Halloween Neighbor Gift

Halloween time isn't really known for gift giving, but I feel like Halloween kind of kicks off the holiday season. First it's Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas... so why not celebrate the start of the holiday season than with giving a gift!

One of my favorite recipe blog is Chef in Training and she has a delicious recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies. When you layer the ingredients (well, most of them) in a jar, it looks cute and makes a fun but not too spooky neighbor gift. 

So here's what I did. It's all about the layers & packing in each layer. Packing it in ensures that all the layers will fit.

1. Start off with the flour. You'll need 2 1/4 cups, all packed in nice and tight.

2. Second layer is the brown sugar. You'll need 3/4 cup. Remember, pack it in!

3. Third layer is a couple of them together. I put the sugar (1/4 cup), then the baking soda on top of that (1 teaspoon), and a small package of Pumpkin Spice pudding on top of that. 

4. The final layer is the chocolate chips. You'll need a cup, unless you can fit more, in which case, more chocolate chips is always good!

That's all the layering you do! It's such a simple gift and it would really make your neighbor's day.

I added some tags to write the baking directions on them. You'll have to make sure to include the ingredients that aren't in the jar, like the eggs, vanilla, and butter on the tag so they know what they'll need to make the cookies. I also got some Halloween fabric to add to the top of the jar, which adds a cute Halloween-y touch.

Enjoy!

How to Cut Burlap (without making a HUGE mess)

I recently learned how to cut burlap and it kind of blew my mind. I HAD to share it, because it is just so awesome! 

I love the way burlap looks but I don't use it a whole lot. Reason? It's messy. Like, really messy. But recently I learned how to cut it and I'm a lot less scared of it! Lemme show you:

Step 1:

Simply cut a little slit into the burlap, where there is a white thread going across.

Step 2:

Grab a piece of the burlap that comes unraveled because of the slit. Just grab one little thread. 

Step 3:

Pull that thread!! Warning: It will break if you pull too hard. Pretend you're trying to make a ruffle with it. It will start bunching up but that's good!

After you have pulled that thread of burlap out completely, you'll notice you've made a little track-looking space in the burlap:

Step 4: 

Cut along that track!

And there you have it! Now, don't get me wrong, this is not an entirely mess-free project. There will always be little burlap hairs when you deal with burlap but this definitely cuts down on the mess. And something that makes it so I don't have to clean so much later is a winner to me!

Colorful Chevron Quilt

It must be baby season! This is the second chevron baby quilt I've made recently. I also have 2 sisters-in-law that are either pregnant or recently had a baby. I must not have caught baby fever. Not yet, at least ;)

With that being said, I don't think a baby can have enough blankets. They spit up ALL.THE.TIME (or was that just mine?) and you end up with a pile of dirty blankets, scrambling for another one so they can have tummy time... Anyway, the point is, one of my favorite things to make for babies is a quilt.

For this quilt, instead of piecing the quilt together like I did for THIS chevron quilt, I bought chevron fabric. I bought mine from Fabric.com, but there are lots of awesome fabric websites with chevron fabric. Then I made a back, put together the chevron fabric for the top, the batting, and the back, and quilted the zig zags. I love how it turned out! It's the quilted look without doing all the hard work! (Well, some of it, anyway.)

I added a big chunk of blue polka dot fabric to the back to add a little interest. I like it better than a big piece of the same color for the back. The binding I just bought from Joann's and it matched perfectly! Score. This quilt came together really quick, so if you need a baby gift in a hurry, I'd highly recommend buying some chevron fabric & quilting over it!

Love that quilted look!!