Make Your Own Vanilla Syrup

It’s no secret I love iced coffee. I spend wayyyyy too much on it. I like to mix up where I go between Starbucks, McDonalds, and Dunkin Donuts. I usually get it as a reward for subbing or for working, but I need to give my wallet a breather. I know I wrote this post a while ago about why I stopped drinking coffee. Since being home though I’ve needed coffee to help me get through subbing and it’s so much easier to just go out and buy coffee than make coffee or tea at home. I don’t drink a lot of hot coffee so I usually go out to buy my iced coffee.

I recently bought some iced coffee at Bruegger’s and they didn’t have any coffee syrup. I had to mix in my own sugar and it got me thinking about making my own coffee syrup so I could make iced coffee at home. So, I did! I can’t wait to start experimenting with new flavors. I can’t drink flavored creamers because they just make me sick, so I love that I can be fine with the flavored syrups.

What you need:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla extract (use clear if you don’t want your syrup looking brown)

Directions:

1. Stir sugar and water together on medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Make sure you keep stirring or else your sugar could burn to the bottom.
2. Stir in vanilla extract.
3. Pour into bottle.*
4. Pour desired amount into your hot or iced coffee! ENJOY! :)

These would make great gifts for any coffee lover! You can always double the recipe with 2 cups sugar, 2 cups water, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract if you think you’ll go through it fast or want to make large quantities for gifts! There isn’t a set shelf life for this. I wouldn’t recommend refrigerating, and for that reason just be conscience of any mold growing. I’ve read it can last up to 6 months and people have even had the same batch mold at different times. So, it just depends.

*I bought my bottle at K-Mart. A lot of places sell oil and vinegar bottles (Target, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond), but they didn’t have a cap and I was afraid of little gnats or ants getting into the bottle since it is sugar. You can also look online!

Last Minute Wrapping Paper DIY

I bought my mom a Mother’s Day gift that came in the mail. I was just going to give her the package without wrapping it because I ran out of my spring-ish wrapping paper that I used for Haley’s baby shower, and I really didn’t want to go out and buy more. Plus, I hate wrapping paper because you end up throwing it away anyways. I thought about just using wrapping paper, but then I decided I would spice it up a bit. I ran several ideas through my head, but realized that this project would be the most simple.

What you need:

• Spray paint
• Newspaper – I chose paper with more writing than pictures
• Leaves, Flowers, any kind of silhouetted object

I chose the orange spray paint because I had it lying around. I used it for one project, but, let’s be real, when am I actually going to use bright orange spray paint again? It ended up looking more autumny , it’s all I had because we didn’t have too many flowers around our house and the daffodils died already. :(

Instead of spray painting on my porch I actually took the time to put down cardboard and I sprayed on the grass because at least if it gets on the grass it will eventually be cut. Then I put the leaves face down (makes them heavier so they won’t fly up while spraying. Then I lightly covered the paper with a coat of spray paint. I took the leaves off right away so they wouldn’t dry to the paper and let the paper dry for about 20 minutes.

Hint: You don’t need to tape the leaves down, but I would spray them before putting them down so that  they are heavier and won’t fly up. Make sure you don’t do this outside on very windy days or you’ll have a heck of a time trying to spray paint.

Then you’re done and you can wrap your gift! The best part? It was COMPLETELY FREE!

Haley’s Baby Shower: Instagram Edition

1. Painting I made for Cora. Inspired by another Instagram picture I saw and my love of fairy tales and imagination as a child.
2. Picked up some of my favorite childhood books for Cora’s (hopefully) growing library!
3. Clove being all sweet and innocent.
4. Happy hour drinks galore!

Blurb Graduation Gift

My friend Mackenzie made a book from Blurb.com for her wedding photos, and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. I didn't know what to get my sister for her college graduation until I remembered that I could make books from Blurb for a reasonable price. I took SOME of the  many pictures from my sister's mission trip to India this past summer and put them in a book for her so she could remember them. I was pleased with how it came out. I meant to post this a while ago but then I remembered I didn't want my sister seeing it before her graduation. So, here it is!

India Summer 2011 | Make Your Own Book

Gifts for Guys

I don't know about you, but I am TERRIBLE at finding gifts for guys. Not that I ever really needed to, but still. I've never had a boyfriend (probably never will) so I have never really needed to find gifts for guys apart from my dad and my brother. They don't count though. I basically just ask my brother what he wants and I usually just get my dad something with Gilligan's Island, Bob Dylan, or beer. Easy enough.

This week I found myself at a loss of what to get for my friend because he has done a lot for me lately so I thought it was time to repay him. His birthday was yesterday, but I spent the past couple of days trying to figure out what to get a guy I really have nothing in common with. I wanted to take him to Columbus, but then I realized that was impractical for such short notice. Eventually I found myself looking around Pnterest and came across this post. Out of all the cheap DIY stuff I saw this looked the most classy and fun!

That is what started the inspiration for the gift. One thing I realized was that things will start coming to you when you walk around a store. I thought I was done with the gift when I went into Barnes and Noble to pass time and ended up walking out with two books for him. If you don't know what to get a guy my biggest piece of advice is to listen to him. When I was in Barnes and Noble I started remembering conversations we had which led to the gifts I bought.

For his birthday gift I hand made the card. I usually don't buy cards unless I am in a hurry or, to be honest, we aren't that close, or if it is for something specific. What I mean about something specific is that I will usually buy wedding cards or I always buy cards for my friend, Haruna, in Japan because I like sending American holiday cards to her. I made the card out of two index cards put them together with string and then used a clothes pin to keep it attached to the bag.

I then made him oatmeal chocolate chip cookies because those are my specialty. Also, he LOVES cookies. I also remember he mentioning he wanted a flask, so I bought him one. The one I liked was at Pottery Barn, but they must only have them online so I ended up buying the one below from Things Remembered. I wanted to buy him whisky (or rum) but I am terrible at knowing what is good because I don't drink it that often. So I ended up just buying a six pack of Moerlein. I bought him Crime and Punishment because he is Russian and was telling me I should know about all the great Russian writers (and blah blah blah). I come to find out even he hasn't read the book after I gave him this gift, but I really liked the cover so I bought it. I also bought him the first Hunger Games book because he told me he couldn't decide if he wanted to read it. It probably isn't something he will like (he's pretty picky), but I told him he could give it back to me if he absolutely hated it. ;)

Sorry for the pictures in my car! You can tell I did this all last minute! While I was buying his gifts I realized that I can never have a boyfriend or kids because I'll just spoil them too much! I love putting together gifts for people. It allows me to be crafty but also allows me to give to others.

By the way, my birthday is April 13 (that is 11 days away)... ;)