Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Baked Holiday

As the weather outside turns cold, and the snow begins to fall, I hope this post finds all of you warm and cozy.  I live in the Sandia Mountains here in New Mexico, and you probably seen on the national news, we have had quite the snow fall.  Now, for those of you who live in Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. this isn't bad.  We had a foot of new snow fall on Monday.  Yes, 12 inches of NEW snow fall in one day.  And, well, I wasn't able to get home.  They had closed the highway (I-40 East heading into the canyon).  So, it provided me with the opportunity to spend some quality time with my daughter and her family.  As, I don't pack an emergency crafting kit.  :)
Anyways, it was nice to get home last night.  And, as I know most of you, this year, money is tight.  Possibly slimmer than last year.  And so, that is the theme for todays post.  I make a delicious Pumpkin-Cranberry bread, that is to die for.  I want this years Christmas to be from the heart.  So, I hand-stamped Christmas cards, tags, and home-baked some Pumpkin-Cranberry bread.  But, I'm like almost all of you, I don't want to spend a million dollars on Christmas gifts.  So, I headed to my local big box craft store and found this pretty packaging materials for my bread @ 70% off.  And I always have pretty paper.  So, I made the pretty tags to go with the delicious bread.  



The bread packages are those cardboard 'pans' that you bake in.  So, a little prettier than aluminum pans.  I purchased several boxes of these baking packages.  You get 6 of those paper 'pans', food-safe bags, and the red ribbon.  Enough supplies for 6.  Well, I baked 30 of these Pumpkin-Cranberry loaves.  So, 5 boxes of these 'packages'.  And at 70% off, which came out to 50 cents a loaf.  What a bargain.  The pattern paper is left over from 3 Christmas's ago.  So, I used what I already had on hand.  I used Very Vanilla cardstock for the center piece of the tag, and hand-stamped the greeting.  The gold cord I had left over from a few years back, also.   Very inexpensive.  Less than $1 for each loaf, in packaging. 
So, I encourage you to make this Christmas count, and give from the heart!  To help our community, we also purchased a few packages of socks and underwear for the local shelter, as they requested these items.   
Have a safe, and joyous Christmas.  If you are traveling, please be safe.  And cherish the time you spend with those who mean the most to you - family and friends.   Merry Christmas.

1 comment:

Marjie Kemper said...

What a beautiful post! I'm glad you had your daughter's home as safe haven and I love the idea of packing an 'emergency crafting kit' Sharon! Now that's the kind of emergency preparations we all should take to heart. Your bread looks wonderful (and sounds delicious) especially with the hand stamped tags. Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas!