Dementor Attack Emergency Pouch - Happy Harry Potter 2017

We all have days when we can feel the dementors lurking...And for those days having a Dementor Attack Emergency Pouch at the ready is just what Madam Pomfrey ordered.  (I'm sharing this as part of Happy Harry Potter at Raegun Ramblings.  Click over to Raegun Ramblings for more Harry Potter inspired projects and read to the end of the post to enter to win some awesome prizes.)  This post contains affiliate links to help support my blog. I used product given by Fairfield World in this post.  all opinions, ideas, and enthusiasm are my own.

These also make great gifts for any friends or loved ones who may struggle with dementors as well.

Christmas Candy Gift Tags

Disclaimer:  I was given candy by Nestle and compensated to design and blog about ways to use their Christmas candies.  All opinions expressed are my own.

I have a history of being a lazy gift wrapper.  Some people are blessed with the are of amazing gift wrapping...and I have typically not been one of them.  I can do amazing for about two gifts and then I realize how many more there are to go and the wrapping gets boring.

Not so with these Simple Candy Gift Tags I designed for Nestle.  They're easy to throw together and they can be a great gift embellishment on their own...or you can bling it up a bit more with fun ribbons.

And my kids though they were a gift all their own and were excite to give them to their friends as is.  A great last minute gift idea for your kids friends.

Head over to Nestle's Simple Celebrate blog for all the instructions and the free printable To: From: tags

And a thank you to Coley of Digidoodle Doo for letting me use her border designs on the tags.  She has some amazing Christmas designs.

And be sure to enter Nestle's Pinterest Sweepstakes for a chance to win $100 Visa Gift Card.

More Brown Paper Wrapping Ideas

I had fun Christmas Eve staying up and doing the last minute wrapping.  Hubby helped me for a little while, and then went off to bed while I finished up the embellishments.  It did take a little longer than if I'd just slapped some regular Christmas paper on them...but not much longer.

I had a box of scraps I'd been saving from the Christmas gifts I'd made, some Christmas fabric that a family member gave me last year, and some other buttons and yarn...oh...and a glue gun...which I've decided is essential if you're going to do scrappy wrapping with brown paper.

(I have to give credit to Rebecca of Older and Wisor for introducing me to Scrappy Wrapping and the idea of using a glue gun to wrap gifts.  She is a gift wrapping genius.)

No step-by-steps for these...but I'll give you a quick run down.

My favorite one first...The Bunting Wrap.

Wire and Bead Bows and Ties - Gift Wrap Tutorial

I made some Peas in a Pod necklaces for several people this Christmas.  As I've mentioned several times...I'm trying to venture out and do a better job wrapping gifts attractively, and I wanted to try to do something that would match a little.

Mail Friendly Gift Wrapping Tips

Brown paper wrapping has been all over the craft blogs this year, so in my quest to wrap gifts more creatively, I've jumped on the bandwagon.  I bought a roll of Kraft Paper (it's a brand name I think) from Wal-Mart.  I found it on the aisle with the mailing envelopes and other packing/mailing supplies for around $4.   It's about the thickness of a brown paper grocery bag.

I've been having a lot of fun experimenting with it.

Brown Paper Packages Tied up with String...

 ...and fabric...and felt...and wire...and sewn...and hot glued...

Scarf Roll: Easy Teacher or School Helper Gift

There are two sweet ladies who help Firecracker cross the street to get to school safely each morning.  During the fall and spring, I think their assignment is probably fairly pleasant...but this time of year, it's not uncommon for them to be standing out in front of the school in 20 degree weather greeting students for over half an hour.  And because of the way our neighborhood streets are configured and because we live in a fairly rural area, Firecracker is one of only a very few students who actually cross the street to get to school. 


I wanted to do something for them to show our appreciation for the chilly service they perform mostly on behalf of my daughter...Especially since it saves me from having to bundle myself and the little ones up to walk Firecracker to school.

This is what I came up with...

It was really easy to put together and could also work great for a teacher or other school assistant with a chilly recess duty.

Baby's First Christmas and Expectant Mother Ornaments

I've been to two baby showers in the last week.  (Yeah, our baby is going to have LOTS of friends his age to play with.)

One for a baby that's expected before Christmas in about a week, so he got a Baby's First Christmas Book.

Teacher Gifts & Brown Bag Wrapping

I got the gifts ready to go for Firecracker's teachers and a few other people at her school last night.  Besides her teachers, I try to choose a few other staff members who have done something special for her during the year.  Many times the support staff go unrecognized and I want to make sure they know that someone notices when they go above an beyond.

At the same time, it's always a little hard for me to choose gifts for people I don't know all that well.    I had all the supplies on hand, but if I added it up, everything probably cost about 50 cents to $1 for each gift.  Here's what I came up with for this year.:

• A Letter to the Principal about the awesome job each teacher/staff member is doing. This is the most important part of the gift, so DON'T LEAVE IT OUT.  It was the letters that the teachers and principal thanked me for last year, much more than the gifts.  You can see my tips about how to write a good letter here.
• Goodies...We went for easy by making Rice Krispies and topping them with holiday sprinkles.
• A cute mini-book ornament (tutorial here)... I let Firecracker choose which book.  I wrote the teacher's name and the year inside on the first page and she wrote her name on the inside on the next page.
• A card made by Firecracker with a note from her and short note from me with a copy of the letter to the principal tucked inside.

• The librarian who has been SUPER EXTRA nice to Firecracker this year got a set of 9 or 10 book ornaments to use decorating the library.  (We're lucky to be live in a community that has no problem with Christmas decorations at the school.)

Kitchenware with Creative Wrapping - Great Gift Ideas

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I'm in the process of adding some red touches to my kitchen.  This is my first attempt at really "decorating" a room.

So I was super excited to find this under the tree.

My mom wrapped my gift up in some red dishtowels and kept it all together with a red ribbon and little embroidery floss ties.