4 Months 9 Days and Counting

That's right, we only have 4 months and 9 days until Christmas. Did you just realize it will be here before we know it too? I had a little bit of a moment this weekend where I realized just how close it is. I use to be really good about slowly buying things through out the year and typically I would have all of my holiday shopping wrapped up by the end of October. Now that Homemade Gifts are a priority I find that I procrastant more and end up with a last minute rush.

I've been toying with the idea of making little bottles of Homemade Vanilla Extract for several years now. The trouble is that it takes at least 3 months to steep and I usually remember I wanted to do that about a month before Christmas. Not this time. This time I am going to do it. I thought little baskets with some gussied up kitchen towels, homemade extract, and a few other kitchen yummies would be the perfect gift for my sister in law, mother in law, and father in laws girlfriend this year. And so today I ordered my vanilla beans and I'm excited to put this little project into motion.

For those of you who might want to give this a try I found my vanilla beans here. I recommend doing this with a friend because the cost of beans goes down the more you buy. I'm also going to try my hand at making these carmels with some of the left over beans. I am pretty sure I will be getting my bottles here because it's the best value I have found so far but if any of you have a good lead on some pretty bottles let me know. If you have any great homemade gifts that you think would be a good addition to my baskets please share your recipes, tutorials, or links. I'd love to check them out. And as always I'm at a loss as to what to buy or make for the men in my life so any ideas you have about that are welcome as well.