'm hoping for a few more under the tree this year.

Sportsman's guide* is where their at. For under $17 each. The Captain LOVES buying from them and if you become a member {for $30 a year which gives you lower prices & optional payment plan for your purchases- no hidden or additional fees}. Very nice for budgeting gifts. Back to those pans.

I'm a chick Obsessed. As with any new adventure, I DIVE right in. I usually come up for air later on with just a few scratches...  Being this one has been a long term dream, it casts an even more surreal glow effect. Many thanks to Small farm Girl for her comment to my last post on the dilemma of contrasting decor themes. As to the subject of the Vintage camper decor, she suggested "Why not do both!". I began to think intensely upon those words and realized, if I change the Blue of the one choice into Turquoise and add some reds, rustic oranges and other desirable's in there to POP- I could mesh it together for the balance I sought. So the hunt began as I embraced my admiration for the Gypsy interior using Turquoise but keeping things middle road enough for The Captain.

I have contemplated some solar light self made lanterns to use with the camper being MANY candles in such close {and OLD} quarters is a bit scarey. Our local dollar tree has the landscape spike ones for $1 a piece which I knew fit perfect for my plans. the lanterns can be hung on the canopy or set on the ground in the sun during the day to charge & placed about for their evening enjoyment. I'll share a tutorial if you can wait that long but there are plenty of similar ideas on the net.

I am SO making a few of these knotted rope holders but a trip to the flower factory will produce much nicer glass vessels then mason jars {no proper gypsy chick would use Mason jars when they could be holding gems from the garden bounty~ unless of course they were tinted...}

Tutorial found over here at marthe Stewart living:

Speaking of tinted jars,I do believe this is pure WOW!

Who knew something as simple as GOLD puffy paint & food coloring dyed Modge podge would transform jars into Moroccan inspired lanterns! http://www.designsponge.com/2011/03/diy-project-moroccan-lanterns.html

Maybe not as perfect as the real thing but close enough! and boo coo bucks saved in the process.

Now how about a Moroccan inspired rug.Oh, the bust the budget price tag making you TRY to ignore the want? Then why not try out this tutorial using a shag rug and Rit dye!! Yep. Over at gorgeous & shiny things, you will find yourself in awe over the transformation you can create.

Has me turning the wheels on how I can transform a colored rug using bleach in place of the rit dye for some "milk thistle lily damask" Gypsy designs. Now where's that Bleach gel pen.....

Little brother Army brought me some very pretty scarves/shawl pieces from his time in the Middle East. He also made the mistake of showing me the bounty he still has filling rubbermaid containers when I helped them move from across (or is it diagonal) the country. I may have to seek out his willingness to part with a few more textile items in my color palette.

 Over the last 6months I have noticed a few similar scarves with the gold thread woven in at the thrift stores. Of course at the time I resisted snatching them without a clue what i would do with them. Now? I'm smacking the forehead with after thought. while making mentals to start snatching away!

Picture & tutorial via American Gypsy

Over at American Gypsy {whom has inspired today's post}, has shared a way to get those exotic pillows using scarves. Of course, you could use throws or other large pieces to make pillows for the bed or floor lounging. Luckily I found her as I mooned over exotic pattern pillows, rugs and blankets. Scarves run a whole dollar at the thrifts here and textiles all run under $4. Now if I could only find the color scheme I desire, I would be set!

Now as for a piece to use on the outside of My Gypsy Chick caravan, an AWNING! Over at "This Montana life", you will find a very helpful {and again boo coo buck saver without the reduction in Glam}, easy Awning tutorial!  http://thismontanalife.com/make-your-own-awning-step-by-step/

I truly have not a single idea on what color route to go with {burgundy? green?, ?,?} I am leaning to a solid color top with Indian influenced shape scallops. This is the Mediterranean scallop found via four seasons tent masters:
 Yep. That's the shape I want hanging from the edge of the awning. Thankfully I have all winter to tackle that project.

Thank you for all the encouraging words & sharing in the happiness of my newest adventure. As you know, I'm all over the map.  Now you can throw in some Vintage Camper remodeling to the mix.

I go this Friday to measure her tires and HOPEFULLY find a used pair before bringing her home. otherwise she will be riding a landscape trailer. Who knew camper tires would be such an ordeal PLUS cost more then car tires? Gently Used tire shopping at boat yards & RV repair shops is in my future.